Yay Stephanie Izard!
I'm so happy she won Top Chef last night. (I was going to write "I can't even tell you", but the fact is, I can tell you and I plan on doing so.)
Not only is Stephanie a Chicago chef (and as far as I hear, she doesn't plan on leaving), but she's a woman. I cheer for the first woman Top Chef, and I wish people understood how the chef profession is still inordinately dominated by men. There's this HUGE divide between cooking and being a gourmet chef, and the chefs? They are almost all men. If you follow the food world at all--and maybe if you don't--tell me that the chefs you think of immediately aren't men. I read food blogs and foodie books like crazy, and all the top chefs are men. The ones I can think of are men. Cooks are women, and they do things like Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee (BARF!), using canned soup and baby carrots to make a delightful meal in 30 minutes.
The innovators are men. The people who tough it out in hot kitchens are men. And there is PREJUDICE, people. Top Chef (the show) finds a mix of men and women chefs, but the fact is, most of the guest judges are men, and every year until now, a man has won. It is what it is. But I really hope that Izard's win does something for the advancement of women in the kitchen. In the PROFESSIONAL kitchen.
As for me, I can't WAIT to try her restaurant, just as soon as she gets that sucker open.
She's also a 1998 graduate of the University of Michigan!
Posted by: M | June 16, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Maybe the top chefs are men, but there are some really innovative women who do imaginative things with food. I proffer the name of one Julie van Rosendaal, daughter of a college classmate of mine. Her site, www.dinnerwithjulie.com, is a drool-maker of the first water. This woman makes astounding stuff. She also does TV shows and writes cookbooks and articles galore. How could she lose? She has creative parents.
Posted by: Mary | December 25, 2009 at 02:20 PM