Across home kitchens and professional restaurants, women have long carried the stories and skills that define the world of food. Their impact deserves more recognition
All the chefs at Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express, in London, are women. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer
On 8 March each year, the calendar lights up: dinners celebrating women, panel talks, articles and online events amplifying female voices. The mood on International Women’s Day is joyful, the conversations energised and it feels as if the world is finally paying attention. But then 9 March arrives. Do the celebrations stop? Do we tuck away the banners with the last of the desserts? When the events conclude, are women no longer worth celebrating? The sad truth is that many International Women’s Day events can feel like lip service.
Less so in the food world – or at least in our corner of it. For generations, cooking has been predominantly a women’s realm, and the knowledge and wisdom that sustained humanity has been passed through the female line. So the culinary world is one of the few in the professional sphere where women have an edge.
Changing the face of canteens and kitchens … Thomasina Miers (left) and Sally Abé. Composite: Deborah Grace/ Create Academy/Sophia Spring/Observer
For inspiration, we look at the great female cooks – Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey, Elizabeth David and many more who knew the value of these traditions- and we look at countless others who innovate and stretch what food can be and do: Georgina Hayden updating traditional Greek recipes, Thomasina Miers changing the face of school canteens, Sally Abé calling out sexism in professional kitchens, Asma Khan giving value to domestic traditions (pictured top with her all-female team of chefs at Darjeeling Express). The people who champion the best and most delicious food, the people who expand the conversation around food, are very often women.
Our restaurant, Honey & Co, is and always has been a matriarchy – most of our management team are women. They lead our kitchens and run our front of house, wine programme, communications and logistics. While this was not done by design, we believe it is key to our company’s success and longevity. We don’t know much about other parts of the economy, but when it comes to food, celebrating and empowering women is something worth doing all year round.
What we ate this week
Better with cheddar … hot cross buns. Photograph: Kate Whitaker/The Observer
Bunheads | It is hot-cross bun season, and while we think that ours are seriously good, we were given a couple from Bakery Arch, one of St John’s three restaurants, and thought them pretty close to perfection. The HCB etiquette is as follows: cut in half and toast, butter generously, then have the bottom side with a thick slice of good cheddar and the top with a generous amount of marmalade. Done like this, it’s a two-course meal. (And if you can’t make it to St John’s, Felicity Cloake has a masterclass on how to make the perfect ones at home.)
Follow the crumbs | Is a chocolate croissant worth the 15-minute bike ride from Stockwell to Battersea? It is if that croissant is from August Bakery, where we find ourselves more and more and more. We should either move closer or further away.
Baker’s delight | We’ve done a deep dive into Edd Kimber’s new book, Chocolate Baking, which is as good as it sounds – better, even. We are hosting an afternoon tea, all from this book, and we’re not sure how it will go down, but it sold out so quickly that we suspect not many people are giving up chocolate for lent – and those who do would love this book as a gift.
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