Susan Spicer of Bayona in New Orleans
The number of female executive chefs is growing. At the Culinary Institute of America, the prestigious New York culinary school, the enrollment of women in the last 20 years has doubled, from 21% in 1980 to 41% in 2007. Forty percent of star national TV chefs are women, and are 30% of the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who, which lists the luminaries of the food business.
However, women chefs still have a ways to go to catch up with their male counterparts. In a recent survey, Starchefs.com, which covers the world of chefs and food, found that women represent only 22% of the restaurant business, and only 15% of executive chefs are female. Women fare much better in cakes and tarts, representing 39% of pastry chefs.
A recent Forbes article provides more information and profiles eight female executive chefs.
