She’s the last one standing at the stove.
Jennifer Carroll is the only woman in a kitchen full of men on Bravo’s “Top Chef.” She definitely deserves to be there. With a great combination of know-how and risk, her efforts have paid off over the course of the season. She’s hit a rough patch of late, but I can’t help but think back to something she said in the second episode, long before, one by one, her female housemates fell on the knife.
It was during the boys vs. girls challenge “Bach/elorette Party.” To paraphrase, she couldn’t grasp how the gender split made any sense as talent is talent.
She’s right, of course, but she nudged my brain: How did the business of running a restaurant kitchen become a man’s world, while running a home kitchen — or even a household — became woman’s work?
Granted, times have changed. Many men are happy to face a fridge full of food, rather than see it as a wormhole to calling for a pizza. And there are women whose kitchens are really just extended closets.
This isn’t about them. This is about the business of food.
Women chefs numbers are vast, but they are just now getting their dues in my opinion. “Top Chef” is in its sixth season and has had only one female winner, Stephanie Izard, in its fourth season.
And don’t get me started about Julia Child. Who could imagine she of all people had to push her way into Le Cordon Bleu?
But such is the case when business is involved, as is the concept of “running” something. Once it moves outside the home front, “running” something isn’t seen as the same thing.
I’m not shooting for a feminist rant, more like a how did this happen? Was it a profitable business that could be monetized, so the duties were moved to the male realm, long considered the bread-winners?
It just seems running a professional kitchen, or running an office, a household, or anything else, is gender neutral. Talent is talent.
But why is there still a dividing line?
Here’s hoping Jen C. rallies in the final episodes. I’m rooting for her for one reason only — she’s the most talented chef in the line-up.
