'No one should come home and burst into tears': the truth about life as a female chef

Turning the tables

Professional kitchens have long had a reputation for their aggressive atmosphere, long working hours and for being dominated by men. But things are changing – and there’s one female chef in particular who is determined to make a positive impact. Having kickstarted her career in this cut-throat environment, Sally Abé is on a mission to rewrite the culinary landscape and, in turn, get more women in the kitchen. We spoke with the celebrated British chef to learn more about her (sometimes horrific) personal experiences, and why she’s calling for action.

Read on to discover what it was really like to work in a Michelin-starred kitchen, and learn more about Sally’s culinary mission.

From college to kitchen

Starting out in the industry, especially when you haven’t attended formal culinary school, isn’t easy. It wasn’t until Sally’s final year placement at university, where she studied hospitality business management, that she stepped foot inside a professional kitchen. The chef, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, started working at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s. “It was very hard work,” Sally tells us. “During my first few years, I was learning as I go. It was very much a baptism of fire, but I think I thrived on the pressure at the same time.”

Celebrated successes

Following a challenging – but successful – stint at Claridge’s, Sally’s career began to blossom, and she went on to head up many renowned London restaurants, including The Ledbury and The Harwood Arms, and appeared on the UK TV series Great British Menu. Sally now works as a chef consultant at The Pem, a modern British restaurant located inside the Conrad London St. James hotel. Named after Emily Wilding Davison, a prominent figure during the suffragette movement, Sally explains: “We wanted to dedicate the restaurant to strong women, and being in the middle of Westminster, the suffragettes made the most sense.”

A female-fronted team

Data from the Office for National Statistics reveals that between 2009 and 2017 only 17% of chefs in the UK were women. With The Pem, Sally is determined to help change that. “I didn’t set out to get a wholly female team – it just kind of happened,” Sally says. “I had always strived for a 50/50 divide, but equality is important, and I think for the world to move on and change, people need to push that change. It’s important to show young women and girls that aspire to be chefs or work in the industry that there are people out there that look like them.”

Leading the change

In summer 2024, Sally released her first book titled A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen. Part memoir, part manifesto, the book lifts the lid on just how brutal an environment a professional kitchen could be. “Some people don’t want to talk about those darker things and of what it used to be like – or can still be like – and think that it should be swept under the carpet,” she explains. “I think it’s important to highlight those things in order to make change.”

The honest truth

From being forced to clean the kitchen after service with a toothbrush (following a 17-hour shift) to being verbally abused and given misogynist nicknames, the book delves into what it was really like working in a high-end kitchen at that time. “For me, it’s about changing the culture of kitchens altogether, regardless of sex and gender,” Sally says. As she somewhat shockingly points out, “No one should come home and burst into tears every night or hope to get hit by a bus to get some rest.” Since releasing her book, Sally has received messages from other female chefs thanking her for her honesty.

A call to action

So, what needs to happen now? As well as aspiring chefs being able to see other women in professional kitchens and watching them succeed, Sally highlights that: “It’s important that they can come into kitchens and restaurants where they will be treated properly and respected.” While there's still a long way to go for full equality within the hospitality industry, it's clear that times are beginning to change and, with chefs like Sally at the forefront of many brilliant restaurants, the future is looking like a more positive one.

Read on to learn about other influential female chefs who blazed their own culinary trail, counting down to the most impactful of all.

Pioneers of the culinary sphere

Professional kitchens may have traditionally been seen as the domain of men, but we – and these culinary trailblazers – would tend to disagree. Women have brought us some of the most significant (and downright delicious) achievements in the world of gastronomy. From Julia Child's groundbreaking French cooking (and unconventional presenting style) to Delia Smith's simple tips and Samin Nosrat's focus on contrasting flavours, here are 38 of the world's most influential female chefs who've helped to shape the culinary landscape.

We've based our ranking on the impact of each female chef, and on the opinions of our well-travelled (and well-fed) team. The list is unavoidably subjective.

38: Lorraine Pascale

British chef and former supermodel Lorraine Pascale's career changed course when she decided to follow her passion for baking. After completing a foundation degree in International Culinary Arts in Pastry, she went on to work in renowned kitchens like Gilgamesh and The Wolseley – and, in 2011, she took to UK TV screens, presenting her hit show Baking Made Easy. Since then, she's released several cookbooks and fronted a variety of cooking shows on both sides of the Atlantic.

37: Elena Arzak

Basque chef Elena Arzak took growing up in household of Michelin-starred chefs in her stride, joining the family business in the 1990s. Initially working alongside her father Juan Mari Arzak to retain the three Michelin stars awarded to Arzak in Gipuzkoa, she now solely runs the restaurant and continues to honour its history through innovative flavours and local, seasonal produce. One of Spain’s most celebrated chefs, Arzak is continually named in best chef lists around the world.

