International Women’s Day 2022 - #breakthebias
Creative, collaborative, determined. Just some of the words we could use to describe the incredible women we get to work alongside in hospitality. We celebrate and champion women, every day here at Jimmy Garcia Catering but to celebrate this International Women’s Day, we chat with four outstanding female chefs that we admire for their success, talent, vision, humour and courage.
Introducing… our very own Alex Cox, the extremely talented Executive Chef at Jimmy Garcia Catering. The glorious Asma Khan, Chef and Founder of Darjeeling Express. The awe-inspiring Skye Gyngell, Chef and Founder of Spring at Somerset House and Culinary Director at Heckfield Place and last but by no means least, Rebekah Pedler, the extraordinary Pastry Sous Chef at Eleven Madison Park.
Alex Cox - Executive Chef at Jimmy Garcia Catering
What inspired you to be a chef?
I've had a great love of food since I can remember. I was brought up in a home with lots of home-cooked meals, cakes and other treats, and it's the only career path I've ever really considered.
I love the satisfaction of taking simple, good-quality ingredients and making them into something delicious. I started out as a pastry chef and when training it always used to blow my mind that you can take flour, butter, sugar, and eggs and make millions of different recipes from those ingredients alone.
Three dinner party guests dead or alive?
Angela Hartnett, She's a pioneer for women in the industry, my partner has worked alongside her in the past and she sounds like a force to be reckoned with, Miriam Margolyes. She’s unapologetically herself - always and Jennifer Lawrence. Out of all the actresses I love, she seems the most down to earth and I think she'd make a great dinner party guest.
My favourite way to spend a day off would be drinking ice cold rose and eating homemade pizzas in the garden with friends and family. In the summer that is!
Favourite season for cooking?
That would have to be Spring. There are so many short seasons for produce in Spring that I love. Blood oranges, asparagus, rhubarb, wild garlic, elderflower etc.
Most important piece of advice I’ve ever been given?
Never overfill a piping bag.
Most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their career in catering?
Maybe not advice, but if you love food and cooking, then be a chef! One thing I’ve found over the years is that even when the days are long and the work is hard, I love my job, and surprisingly few other careers give the same job satisfaction and love for work as this.
Asma Khan - Chef and owner of Darjeeling Express
Three dinner party guests and why?
Barack Obama - I admire him for being so dignified and eloquent and remaining humble and rooted despite holding the greatest office in his country. Prince - This is the soundtrack of my life. I heard Prince in my teens and I absolutely adored him. India didn't have the internet, a way of looking at videos and images. When I finally saw a video of him performing live I totally fell in love! Rumi - He is deeply inspirational and my father would always read Rumi to me when I was young. I have continued to read his poems in my difficult times for inspiration and guidance.
What’s your favourite go-to food on your day off?
Paratha and masala omelette.
What's your favourite season for cooking, and why?
Winter. It's quite nice to be in a warm steamy kitchen full of spice and aromas when the weather is so cold.
What is the most important message you want to send out to women thinking about a career as a chef?
It is very important not to be afraid and to build a network of support in your workplace. It is not necessarily only women who can support women. Making allies around you will make it easier to deal with difficult situations as you have a support system and you won't feel isolated
Asma Khan, the first British chef on Chef’s Table with a mission that demands respect for the food, culture and female cooks of south Asia. Her restaurant, Darjeeling Express brings authentic home cooking to the fore. A real-deal “like mamma used to make it” menu because, in Khan’s kitchen, there is no other way: in a departure from convention and perceived wisdom, her team is made up solely of women who have only ever cooked at home. It’s a club of housewives and nannies, none of whom have had any professional training or experience.
I hope everything I do makes it easier for another woman of colour to know she can dream and rise. “These women are the backbone of this business, it is theirs, they’ve been with me from the very beginning,” explains Khan. The recipes, she says, are cooked with an instinct for flavour that relies on memory rather than measurements. The ambition was to create a space that felt like an extension of her family dining table in India. A place to gab and be generously overloaded with food.
