'You’re Looking At Her': Trials And Triumphs Of Women Chefs

The miraculous thing about the female chefs I’ve met is how we've persisted and triumphed in so many ways.

When I was coming up as a young line cook nearly 20 years ago, I never worked for an executive chef or sous-chef who was a woman. This was not a deliberate decision. I interviewed with one female executive chef in San Francisco, but I didn’t get the job (most likely because I was fresh out of culinary school).

When I became an executive chef, I was constantly asked ― by vendors, sales reps and even potential hires ― where “the chef” was. I dinged one candidate who was interviewing with me for not even bothering to Google the restaurant to find out the chef’s name. As a Korean American woman, I have been asked if I’m the pastry chef a million times. It’s rarely assumed that I am the chef.