Clare Smyth, world’s best female chef: ‘I’m not going to stand and shout at someone. It’s just not nice’

She was once told by Gordon Ramsay she wouldn’t last a week in his kitchen. Now, the chef patron of Core in London has been named best female chef at the food industry’s ‘Oscars’. But why is the business still dominated by men?For reasons I have never fully understood, egomania in the kitchen has traditionally been rewarded with a kind of monstrous glamour, making celebrities out of men whose management style in any other workplace would get them fired. For a mild-mannered chef few of us had even heard of to be named the best in the world at the industry’s “Oscars” was, therefore, a remarkable achievement. What made the accolade even more unusual was the widespread unease – acknowledged by the winner herself – about whether the prize should even exist.Clare Smyth, chef patron of Core in west London, was named best female chef at the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards gala in Bilbao in June, prompting other female chefs to object that the category was “ridiculous”, “outrageous”, “outdated” and “bizarre”. Some, however, pointed out that, when only four of the world’s 50 best restaurants are run by women, the industry has a sexism problem, which the award recognises and seeks to mitigate. “If discriminating on gender can be a step towards gender-neutrality, why not?” argued one commentator. In her acceptance speech, Smyth expressed the view that “there is no right and wrong way to address this, but things won’t change if we do nothing”, while accepting that a gender-specific category felt “strange”. Continue reading…
Via: Clare Smyth, world’s best female chef: ‘I’m not going to stand and shout at someone. It’s just not nice’