Our Place at the Table

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/opinion/women-chefs.html

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Turning Point: The Michelin Guide this year awarded 11 stars to women chefs in France, the most in the guide’s history.

When I was just shy of 20, I had a realization: If I wanted to become an accomplished chef, I had to leave France.

This fact has been a source of curiosity for many people throughout the years, for two reasons. One, my home country is the center of the culinary world, and has long been a destination for aspiring chefs. And two, decades after I left France for the United States, I wound up opening French restaurants that serve variations on French food.

But the simple yet significant reason for my leaving was that as a woman, I would not be able to achieve my goals in France the way I would be able to in the United States. French women did not open high-end restaurants and head kitchens back then. Even if we had serious epicurean aspirations, France did not invite us to dream the same way that America did.

While I didn’t know if women were making it as successful chefs in the United States, I did know that if I worked hard I would have more of a chance to see my dreams come true there. I would have preferred to stay in France, yes, but not at the cost of my professional goals. I wanted to learn to be a chef. I wanted to run my own kitchens. But because I was a woman, I faced limitations and barriers. So I had to go.

Thirty years ago my experience was neither unusual nor uncommon. I don’t think France was particularly backward-looking, nor was the fine-dining industry a relic of the past. My lack of opportunity was simply reflective of a wider world that still wasn’t sure it wanted women at the table.

Progress has been made since then. Today more and more women chefs are taking their rightful place in the culinary establishment and receiving global accolades for their creativity and talent. I delight in the realization that my female colleagues in their 20s don’t have to face the same limitations I did.

They do face new struggles, however. These obstacles to success are less about access and more about balancing the demands of work with those of raising a family; the continued realities of sexual harassment; and the lingering assumptions that while a woman might be an excellent cook, she can’t hack it when it comes to running a world-class kitchen.

When I came to the United States in 1990, I was allowed into the culinary world, but I had to prove that I had a right to be there. I wasn’t pedigreed, but I learned what I could. I listened and I watched. The only way forward was to develop my skills quickly and work really hard, so I did both.

I worked mostly with men, and although that did present certain challenges — particularly with regard to having no one to compare notes with about the hard hours or physical exhaustion, since doing so with men would be admitting weakness — I felt encouraged and supported because I was allowed to be there in these kitchens, seeing how everything was done. I devoured the support people offered and saw challenges as invitations to excel. As I made my way through this world, I found my role models.

Now I’m focused on developing the talents of others. I’ve been afforded the opportunity to work among the world’s best chefs and by some measures be counted among them, and today immensely talented people are drawn to learn and work in my restaurants in San Francisco. I have the privilege of watching the world’s next culinary giants — some of whom consider me a role model — as they negotiate their paths forward.

I also reach out far and wide to encourage people in other industries to identify and realize their dreams, and provide young women the opportunity to see someone who may look like them doing what they dream of one day doing.

These days my most pressing challenge is my health. Since my cancer diagnosis became public earlier this year, I have spoken about the physical, emotional and psychological toll that the illness has taken, and about how I am not able to work the way I would like.

Cancer can affect how I feel moment to moment, but the illness has offered some uncharacteristic calm and quiet. Given my fast-paced career, the ability to take a breath and reflect has been a novel thing for me. Doing so has helped me re-engage my youthful will and work toward a new passion: my own survival. I still encounter moments of sadness and confusion, of course, but I have a fresh perspective and the strength to overcome the challenges that lie ahead.

And I have my mentors — though today they work in my kitchens. They help me each day by inspiring me to survive. Most important, I have the knowledge that I have inspired them, and that they are depending on me to heal and fully return to my kitchens so that I can continue my work supporting the next generation of women chefs.