Posted by Pittsburgh Post Gazette, PA on June 22, 2008 at 10:18:18:
ON THE MENU: Show spices debate on female chefs
Sunday, June 22, 2008
By China Millman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Season four of Bravo's "Top Chef" came to a conclusion, if not quite an end, June 11, with the top prize taken home by Chicago's Stephanie Izard.
For those readers who don't watch the show, "Top Chef" contestants-- among the best and brightest sous chefs and executive chefs (with the occasional sommelier or culinary student) in the culinary world -- compete in a series of challenges to become "Top Chef." They are judged by some of the finest chefs in the United States, including culinary greats such as Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud, and up-and-comers such as New York chefs Dan Barber of Blue Hill and April Bloomfield of the Spotted Pig. At the end of the season, the winner gets $100,000, various other prizes and, of course, glory.
Ms. Izard is the first woman to win the reality-television cooking contest, and as one might expect, the question of whether this matters has shaped much of the conversation and debate surrounding the show since the finale. .....
In responses to the blogs on the show's Web site and on food sites including E-gullet, Chowhound and Eater, viewers have generally expressed support for the chef but also repeatedly insist that the fact that she's a woman shouldn't merit extra comments or congratulations.
On the one hand, I can't fault these viewers for being more interested in Ms. Izard's qualities as a chef -- her grace under pressure, her ability to work well with others, her incredible food -- than in her gender.
On the other hand, I can't help but wonder whether these viewers just aren't aware of the measurable gender gap in professional kitchens. So I talked to some people who definitely know: successful female chefs.
Barbara Ferguson is the pastry chef at Mio Kitchen and Wine Bar in Aspinwall and is a huge fan of "Top Chef," as are many other staff there. As she puts it, "If someone hasn't watched the show yet, we're not allowed to talk about it." She was happy that Ms. Izard won, though she also had been rooting for Dale Talde, with whom she worked at Naha in Chicago.
Danielle Cain, who recently became executive chef of Kaya in the Strip District, also "thought it was going to be between [Stephanie] and Richard the whole time."
Both local chefs were hesitant to frame Ms. Izard's win in the context of kitchen gender wars, but they were candid about their own experiences. Ms. Cain noted that in all her time in Pittsburgh she's worked with two female line cooks. Ms. Ferguson matter-of-factly agreed that there are "a lot more women" in restaurant kitchens in Chicago than here.
So maybe a woman winning a reality television show isn't making history or evenbreaking ground. After all, as Ms. Cain and Ms. Ferguson so aptly demonstrate, there are successful women in the culinary world, even if there seems to be far fewer in Pittsburgh than we'd like.
But in the context of reality TV and new food media, and the ways these developments have influenced the food industry, Ms. Izard's win is something to be celebrated, because women who are chefs get this kind of media attention far too rarely.
Ms. Izard herself acknowledged that she hopes that the publicity will help attract investors for her planned next restaurant. She sold her first one, Chicago's Scylla, just before her appearance on "Top Chef." She also expressed the hope that seeing a woman win a show like this will encourage women to enter the field and not worry about the "silly boys around that are trying to discourage you from time to time."
I hope she is correct, because at the moment, while women's numbers in culinary school are rising, they still are woefully under-represented in kitchens.
At the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, women make up 47 percent of the culinary management bachelor's degree and culinary arts associate's degree programs combined. At the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, women make up 41 percent of the culinary arts program.
National statistics are harder to come by, but according to the 2007 Starchefs.com salary survey, which tallied responses from 1,730 culinary professionals from all 50 states, women make up just under one quarter (22 percent) of the culinary industry. But, just 15 percent of women surveyed are executive chefs, vs. 39 percent of men surveyed. As is common in many professions, men make higher average pay than their female counterparts for every job, including executive pastry chef.
Ms. Ferguson offered some sound reasoning for these disparities: "It's still a difficult career and a lot of women are faced with making choices." Women who take time off to have children, or who enter the industry later in life obviously are going to make less money.
Although Antonia Lofaso was eliminated in the 13th episode, she had an extremely successful run. A single mom with a young daughter who manages to both spend time with her child and have a successful career as the executive chef of Foxtail restaurant in Los Angeles, she's still a fantastic role model for young chefs. I'm hoping we'll see more contestants like her in season five, when "Top Chef" contestants will tackle culinary challenges in the self-proclaimed greatest restaurant city in the world: New York City.
Next season's winner may not be breaking new ground, but there's still plenty of room for a season five competitor to distinguish him or herself -- perhaps as the first contestant to successfully tackle the dessert course more than once.
In the meantime, Pittsburghers who need a "Top Chef" fix can get one early: The show is embarking on a culinary tour and will be in Pittsburgh July 9. For information about the tour, check the Little Bites column in Thursday's Weekend Magazine.
Restaurant critic China Millman can be reached at cmillman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1198.