36: Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray was first introduced to the world by Oprah Winfrey in the mid-2000s, and even at that point the cookbook author and TV host had developed her signature bubbly style. Ray's main contribution to American cuisine is the quick and easy 30-minute meal. Her philosophy is that cooking shouldn’t be intimidating and that anyone can assemble a delicious dinner without too much effort or expertise.

35: Julia Komp

Awarded her first Michelin star in 2016 at the age of 27 – making her the youngest German woman to ever receive such an accolade – Julia Komp is one of Germany’s most successful chefs. A keen traveller, her globetrotting experiences have shaped her approach to creating the authentic, tasty and visually exciting dishes you’ll find at her restaurant, Sahila, in Cologne. She’s appeared on a few German TV programmes too, including popular cooking show Die Küchenschlacht (The Kitchen Battle).

34: Donna Hay

The author of over 25 bestselling cookbooks, Donna Hay is one of Australia's most instantly recognisable chefs, known for her simple, beautifully presented dishes. After starting out as a food writer for lifestyle magazine Marie Claire in the early 2000s, she moved on to publish her very own bi-monthly creation, the Donna Hay Magazine, and was already a household name by the time she launched her hugely successful TV career.

33: Elena Reygadas

Known for championing Mexican biodiversity and sustainable production, Elena Reygadas was recognised as the World's Best Female Chef in the 2023 World's 50 Best Restaurants awards. She's an advocate of gender equality in professional kitchens, too, and launched a female-focused scholarship programme for young women accepted into culinary school in Mexico. Named the Beca Elena Reygadas Scholarship fund, it aims to strengthen the position of Mexican women in the world of gastronomy.

32: Lynn Crawford

One of Canada's first celebrity chefs, Lynn Crawford has had a long and successful culinary career: she worked for the Four Seasons Hotel group for 24 years, and now owns her own restaurant in Toronto. Her rise to fame began in 2007, when she became the first Canadian woman to be invited onto Food Network's Iron Chef America, where she competed against another famous food world face: Bobby Flay. Since then, Crawford has released a bevy of cookbooks and hosted her own show, Pitchin' In, on Food Network Canada.

31: Diana Kennedy

A Brit who moved to Mexico in the 1950s, Diana Kennedy is best known for her cookbook The Art of Mexican Cooking. The book is filled with clever techniques to bring out the best Mexican flavours and was named among the top 50 best cookbooks of all time by British culinary magazine, Observer Food Monthly. The author is pictured here at home in the Mexican state of Michoacán in 2018.

30: Vicky Lau

From being a design agency creative director to becoming a culinary icon, Vicky Lau’s unusual career path only adds to her charm and brilliance. Channelling her creativity, Lau started working at the now-closed French Mediterranean restaurant Cépage in Hong Kong, before opening her own space, TATE, in 2012, gaining a coveted Michelin star within a year. In 2021, she received a second star, becoming the first female chef in Asia to ever achieve this. Alongside heading up the restaurant, Lau is an advocate for sustainability within the food industry.

29: Christina Tosi

David Chang is the biggest star to come out of the Momofuku family of restaurants, but pastry chef Christina Tosi is a close second, thanks to her whimsical inventions like cereal milk ice cream and compost cookies. She started to work with Momofuku in an administrative role, but in 2008 David asked her to open Milk Bar, where she could exercise her creativity to create desserts for his restaurants. She’s since become a pastry superstar, with many of her creations now considered classics.

28: Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor

In the 1970s, Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor wrote about things that the food media is only really starting to embrace now: cooking intuitively and telling stories about identity and culture through food. Her 1970 book, Vibration Cooking: Or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl, was a landmark publication, combining personal narratives and loose recipes to paint a story of her life and the racialised nature of food and food culture.

27: Jane Grigson

A celebrated food columnist for British newspaper, The Observer, Jane Grigson authored many cookbooks during her lifetime, most of which championed European and British cuisine. Considered by many to be something of a bible when it comes to vegetable preparation and cooking, Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, released in 1978, is possibly the most famous and continues to be a classic reference book for cooks and gardeners today.

26: Marcela Valladolid

Marcela Valladolid is from San Diego, California, but has spent much time cooking and learning on the other side of the border in Tijuana, where she could better explore the traditional Mexican cuisine that she's built her career on. Her first TV show was in Spanish, but she crossed over to English-speaking audiences in 2009 with the release of her book Fresh Mexico – and her career has only grown since.

25: Hélène Darroze

A fourth-generation chef, Hélène Darroze grew up in her family’s Michelin-starred restaurant so, naturally, it was only a matter of time before she took to the kitchen formerly. The French chef is now one of the most celebrated of her generation, with three restaurants all boasting Michelin stars. Hélène Darroze at The Connaught in London is perhaps her greatest culinary achievement, renowned for its tailored menus, exquisite service and stunning interior; it also holds three coveted Michelin stars.

