The Present and Future of Women in the Culinary Landscape
In honor of March being International Women’s Month, Edible WOW takes this look at women in the culinary field.
IF YOU COULD have anyone make you dinner, who would you choose?
For many people, the answer is a woman.
“Mom, Grandma: These are some of the greatest cooks of our lives,” says Amanda Saab, a professional chef, content creator and two-time MasterChef competitor based in Dearborn. “But executive chefs are mostly men.”
According to online recruitment agency Zippia, as of September 2022 only 20.2 percent of all head chefs in the U.S. are women.
Twenty percent represents a significant improvement; not that long ago, female executive chefs were much less visible than they are today. Women are entering both the industry and culinary schools in greater numbers each year, and the goal of gender parity is much closer than in the past.
It’s been a long fight. Industry veterans who identify as female have plenty of stories to tell, their own versions of Anthony Bourdain’s groundbreaking tell-all Kitchen Confidential. They remember everything from chefs who outright declared they didn’t want women in the kitchen to harassment on multiple levels.
Perhaps most insidious was simply not being taken seriously.
“Because I’m a woman, maybe because I’m petite, I’ve had men in the kitchen assume that I’m only interested in pastry,” says Leah Schuler, creator and owner of Schuler Consulting in Atlanta. “I have had to keep insisting, ‘I’m here to cut up the beef into tenderloins. I have the skills. Let me get my hands dirty and I’ll show you what I can do.’”
Kimberly Brock Brown, president of the American Culinary Foundation (ACF), remembers a chef who “yelled and screamed all the time, he really enjoyed intimidating women. That taught me how NOT to manage. Now, the industry’s gotten better; you have HR, there’s some oversight. If someone treats you like that, you take it to them.”
When imagining the possibilities for women to ascend to the executive level in the culinary industry, it’s helpful to think beyond restaurants:
Healthcare facilities, notorious for serving inedible food, have upped their standards considerably in recent years. Executive chefs at hospitals and eldercare homes work to serve foods that are as satisfying gastronomically as they are nutritious.
The hospitality industry, after getting pounded by COVID, is now back on its feet, needing kitchen specialists in hotels, sports facilities and clubs.
For those with an entrepreneurial streak, personal chefs, caterers and food truck operators continue to be in high demand. (And on the scientific end, so are nutritionists and food safety specialists.
“As women in the kitchen, we’ve come a long way, and we’re going to go farther,” says Brown. “We’ve always been here; now is the time to get into those leadership positions throughout the industry, not just in restaurants. There are so many different paths you can pursue in the culinary world.”
Attaining top-level culinary jobs isn’t restricted to those who emerge from high school with a career path in mind. In fact, for many culinary school students, the decision to attend involved a hard right turn.
“I always thought I was a person who’d never be able to cook anything,” says Schuler. “When I got out on my own as a teenager and started trying to live and make ends meet, I had health problems; all the crap I was eating was making me sick. I was working three jobs, didn’t have much money, and I started doing my own research. First, cooking was a hobby, then a passion. Then I started a catering business—all before I went to culinary school.”
Even after a highly successful run with her catering company, Schuler found that school showed “how to refine my skill set. I learned what I didn’t know, and it was an awesome networking opportunity, a way to show my work ethic and what I could literally bring to the table.”
One current student in the sous chef program at the Detroit Institute of Gastronomy (DIG, part of Soil2Service, the nonprofit that publishes Edible WOW) arrived there after spending years as a political activist. “I wouldn’t be as combative and confident in the kitchen without my political experience,” she says. “You can run into some real alphamales in this position, and my previous work experience prepared me very well to deal with them.”
In her paid apprenticeship program— an important component of the DIG process—the student is happy to be “working on an all-female-led team, and three of the seven of us on the team are people of color. So there’s an understanding that’s really supportive. It’s like we see each other.”
The fact that women are no longer so scarce in industry kitchens may be one of the biggest and most encouraging industry trends. Deadline-driven and stressful, kitchen careers can even be dangerous, given constant proximity to fire-breathing stoves and ultra-sharp knives. The jobs require physical, emotional and mental stamina, and the support network of women in the industry who know what newcomers are going through is essential.
“We all have insecurities,” says Detroit area Chef Ederique Goudia, known to many as Chef E. “Imposter syndrome is real and we’re all the same, we all have it, including chefs, male and female. We’re all human. And when you apply your energy and empathy to your career, it benefits everyone, including you.”
And there are still plenty of milestones to achieve. Wage equality remains a struggle. According to the Zippia study, women earn 93 cents for every dollar earned by men. “We’ve got a fantastic profession, and we just don’t get paid enough,” says Dr. Susan Hendee, ACF-certified chef and educator. “We’re still fighting that battle.”
“As women, we fight to have our voices heard,” says Chef E. “It’s extremely important to learn how to get paid what you’re worth as we continue to grow our presence in this industry.”
To learn more, visit: detroitgastronomy.org/apprenticeships/women-in-culinary
2012 41% of culinary school graduates were women.
2016 36% of culinary school graduates were women.
2020 58% of culinary school graduates were women.
THE QUESTION TO ASK OURSELVES IS: “Why are only 20% of executive chefs in the United States women?”
—U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employment of chefs and head cooks is projected to grow 15 percent from 2021 to 2031, faster than the average for all occupations.
