Cooking: A Man’s Job?

In a characteristic hot headed and frankly honest manner typical of many top chefs, Tom Kerridge raised more than the temperature of the kitchen with some remarks he made during the Cheltenham Literature Festival in October.

The two Michelin starred chef, and television chef and judge, when asked why he thought there were few women in top catering roles, gave a devastating answer; “I like girls in kitchen a lot: it does bring that testosterone level down a little bit, it makes it not so aggressive… But then at the same point a lot of that fire in a chef’s belly you need, because you need them to force themselves to be ready for dinner service. That’s probably why there [are] not so many female chefs."

Mr Kerridge went on to heap great praise upon the senior female chefs in the industry, however adding that "they are out there; it’s just whether it’s the industry for them. I’m not sure, at that level."

Admittedly, the average kitchen (let alone a top kitchen with stars and rosettes to its name) is a very tough, demanding, testosterone driven atmosphere and workplace. It takes no prisoners, has a certain working culture and (lack of) work life balance. According to Mr Kerridge “testosterone is probably the wrong word, but [it’s about] that dynamic of getting things done, that ability to dig deep and be put under pressure… To go to the extreme where some kitchens go to – where it’s very uncomfortable, where at some point there is perhaps violence, where it perhaps feels threatening – that is taken away a lot by having girls in the kitchen.”

Giles gets angry at this- and absolutely strongly disagrees. He has worked with chefs and cooks for a very long time; ‘I don't know what kind of female chef Tom Kerridge knows or has worked with but the ones I know are not your average girly girl- and even those feminine ones are anything but lipstick and inane giggles. The women chefs I know are just as talented and skilled as their male counterparts. They are just as tough and driven, and just as vocal and verbally combative. For front of house, they are just as daunting as their male counterparts! Indeed, the female chefs I know are absolutely treated and welcomed as one of the lads.’

 Mr Kerridge seems to think that being female makes someone ill equipped to perform in the kitchen. ‘The kitchens I and many others have worked at value hard work, the ability to perform, talent and determination far more than gender, sexuality and so on. Mr Kerridge claims they women do not have the 'fire in the belly' to compete; the women I know in the kitchen have plenty of that- and enough left over to give top professionals a run for their money!’

 It is an old problem of industry attitudes. Kitchens have always, until recently, been a male dominated place, rife with male testosterone and drive. Breaking into such a male environment has been tough for women, but break into it they have. However, at the top end of the profession, there are still many old school chefs, with certain attitudes and opinions. It is no fault of them; they entered the kitchen a decade or so ago, when attitudes were different. The workplace and kitchen has moved on- but some of the old school chefs have not.

 Overall, luckily the modern kitchen is gender equal, and has little time for such opinions. However, the older chefs still think that way. Until they retire or leave the industry, they will retain and adhere to their old school approach. However, following them is a new generation of head chefs, including many women. Those women are both talented, and respected and treated as equals by their male peers.

 Giles understands why such an old school chef like Tom Kerridge would say that - but absolutely cannot agree with him at all. Indeed, his experiences of the industry have shown that gender is not even an issue in the kitchen, and never remarked upon. After all, as the waiter venturing into the kitchen, ‘I have been yelled at and criticised by chefs males and female with equal fervour and bad language. Oh, and getting to know the female chefs as well as the male chefs has seen the females to be just as colourful!’

As a parting shot to Tom Kerridge and those senior chefs with similar attitudes, Giles asks me about the head chef at the White House.

Upon investigating this cryptic remark, I discover President Obama’s chef to be Cristeta Comerford, 51. Of Filipino background, she has been at the White House since 1995, and has cooked for three presidents, being made Head Chef by President Bush in 2005. In an America which only in the 1960’s and 1970’s emerged from racial segregation and prejudice, 2014 sees a female Filipino immigrant cooking for a black male President.

That speaks volumes for the industry, and how far it has come as regards gender equality. Unfortunately, the attitudes of some old fashioned head chefs like Tom Kerridge means that there is still a great deal to be done as regards gender equality in the kitchen- which Giles and many other front of house still find annoying.