Why Are so Many Top Chefs Men?

Well, let’s start with the fact that they aren’t!

When Clare Smyth became ‘the best female chef in the world’ in 2018, the award itself may have been controversial but her ability definitely wasn’t – she earned Gordon Ramsey three Michelin stars and when she stepped into the spotlight with her own restaurant, Core, gained two of her own.

Dominique Crenn has three Michelin stars for Atelier Crenn, so perhaps the question is – why aren’t there more women at the top, given that so many men claim their kitchen love, lore and expertise come from watching a female role model cook.

Are women too nice to succeed in the kitchen?

Not according to Clare Smyth. Noted for her kitchen courtesy, she doesn’t think the problem is that women aren’t tough enough. Rather, she says, women have to be twice as good to succeed in “very testosterone-driven places”.

Do women lack culinary experience?

Obviously not. The hospitality industry is thronged with women who’ve made significant contributions. And cookbook theory, from Elizabeth David through to Monica Galetti, has been the preserve of intelligent, articulate, opinionated women. In daily life, in restaurants around the world, women preponderate. It’s just that problem of reaching the top.

Do the criteria for gastronomy discriminate against women?

That’s harder to answer. Disproportionately fewer women do make it to the top of the profession, but it is a profession that, since Escoffier, has been male-dominated. Only 17% of chef positions in the UK are held by women. Between the two World Wars, women began to cook more family food at home, because their former household cooks had entered factories for the war effort.

Image credit: Jay Wennington

As a result while more women cooked, and cooked professionally, a huge swathe of expertise – the domestic cook/housekeeper – disappeared, reducing the prestige of women who cooked.

One way that the industry may discriminate is surprising – finance. Investors don’t seem as interested in backing women as they are men, making it more difficult for the Crenns, Smyths and Galettis to start their own businesses.

Another is all too familiar – time. Many chefs work a 60-80 hour week. It’s a punishing regime for a woman who may have to try and fit her home life around hours that are already unsociable.

Then there are the demands to be a ‘showman chef’, to schmooze guests, and be the life and soul of the party. After all, it’s the hospitality industry and when the chef is the host, their name and charisma play a part sometimes more important than the show.

Whether the approach is as cerebral as Heston Blumenthal, earthy as Francis Mallmann or as flamboyant as the late Anthony Bourdain, cheffing has become a performance art, which adds its own demands in a world where women are judged as much on how they look as on what they cook.

But Clare Smyth has a vision for the future that can only be good for gastronomy worldwide, “Lots and lots [of women] are coming into the industry, but what we need to do with this generation is make sure we support them, so they get to the top. I hope that, when we do that, they’ll break a mould and that will be finished.”