It’s funny: while women are traditionally seen queen of the kitchen, the professional culinary world tends to be very discriminating of female chefs.

Daniel Rogov, wine and restaurant critic says: “Many men who encourage or ‘allow’ women to enter the kitchen often do so only at an entry level and rarely allow them to rise to that point where they will become serious competition for themselves.”

He adds that since 17th century America, the belief that women can only be chefs in taverns and corner restaurants, while the more exclusive places were ruled by men. In England, women handled the kitchens of Princes, Dukes and Earls, while men handled the meals of the King and Queen. “Not a single woman has ever been admitted into the ranks of the Royal Society of Chefs,” he says.

The belief is that women lack the management skills to handle the chaos of a large kitchen, even if in equally creative and pressure-packed industries like publishing and TV, they consistently lord over staffs much larger than the typical restaurant crew.

Originally posted on November 29, 2007 @ 11:28 pm