Who do you think of when you think of a chef?

I spent most of last week thinking about this seemingly banal question and realised it was not such a banal question after all. From fictional characters like Chef Gusteau from the animated film Ratatouille (2007) to Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto from the popular TV series The Bear (2022 - present), and real-life celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Vikas Khanna, Sanjeev Kapoor, or the late great Anthony Bourdain, the popular imagination of a “chef” is predominantly male. This is not only a perception problem. The food service industry has been historically hostile to the needs and aspirations of women in professional kitchens. Why is that?

To find answers to this question, I spoke to three homegrown chefs.

“The irony lies in the gender stereotypes that dictate women are best suited to cook at home or for their families, simply because it’s an unpaid job,” Chef Farha Naaz told me. “The moment a woman aspires to work in a professional kitchen and make a career out of cooking, she is met with doubt and scepticism. People often question her ability to handle the high-pressure environment of a professional kitchen, assuming she won’t be able to bear the workload.”

Farha is the founder of Mamazaki — a food pop-up and menu consultancy startup based in Guwahati. An enthusiastic young agricultural-engineer-turned-chef-entrepreneur, Farha started experimenting with local ingredients and produce during the lockdown and made it to MasterChef India - Hindi Season 8 in 2023. She has been a professional chef since 2020.

“Women still face systemic challenges in getting their ideas recognised and executed. The barriers are not just societal but institutional, making it a constant struggle for women to carve out space and be taken seriously, despite their undeniable talent and leadership potential,” Farha said. “I have personally faced challenges while seeking investment for my startup, Mamazaki, simply because I am a woman founder and chef. Investors would often ask if I had any male partners involved, as though that would validate my business more. Mamazaki is a woman-led startup and every woman associated with us is exceptional at what she does.”

This is a long-standing systemic problem of the food service industry that all three chefs I spoke to mentioned during our conversations. Chef Radhika Khandelwal, chef and food security activist and the founder-owner of Fig and Maple, New Delhi, also mentioned that women chefs and restaurateurs often face bias when it comes to securing funding and investment.

“There needs to be a concerted effort from investors to examine their biases and ensure that women-owned businesses receive equal opportunity and consideration. Supporting women-led ventures at the financial level is a powerful way to ensure long-term success and equity,” Chef Khandelwal said.

While there is no nationwide official government data available about the gender divide in India’s professional kitchens, a 2018 study by Nickeled and Dimed, the official research platform of the Centre for New Economics Studies (CNES), Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities (JSLH), OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, found that approximately only 10 to 15 percent of professional chefs in India identify as women, which means about 8 out of every 10 professional chefs in India are male. By contrast, only about 6 percent of Indian men help with cooking in a domestic kitchen.

What contributes to this sharp gender disparity in India’s professional kitchens?

“Men have long occupied leadership roles in kitchens and restaurants, creating a narrow idea of what success looks like,” Chef Khandelwal told me. “These barriers can manifest in various ways — whether it’s not being taken seriously in the kitchen, facing dismissiveness from investors, or being overlooked for opportunities that are instead offered to our male counterparts. There’s an unspoken rule about who gets to be seen, heard, and celebrated, and it’s rarely women.”

Chef Bani Nanda — founder of Miam Patisserie in New Delhi — echoed similar sentiments during our conversation. “While I never faced any hostility or injustice, I would definitely add that women weren’t taken as seriously in the kitchen as men. Lots of my male peers and head chefs would reiterate that being in the bakery section was a hobby. We were never given night shifts. You cannot run a hotel without a night shift. This did affect my learning curve — for example, I was never much of a Boulanger, as all the breads were baked at night.”

In the food service industry, the term “hot kitchen” refers to the part of a professional kitchen that involves the use of heat in cooking all sorts of things from proteins like fish, meat, and eggs to produce like fruits and vegetables — whether by boiling, steaming, frying, stir-frying, stewing, or roasting. It’s a cramped, loud, hot, wet, claustrophobic place with many people — sometimes too many people — working in close proximity. This is where chefs are made. To make it in a hot kitchen, you have to be on your feet all day, constantly peeling, cutting, slicing, prepping, cooking, searing, grilling, frying, roasting, and plating food; precisely and perfectly. And you have to do it again and again and again on cue. It is often a cruel, unaccommodating, hostile environment.

It is no secret that hot kitchens are some of the toughest places to work in. A dizzying combination of long hours, close quarters, gruelling physical conditions, and intense, relentless pressure — there are those who think that only men possess the resilience to survive and thrive in the pressures and hardship of a hot kitchen, that women do not. The normalisation of this kind of thinking and the glamourisation of a certain kind of testosterone fuelled machismo — in other words, thinly-veiled misogyny — is what contributes to the outdated idea that women have no place in professional kitchens; not because they cannot cook, but because they do not have what it takes to survive this hard-charging, hostile environment.

