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Chef Cat Cora“For the first ten years of my career, I was the only woman in every kitchen I worked in. And that was true for all the other women I knew,” Michelle Bernstein told the New York Times in 2014. Bernstein, 44, is a chef and owner of Michy’s restaurant in Miami.
Given the age-old stereotype that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, one might assume that the majority of the world’s top chefs are women. This assumption would now be wrong. The New York Times reports that 30 to 50 percent of culinary staff in the U.S. restaurant business is now female.
TIME magazine released a list of the best chefs in a spread called “The Gods of Food.” As recently as 2013, very few women have been allowed within the ranks of the men’s lofty culinary treehouse. But we’re here to set the record straight. Here are the some of the world’s top female chefs that should’ve been included on TIME’s list.
Elizabeth Falkner is a multi-award winning chef, businesswoman and James Beard Award nominee. She’s appeared as a judge, competitor or guest on just about every premier culinary show in America (from “Iron Chef” to “Cutthroat Kitchen”).
Although she originally made a name for herself in the Bay Area, she moved cross country to New York with her then-partner Sabrina Riddle and founded the acclaimed Orson, a restaurant and bar.
In addition to being an entrepreneur, she’s also penned two cookbooks (one of which is award-winning), is working on a third and has over twenty years of stomach-satisfying experience under her belt. She is the first female chef to join Holland America Line Culinary Council and is now the president of Women Chefs and Restauranteurs.
Cat Cora is a Mississippi-born award-winning professional chef and restaurant owner of Greek descent. After competing with Elizabeth Falkner on “Iron Chef America,” she went on to judge “The Next Food Network Star” and become a co-host on “Kitchen Accomplished” and Bravo’s “Around the World in 80 Plates.”
In 2005 she became Food Network’s first female “Iron Chef.” The Culinary Hall of Fame inductee has four sons with her ex-wife.
Anita Lo is a Chinese-American world-renowned professional chef and restaurant owner from the suburbs of Detroit. In 2000, Lo opened her first restaurant and was named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the top ten Best New Chefs in America.
She is also an active advocate for women in her field. Of her dedication to their progression, she told Autostraddle, “I have spoken to the media about these issues—gender disparity in the culinary world, the lack of mentors, the lack of visibility and recognition—and I think that helps, at least a bit, toward elevating and illuminating the issues.”
In 2005, the activist won “Iron Chef” and has since founded two more restaurants: Rickshaw and Bar Q. In 2015, she became the first female guest chef invited to cook at a White House State Dinner. She prepared her art for the visit of Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and his wife Peng Liyuan.