24: Dominique Crenn

Renowned for her imaginative flair and culinary artistry, French-born Dominique Crenn became the first female chef in the US to achieve three Michelin stars, at her restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, California, in 2018. Crenn continues to impress, appearing on TV shows such as Chef’s Table and Iron Chef, and she has released two cookbooks, including her most recent Rebel Chef: In Search of What Matters in 2020.

23: Jessica B. Harris

Jessica B. Harris is a food writer and historian who has dedicated her career to the exploration of America’s African diaspora through food. Her dozen cookbooks celebrate how food reflects Black culture, both in America and in Africa, the Caribbean and other parts of the world. Each of her books not only tells the stories behind the recipes, but shows readers how food is an intersection of culture, history and tradition.

22: Ree Drummond

Few food bloggers have been able to cross over to mainstream audiences as successfully as Ree Drummond, better known as The Pioneer Woman. While many established food personalities have leaned towards fancier, fine dining fare, Drummond’s speciality is home-style country recipes. She started her site in 2006 and published her first cookbook in 2009, expanding into TV in the early 2010s.

21: Marcella Hazan

Italian food writer Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is widely considered the culinary bible for those looking to master the cuisine. From introducing different pastas and sauces to tips on using seasonal ingredients and exploring techniques, it's a must-read for any passionate cook wanting to learn how to cook proper Italian food.

20: Samin Nosrat

The author of the extraordinary book Salt Fat Acid Heat, and host of the accompanying Netflix TV series, chef and food writer Samin Nosrat is an unassuming and enthusiastic guide to the wide world of food and flavour. She got her start as a chef at Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse in Berkley, California (see number 12 on our list), and her curiosity about cuisine and culture has led her to explore food around the world.

19: Hannah Glasse

Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy is still often referenced today, although the English author – who grew up in Hexham, Northumberland – earned little profit. Written for the average household cook or servant, the recipes include jelly trifle, piccalilli and Hamburgh sausages, considered an early version of a hamburger. Dozens of editions have been published since it was first printed in 1747.

18: Madhur Jaffrey

Actor and food writer Madhur Jaffrey brought Indian cooking to a broader audience in 1973, with her first cookbook, An Invitation to Indian Cooking, which was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Cookbook Hall of Fame in 2006. A household name, Jaffrey has presented a slew of TV cookery shows and written a number of bestselling cookbooks and is known for her straight-talking approach.

17: Cristeta Comerford

A true inspiration, Filipino chef Cristeta Comerford moved to the US and began her career working at restaurants and hotels in Illinois and Washington DC, before joining the White House culinary team in 1995. After 10 years as an assistant chef, she went on to become the first woman and person of colour to attain the role of executive chef. During her time, Comerford served under five presidents, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Now retired, she continues to be an inspiration for aspiring chefs across the US and beyond.

16: Nigella Lawson

Known for her intimate and often wonderfully carefree approach to cooking, TV chef and author Nigella Lawson focuses on what food should be all about: moments of joy, whether it's eating an amazing sandwich alone or serving a feast to friends and family. Her cookbooks appeal to experienced and novice cooks alike, with food writer Nigel Slater describing her writing as 'lustrous, seductive and reassuring'.

15: Elizabeth David

A one-of-a-kind cookery writer who captured the hearts and minds of middle-class cooks with her exotic 1950 debut, The Book of Mediterranean Food, Elizabeth David is regarded by some as the saviour of British cooking. Perhaps slightly ahead of its time (it was released while Britain was in the grip of post-war rationing), the book featured ingredients like garlic, aubergines and olives, and inspired people to travel to experience the mouth-watering dishes for themselves.

14: Anne-Sophie Pic

One of the world’s most celebrated chefs, Anne-Sophie Pic didn’t even consider joining her family’s three Michelin-starred restaurant, Maison Pic in Valence, France, until the sudden death of her father and subsequent loss of its third star. Taking over the kitchen with no formal training, Pic went on to gain three stars of her own by 2007. Now with multiple award-winning restaurants under her belt, she continues to wow with her intricate flavour combinations and modern cuisine.

13: Ina Garten

One of America’s most beloved celebrity chefs, Ina Garten continues to strike a chord with viewers and readers who appreciate her elegant and effortless approach to cooking. Her landmark book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, came out in 1999, named after her store in The Hamptons. Garten really gained traction in the early 2000s, though, as she continued to write cookbooks and launched the Barefoot Contessa television show.

