Quoted: a Time magazine editor on why female chefs don’t qualify as gods of food
I think it reflects one very harsh reality of the current chefs’ world, which unfortunately has been true for years: it’s still a boys club.
—Time section editor Howard Chua-Eoan on why no female chefs made the magazine’s controversial list of the world’s key “food influencers.” Out of over 60 chefs mentioned in the November 18 issue, which includes a series of profiles and a family tree–style infographic depicting the “major lineages” in the modern culinary world, only two are women—both pastry chefs, and both briefly mentioned in a sidebar. (Four female non-chefs made the list of key influencers: coffee producer Aida Batlle, Chairman of India’s National Dairy Development Board Amrita Patel, environmental activist and author Vandana Shiva and head of the U.N. World Food Programme Ertharin Cousin.)
In an interview with food blog Eater, Chua-Eoan explained that the magazine “wanted to go with reputation and influence” rather than “fill a quota” and attributed the lack of female chefs to the “harsh realities” of a culinary world where male chefs seem to receive more mentoring. “It’s all men because men still take care of themselves,” he said. “The women really need someone—if not men, themselves actually—to sort of take care of each other.” David Chang, René Redzepi and Alex Atala, who are profiled together in an article titled “The Dudes of Food,” appear on the issue’s European, Asian and South Pacific covers. The U.S. cover is devoted to an unrelated story about New Jersey governor Chris Christie; however, it might have the more appropriate headline: The Elephant in the Room. [Eater]
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