{"id":18722,"date":"2014-06-18T10:30:10","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T14:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=18722"},"modified":"2014-06-19T10:04:54","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T14:04:54","slug":"care-female-chefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/care-female-chefs\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Care About Female Chefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Gods of Food, published by Time in November 2013, omitted female chefs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Editor’s Note: Check out part 1 on Jody Adams<\/a> and part 2 on Ana Sortun<\/a>\u00a0of our 2-part series on entrepreneurial women in the restaurant industry<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Last fall, when Time magazine published an article about the \u201cGods of Food\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that omitted female chefs, a media backlash ensued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do female chefs rarely win the adulation and recognition of male chefs?\u201d asked the New York Times in a discussion here<\/a>. \u201cThis is pathetic,\u201d tweeted food writer Ruth Reichl, according to this Daily News article<\/a>. \u201cTime should be ashamed.\u201d And Eater, the popular food blog, pressed Time\u2019s then-editor Howard Chua-Eoan about why women weren\u2019t included. (\u201cWe wanted to go with reputation and influence\u201d rather than quotas, Chua-Eoan explained, in remarks that some construed as sexist<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

At The Story Exchange, one of our missions<\/a> is to provide media exposure to female entrepreneurs who often go overlooked — despite being innovative, talented, hard-working job creators. So with the controversy over female chefs still unfolding, we decided to take action: Let\u2019s take a look at successful women in the restaurant industry — and give them the media attention they deserve. (See our latest installment in today\u2019s New York Times<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

We headed to Cambridge, Mass., the longtime home of Julia Child, one of the food industry\u2019s most celebrated icons. Child, no surprise to us, effectively ushered in a wave of female chefs, across the nation but in Boston in particular. As we often say, \u201cYou can\u2019t be what you can\u2019t see.\u201d Back in the \u201970s and \u201980s, up-and-coming female chefs like Barbara Lynch, who grew up in a housing project in South Boston, saw Child breaking barriers, and thought – \u201cI can do that, too.\u201d (Incidentally, Lynch, who won this year\u2019s James Beard award and owns a Boston hospitality group with 260 employees and annual revenue of $20 million, was left off Time\u2019s list\u2026.apparently not influential enough.) Lynch, following in Child\u2019s footsteps, is now a mentor to the next generation of chefs<\/a>, including Top Chef winner Kristen Kish.<\/p>\n

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Chef Jody Adams of Boston had help from Julia Child.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We zeroed in on two Cambridge chefs in particular: Jody Adams and Ana Sortun<\/a>. \u00a0Adams, 57, got her start in Boston thanks to help from a number of women, including Child and Lydia Shire, who opened Seasons in the Bostonian Hotel. Adams, who owns Rialto and Trade, recounted situations where she faced sexual harassment in kitchens. Today, she\u2019s fostering female talent in her restaurants and the greater Boston area. \u201cIt\u2019s up to us to support other women,\u201d Adams says. One of her mentees is Sortun, 46, who\u2019s opened Oleana, Sofra and Sarma in the Cambridge area. For her part, Sortun doesn\u2019t talk about sexism in the industry. \u201cI know that it exists, and I know that it\u2019s out there — but it doesn\u2019t have anything to do with my work,\u201d Sortun says. \u201cThe generation after me will be even more different.\u201d<\/p>\n

We hope young women who are rising up the ranks in top kitchens won\u2019t have to struggle to get media attention. But for now, we\u2019re doing our part to shine a spotlight on prominent female restaurateurs whose reputations and influence speak for themselves.<\/p>\n

See our interview with\u00a0Jody Adams in the New York Times<\/a> or on our site here<\/a>. And check out our discussion with Ana Sortun in today’s New York Times<\/a>, or watch in the player below.
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