“It’s also worth mentioning the burden of constantly having to prove oneself,” Chef Khandelwal said. “As women, we’re held to a different standard, often having to go above and beyond to simply earn the respect and recognition that men are freely given. This extends to every level, from funding to media coverage to the day-to-day operations of running a kitchen.”

The challenges women face in professional kitchens are not just about gender disparity, but about an ingrained culture that continues to privilege men. “Toxic, male-dominated kitchen cultures can create hostile environments for women,” Chef Khandelwal said. “From harassment to being passed over for promotions, the culture in many kitchens can be detrimental to women’s success.”

It’s important that we talk about the role the popular media plays in perpetuating this toxic hyper-masculine kitchen culture at this point. From glorifying abusive, exploitative behaviour by male chefs in reality tv shows to depicting selfless, quasi-religious submission to the gruelling, hostile work environments as a mark of “dedication” to one's craft and career over their own wellbeing, how we choose to portray chefs in popular media plays a huge role in what kind of kitchen culture we normalise.

“The media for example —” Chef Nanda said, “I have come across countless articles, panel discussions, and award ceremonies that aren’t inclusive. Why are we remembered only around Women’s Day? Why don’t female chefs get as many solo articles and features?”

“The gender imbalance in culinary competitions and shows is evident, with the male-to-female ratio still skewed,” Farha pointed out. “Despite the remarkable work being done by women, they often lack the recognition and representation they deserve.”

For meaningful, long-lasting course correction in the food service industry, this is where the change must begin, and it must begin at the very top.

“Leadership in professional kitchens has long been dominated by men, and that needs to shift,” Chef Khandelwal said. “We need more women in head chef and ownership roles to break the perception that kitchen leadership is a 'male' trait. Representation matters. When women see themselves in these positions, it opens the door for others to pursue these roles.”

The association of women’s cooking with archaic, patriarchal notions of 'good, fresh, home-cooked meals' not only romanticises the unpaid nature of women’s cooking, it also devalues their craft while inflating the value of men’s culinary skills in professional settings by creating the false perception that cooking comes naturally to women, while it must be an acquired skill for men.

For too long, the image of a successful chef has been synonymous with men — and often aggressive, hyper-masculine, abusive men. 

“Current portrayals of professional kitchens, such as those seen in shows like Gordon Ramsay’s (shows) and 'The Bear', often highlight aggressive, male-dominated environments that celebrate toxic behaviours,” Farha told me. “We need to challenge and debunk these narratives, creating safe spaces for ethical practices in kitchens where women are also valued for their contributions.”

This is why representation and visibility for women working as chefs are essential — not just for the individuals in the industry but for the future of the profession as a whole. “When women are represented in leadership roles and given visibility in the media, it sends a powerful message to aspiring chefs, especially young women, that there is a place for them at the table,” Chef Khandelwal says. “Representation also helps shift the culture in kitchens, making them more inclusive and supportive of spaces. When women are seen in head chef or ownership roles, it challenges the toxic, hyper-masculine environments that have become normalised in many professional kitchens. It changes the conversation around who gets to lead, who gets the opportunities, and who defines success.”

“The industry is changing, there are slow improvements. The media doesn’t necessarily feature strong women in F&B making an impact often enough,” Chef Nanda said.

“Despite conversations about inclusivity, the same patterns continue — male chefs dominate the spotlight, the same names are celebrated, and women are often left navigating an uphill battle. Change, when it happens, feels slow and tokenistic rather than systemic,” Chef Khandelwal told me. “That said, the hope we do have comes from women supporting women, creating spaces where we can thrive outside of traditional structures. It’s these small but powerful efforts — female-led restaurants, women-centric food networks — that will eventually shift the culture, even if the larger industry remains resistant to change.”

The good news is that, as food writers, enthusiasts, and ultimately consumers, we have the power and the opportunity to change this industry. Like Gandhi said, we can be the change we wish to see in the world. We can choose not to devalue or take for granted the unpaid care work — which includes cooking meals — that women in our families provide for us. And the next time we go out for lunch or dinner, we can choose to be mindful and select a women-led restaurant for our next big date or business meeting. We can celebrate women, and celebrate chefs who are women, without linking them to special occasions like Mother’s Day or Women’s Day.

I know I will.

Follow Chef Radhika Khandelwal here.

Follow Chef Farha Naaz here.

Follow Chef Bani Nanda here.

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