What inspired you to be a chef?
I've always loved feeding people. Watching them eat food I made. I realised that despite studying law, I no longer wanted to practice. In court, there is never really a true winner as somebody does lose, but when you cook it is a win/win situation.
What do you most enjoy about cooking?
I find it very therapeutic. I take time when I cook and it is, for me, part of my ethos of honouring the women in my family as all the recipes I follow are my family recipes.
What is the most important piece of advice you have been given for the work you do?
Nobody gave me any advice as my path is so unusual, but the advice I wish someone had told me was not to be so afraid. I was very concerned in my early days whether people would like or even be willing to pay for my food.
Skye Gyngell - Chef and Founder of Spring at Somerset House and Culinary Director at Heckfield Place
Originally from Australia, Skye Gyngell is now one of Britain’s most acclaimed chefs. After initially training in Sydney and then Paris, Skye moved to London to work at The French House and with a number of high-profile private clients before taking on the role of head chef at Petersham Nurseries. It was at Petersham that Skye became renowned for her seasonal, refined cooking, creating dishes inspired by what she saw growing and blossoming around her. At the time, seasonal cooking wasn’t the buzzword du jour. She has been trailblazing this art for many years. Skye was the Independent on Sunday’s food writer for five years, and has also published three books: A Year in My Kitchen, My Favourite Ingredients and How I Cook , all to great acclaim.
What inspired you to be a chef?
I fell into it by chance. I got a job washing up while at university to help pay my rent. The woman who ran the kitchen took me under her wing, encouraged me and made me fall in love with food and cooking. I have a lot to thank her for.
What do you most enjoy about cooking?
I love everything about it. Choosing the produce, deciding what I’m going to do with it! Chopping, stirring, staring over a pot for hours on end. The team work, the excitement of a busy service that is going well! The exhaustion at the end of a long day.
Three dinner party guests and why?
Michelle Obama because she is such an inspiration and has done so much to inspire and encourage young women everywhere. The architect Louis Barragan - because his work is so moving and utterly brilliant. Tim Winton is my favourite author. I love the way he describes the Australian landscape and I’d love the chance to hear him talk.
What’s your favourite go-to food on your day off?
Good bread and cheese.
What's your favourite season for cooking, and why?
I love all the seasons for different reasons - they all have something unique to offer but if I had to pick one it would be Autumn - it is by far the most abundant.
What is the most important piece of advice you have been given for the work you do?
To focus on the job at hand.
What is the most important message you want to send out to women thinking about a career as a chef? Any tips?
I think you should Absolutely go for it. Definitely do not be afraid or feel intimidated by anything you have heard about kitchens being tough and brutal work environments, if those kitchens still exist they are few and far between. A good kitchen is a warm and nurturing place that is dedicated to teaching. You can’t beat the camaraderie and you will make lifelong friends. It’s a beautiful career, disciplined and creative!
Rebekah Pedler - Pastry Sous Chef at Eleven Madison Park
What inspired you to be a chef?
I was inspired by my Baba (grandmother) She had 7 children and was an exceptional cook. Baba would host various events at her house- poetry meetings, Easter celebrations, writing award nights and all the guests would be most excited about the food. To see all these people so happy when enjoying her culinary creations, really sparked my own passion for being hospitable.
What do you most enjoy about cooking?
Being apart of peoples joyful moments every single day
Three dinner party guests and why?
My husband Buddha- he is my perfect dining partner. My Baba - I am a chef because of the experiences we shared in the kitchen and all the knowledge she passed on to me. Rick Stein - because he’s so well travelled and I could listen to him talk about food all day.
What’s your favourite go-to food on your day off?
Yum Cha!
What's your favourite season for cooking, and why?
Spring, as there is an abundance of multicoloured types of fruits and vegetables that start to become available.
What is the most important piece of advice you have been given for the work you do?
It’s cool to care.
What is the most important message you want to send out to women thinking about a career as a chef? Any tips?
If it’s something that you want to do just go for it! Don’t focus on being a woman chef just focus on being a chef.
