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Have Women Chefs Turned Invisible?
By
Hugh Merwin
Published Jan 14, 2009
Modified Jan 14, 2009
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By
Hugh Merwin
Published Jan 14, 2009
Modified Jan 14, 2009
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Photo: Anne Burrell in 2007
Not literally, of course: In a Time Out article published yesterday, writer Rebecca Flint Marx stirs the pot a bit by making the case that while New York’s restaurant scene is strongly populated with women chefs, few of them are really mentioned by the food press. To illustrate this point, she singles out Eater’s coverage of a massive restaurant preview last fall that was apparently chock-a-block with dudes like David Chang and Tom Colicchio. "Curiously," writes Marx, "the post failed to mention the numerous notable female chefs in attendance."
Our coverage of that same party mentioned the appearance of Madhur Jaffrey, who, regardless of the fact she’s known more as a food writer than a chef, has taught more people to cook good food than any number of debonair or bad-boy, mustachioed chefs in the city. On the subject of gender and cooking, one of the city’s more prominent female chefs—Anne Burrell— had just opened Centro Vinoteca in 2007 when we interviewed her, and she weighed in on the subject of women chefs:
[T]here’s been this whole big thing about female chefs, and I don’t really know why. I’m a girl, and I’m a cook- I just like to cook, and I don’t like to worry about the distinctions. We’re just supposed to make good food.
Burrell now has her own television show. Another indication that many women chefs are seemingly more focused on getting work done can be seen in their laconic (read: absence of bombastic, speculative grandiosity) responses to our call for 2009 food predictions. Are female chefs ignored by the press? More reading here, and, as always,Hell Yeah Lady Chefs.
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