IT WAS AN EXTREMELY rare opportunity – seven of the world’s
most accomplished chefs and sommeliers in the one room – and
delicious. was there to capture it. The fact they also happen to be
female made it more auspicious, as the food world is notoriously
male-dominated. In Melbourne in April for the World’s 50 Best
Restaurants awards, these amazing women shared their stories.
DOMINIQUE CRENN
Poised, poetic and focused, you get the impression Crenn doesn’t
suffer fools gladly, in or out of the kitchen.
When the French-born chef behind San Francisco’s Atelier
Crenn won the W50B’s World’s Best Female Chef last year, she
said she hoped the accolade wouldn’t exist in two years. “The
award is a platform for dialogue and conversation, which is always
nice, but nothing’s happening very fast,” Crenn, 51, says.
“Men need to speak up, too. Not just the women. You hear a
man say, ‘She’s such a bitch’ or ‘She’s so opinionated’. Well, guess
what, I speak up. In anything we do in life, it needs to be
balanced.” Not surprisingly, she turns to a food metaphor. “When
you have a balanced recipe, it’s the best recipe in the world.”
ELENA ARZAK
Her warmth and passion are palpable, from the food she cooks to
the squeeze of her hand when you meet her. Arzak, 47, is the
fourth-generation chef at her family’s famed Spanish restaurant,
Arzak in San Sebastian (no. 30 in the W50B), where she first began
working at age 11 during school holidays. She feels most at ease
in chef’s whites. “They’re like pyjamas,” she says, laughing.
She credits the Basque region’s matriarchal society with
shielding her from gender bias. “My grandmother, my father’s
mother, was a chef, so there it is normal,” she says. Eighty per cent
of her staff are women, including seven chefs de partie. It was only
in Arzak’s early career when she trained in France, Italy,
Switzerland and London that she saw male dominance. “I wish
there were more women, but this will come with each generation.”
ANA ROS
The Slovenian countryside provides the bounty with which this
self-taught chef weaves her magic. In 2000, the former ski
champion inherited restaurant Hiša Franko from her husband’s
family, learning to run the kitchen while raising two children.
Her food has put her country on the map thanks to her
new-found fame as World’s Best Female Chef for 2017. She’s using
it to highlight the juggle between work and home. “My hours are
24 in a day – not one more,” Ros, 44, says. “This is why these
awards are a good platform to speak about that, not to shout for
emancipation, because it is not possible.”
HANNAH GREEN
Green learned the art of good service and fostered a love of wine
with some of the best in the biz – Andrew McConnell, Jacques
Reymond, Ben Shewry and the Rockpool Group – before striking
out on her own. In March, along with chef Hayden McMillan
(ex-Roving Marrow) and his wife, Dominique Fourie, the sommelier
opened Etta, an 80-seat bistro in Melbourne’s Brunswick East.
“I think women have a nurturing quality that’s ingrained into
their genetic make-up,” the 30-year-old says. “From a service side
of things, that sense of care
for guests and staff is a real
strength. Not to say that men
don’t have this either; I just
think it’s a very natural thing for women.”
ANALIESE GREGORY
This 32-year-old chef has spent half her
life in hospitality, working in some of the
world’s most prestigious kitchens,
including The Ledbury in London, San
Sebastian’s Mugaritz and Quay in Sydney
with Peter Gilmore.
In March, Gregory celebrated a year
helming her own place, Bar Brose in
Sydney’s Darlinghurst. She laments the
lack of women in top-tier kitchen roles,
but believes it is changing. “I think
females face stereotypes and family
demands that make it hard for them to
reach this level,” she says. “But I see
many more women in kitchen roles of
authority, such as sous or head chef,
than when I did my training.”
HEIDI NAM KNUDSEN
Denmark-born Londoner Heidi Nam Knudsen was managing
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Islington restaurant when wine found her.
“The sommelier had just left and there was no one in the team
who wanted to take on the role,” she says. Now the wine buyer
across Ottolenghi’s five venues and online store, she says it’s an
equal gender mix, with more women in leadership positions.
The World’s Best Female Chef award is a bone of contention.
“There’s no W50B award for the best male chef, so we’re
creating another gap between male and female chefs by having
a special category for women,” she says. “However, the ratio is
still not 50/50 and until it gets to that, I guess it can be a helpful
award to give more exposure and recognition to female chefs.”
KYLIE KWONG
“My mother instilled in me the joy of cooking and a love of
feeding others, and that’s something that has always stayed
with me,” says Kwong. She headed up restaurants for Neil Perry
and Bill Granger before opening her own hugely popular Billy
Kwong in Sydney. Kwong, 47, says running a restaurant is still full
of personal sacrifice, regardless of gender. “It’s an enormous
commitment to make a restaurant run smoothly and efficiently,
day in, day out, year in, year out.”
She believes the World’s Best Female Chef award has its
place. “It’s very positive that the conversation about achieving
gender equality within the profession is happening.”
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