Work, Work, Work

I believe in hard work, talent, creativity, and commitment that top chefs have put into their craft.
I don’t think the industry is inherently sexist or refusing to give the opportunity to women purely
for their gender, rather, I think its because the nature of the job is so demanding that it required
a chef to commit their life to it, for at least a decade out of culinary school or since starting a
cooking job (not including dish washing etc.) as well as demanding impeccable skills and talents
in the work, crazy innovation, and creativity needed to advance that any mental and/or physical
energy on other parts of life, such as kids and family, can severely affect performance and slow
advancement. Women can obviously hold a successful head chef position at a Michelin star,
however, these chefs must compromise their family or their commitment to their families, men
or women.

Working in restaurants means long hours,and male chefs even struggle to find time for their
families since the nature of the job is not conducive to maintaining a family or social life outside
of work for anyone. For example, Sean Brock, a male chef specializing in Southern cuisine with
a great deal of respect for farmers and the use of fresh ingredients, spoke about how he gave
up his social life for his work in the Netflix documentary series Chef’s table.

 In Mrs.Hamovit’s presentation on Julia Childs and female chefs, she brought up an old quote
which was “women are great cooks, men are great chefs,” to emphasize the issue of women
being seen and associated with cooking at home but not in restaurants. While I am not
saying that the routes of being a professional chef held no exclusionary aspects for women
, nor am I saying that there is no current sexism in professional kitchens, I think that the
reason for the lack of women chef’s has a lot to do with family. Most women, (and men
as well) want to have a family of some sort, and have involvement in said family. They
want to raise and see their kids and spouse, however, with the extensive hours of the job,
the opportunity to see your children is very small. Also, if you are trying to work up the latter,
you must put in even more time at home honing your skills as well as the long hours you are
at the restaurant. As I said before, all of your energy, time, and mental capacity must go
towards your job. So, if you are trying to raise a child at that time, you are either sacrificing
your job, or your family, man or woman. For women, however, if you have a child while trying
to work up the latter, and you need to take maternity leave, the time off could set you back
a substantial amount due to the competitiveness in the kitchen. If you wait until you reach
head chef, however, which takes many many years, it might mean you’re trying to have a
baby at a later age. 

All said, however, my dream is to become a chef one day, and, as a woman, I’m ready to
take on any challenges that come my way.