Female Kitchen Casualties

I'm working in a culinary generation that is seeing more and more women in chef jackets and aprons. And yes.. I do believe in girl power! In my kitchen alone, of 23 cooks, 11 of them are women; and two of them are sous chefs. My entire pastry team, bar my sous and baker, is all girl.

Don't assume that ANY girl can work in a kitchen. This girl needs to have balls. This girl needs to accept the fact that for the rest of her career, she won't be wearing nail polish. And try wearing a sleeveless dress or cute top with an armful (or handful) of burns, cuts and scrapes. (I still have a scar from 6 years ago when I shaved the skin off my knuckle on a rotary meat slicer.) This girl needs to have the stamina to be on her feet for 14+ hours a day, on top of emptying 50# bags of sugar, carrying a suckling pig over her shoulder to hang it in the walk-in, or flinging a 30# halibut onto a cutting board.

This is an industry only for people who love what they do.

For women, sacrificing your girlie-ness is part of the job description. But that's what weekends are for, right? My Lauboutins still get to come out every now and then... they're just paired with a long sleeved dress.