12: Alice Waters

Alice Waters and her restaurant, Chez Panisse in Berkley, California, set the foundation for the modern farm-to-table and market-fresh cooking movements. The restaurant seemed like a bit of a utopian experiment when it first opened in 1971, but the kitchen managed to work wonders with seasonal ingredients and an ever-changing menu. Chez Panisse is still open, and Waters continues to be praised as having had a huge influence on the way many of us eat today.

11: Eliza Acton

The author of 1845 book Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton is regarded as having created the template for the modern cookbook. The book is not only influential in terms of its recipes, but also in its design and layout; it features a contents page and, crucially, includes cooking times. Acton's recipes earned the respect of many famous cooks including Isabella Beeton, whose Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management was published in 1861.

10: Eliza Smith

Famous for writing The Compleat Housewife – a cookbook published in 1727 that achieved transatlantic success – Eliza Smith spent much of her life working as a housekeeper in wealthy 18th-century English households. Considered the earliest cookbook to be printed in the US, the collection of recipes for food, wines and medicines introduced readers to ‘katchup’ and bread and butter pudding.

9: Leah Chase

Tiana, the waitress who longed to open a restaurant of her own in Disney film The Princess and the Frog, was based on none other than Leah Chase, New Orleans’ own Queen of Creole Cuisine. The late proprietor of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant, Chase served the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Movement and several US presidents – and her legacy lives on. The restaurant is still open and thriving, offering the same delicious fare as it did back in the late 1940s when Chase took the helm.

8: Elizabeth Raffald

A forward-thinking 18th-century housekeeper, author, teacher and businesswoman, the entrepreneurial Elizabeth Raffald also set up and ran a culinary school in England, not only teaching young women the skills needed to successfully manage their own households, but also equipping them with a solid understanding of cooking and home economics. Her 1769 cookery book, The Experienced English Housekeeper, features recipes for the likes of mince pies, omelettes, ice cream, piccalilli and cheesecakes, as well as arguably the first recorded instructions for making macaroni cheese.

7: Martha Stewart

Back in the 1980s, Martha Stewart transformed herself from a former stockbroker into America’s queen of everything domestic. Stewart’s breakthrough book, Entertaining, came out in 1982 and by the end of the decade, she had published several more – not to mention making regular appearances on US television. All of this paved the way for the Martha Stewart Living empire, which blossomed in the 1990s and continues to thrive today.

6: Delia Smith

For many Brits, Delia Smith is the face of home cooking. With her calm manner, clear instructions and reassuring presence, she helped revolutionise British cooking by making it accessible to anyone and everyone. Thanks to her thorough and easy-to-follow cookbooks and successful TV shows, she's one of the most trusted chefs around – whenever she recommends a product, it tends to become an overnight success (a phenomenon known as 'the Delia effect').

5: Fanny Cradock

Perhaps Britain's first real celebrity chef, Fanny Cradock was a larger-than-life TV personality who captivated audiences with her effortless cooking instructions, French-inspired recipes and notoriously brusque manner. From 1955-76, she made cooking exciting and accessible through her many shows and published a whole host of successful cookbooks and BBC booklets. Known for her cost-effective tips and tricks, her catchphrases included ‘this is perfectly economical’ and ‘this won't stretch your purse’.

4: Anna Wecker

One of few 16th-century women food writers known by name, Anna Wecker was the first woman to publish a cookery book in German, penning the pioneering Ein Köstlich new Kochbuch (A Delicious New Cookbook) in 1597. A nationwide success, the book was intended for home kitchens and went on to be reprinted numerous times up until the end of the 17th century.

3: Edna Lewis

Known as the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis first made a splash in the 1940s, when she opened Manhattan eatery Café Nicholson, a spot popular with celebrities who loved her down-home dishes. It was books, though, that really served to propel her into the spotlight; The Taste of Country Cooking, published in 1976, was the first recipe book by a Black woman to reach a nationwide audience in the US. It’s part cookbook, part celebration of the author’s Southern hometown and is a true American classic.

2: Irma S. Rombauer

You might not instantly recognise her name, but Irma S. Rombauer’s The Joy of Cooking is one of the most published cookbooks of all time – and, though it first came out in 1931, it can still be found in millions of American homes to this day. Aimed at the average home cook, this kitchen essential is filled with simple recipes, from turkey dinners to vegetable side dishes and classic desserts. It’s been revised many times over the years but has never lost its appeal, thanks to the input of Rombauer’s family members.

1: Julia Child

Possibly the most famous food personality in US history, Julia Child brought French cuisine to the masses. Her rise to superstardom started with the release of her 1961 book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Thanks to her TV show The French Chef, in which she charmed audiences with her signature exclamation of ‘Bon appétit’, she was ubiquitous throughout the 1960s. Her culinary legacy and legend live on, as shown in the movie Julie & Julia and the TV series Julia, with Child portrayed by Meryl Streep and Sarah Lancashire respectively.

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