Female chefs are at the vanguard of change, serving as role
models to new generations and challenging discrimination.Christine Manfield,
chef, Australia
We flourish because we believe
in the importance of women
supporting women, celebrating
the achievements of women in
our industry, for our voices to be
heard, to not be invisible, to establish
a social community for women in
the food and wine industry to
engage, connect and collaborate,
to combat gender inequality. Women
are proven trailblazers, so let’s invest
in each other to be fearless, to push
the boundaries, to lead by example,
to make brave choices, to accept
and thrive on challenges and to
have the courage of our convictions.
The importance of connecting
women in business to resources,
insights and expertise is a growth
industry with unlimited potential and
will give women more visibility across
all levels of the hospitality industry.Chido Govera,
director, The Future
of Hope Foundation,
Zimbabwe
Food habits are forged from a
combination of two components- beliefs and technology – and
different layers of society influence
these two factors. In an ideal world,
the two components should equally
inform our habits, yet sadly, it is
not the case in our world today.
Technology affects how we sow,
grow, harvest and distribute food,
and this is an area that has been
largely controlled by men. The
belief component refers to how
we perceive food, its preparation,
consumption, our interaction with it
and the overall impact food has in our
social fabric and on our ecosystem,
and this aspect has, for the most part,
been carried by women.
Across the world today,
technology largely defines the way
we eat, and this is a realm dominated
by men and other privileged groups.
This exclusive and unbalanced
way of defining how we eat is
unsustainable because it does not
take into account all the dynamics
of the societies we feed, from values
to culture and traditional wisdom.
Women can change the way we
eat by taking their place at the table
and actively channelling their wealth
of knowledge in the economics and
dynamics of feeding the masses,
engaging in decision making and
promoting the food value chain.
Lara Gilmore,
president, Food
for Soul, Italy
Perhaps, the first step to change the
way we eat is to remove gender from
food: steaks are not for men, salads
are not for girls. But as we look
forward, we cannot ignore the wisdom
of the ages, what our grandmothers
and great-grandmothers taught us.
This legacy and the practical
solutions that make the world a
better place all begin at the table,
not only sharing a meal but through
conversation. Women and men are
asking hard questions about how our
food is grown and processed, how
it is distributed, how much is wasted
and how much can actually be
recovered. Together we can shift the
attention from quantity to quality,
from cheap to valuable, from feeding
to nourishing, to ensure more healthy
and delicious meals for everyone.●GOURMET TRAVELLER 61PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES (RUTH REICHL), AMANDA MARSALIS (ALICE WATERS), WILL MEPPEM (CHRISTINE MANFIELD), PAOLO TERZI (LARA GILMORE) & PRUDENCE UPTON (CHIDO GOVERA).