A woman, who is the primary cook at her home, is deemed ineligible to head a commercial kitchen. If the kitchen in the house is a woman’s empire, in the culinary industry, it is a man’s world as male chefs take the lead. Delving deep into this mentality, panellists at American Center on March 22 discussed ‘A Woman’s place in the culinary world, at home and beyond’.
The panellists comprising four leaders and experts of the culinary industry in Kolkata joined consular officer of the US Consulate Kolkata Lee Ann Sims and Elizabeth Lee, director of American Center. On the panel were Mahua Datta, co-founder of DevilYou Chocolates and MyCoolGuru.com, Indrajit Lahiri, food blogger and co-founder of Foodka series on YouTube, Karuna Banerjee, senior sous chef, Bakery & Pastry – The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, Kritika Bose Guha (educator) assistant lecturer in Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition, Kolkata.
Students from various hotel and hospitality institutes around Kolkata.
Students from various culinary and hospitality institutes of the city like IHM Kolkata, NSHM, Guru Nanak Institute of Hotel Management joined as the audience.
Before the panel discussion, a documentary directed by Academy Award winner Rayka Zehtabchi, ‘A Woman’s Place’ was screened. The documentary shows that despite the grit, harassment, and struggle, how three women have carved a well-deserved space for themselves in the culinary industry as chefs. They speak of their experience facing and overcoming institutionalised sexism.
The panel discussion opened with the four speakers talking about their experience in the culinary world.
Kritika Bose Guha of IHM Kolkata spoke about how educators need to prepare female students for the real world. “We have students who go for internships and once they have seen the real world and faced discrimination, they get demotivated. They don’t want to work in the commercial kitchens anymore. That’s where we have to encourage them to prove themselves.”
Talking from her experience in the industry for more than 15 years, Karuna Banerjee said: “The discrimination is real. People think women are weak to work in a commercial kitchen. Women have to prove themselves more than the men.”
Kritika Bose Guha, who is also a toddler mom, added: “The support of the family is very important for women working in any field and not just the culinary industry. When a working woman juggles both work and home, they need the family members to share household chores and work with her equally.”
Mahua Datta narrated her story when she started her journey as an entrepreneur. She spoke about how her first food truck venture had to be shut. “It was a harrowing experience initially when I set up first. I was threatened to close it down on the very first day of putting it up because the business of the local vendors was getting affected. I overlooked which resulted in me getting nearly abducted and after a hectic negotiation, we reached a middle ground. But I shut that down because the political pressure was too much.”
The only man on the panel, Indrajit Lahiri threw light on the food content industry.
The only man on the panel, Indrajit Lahiri threw light on the food content industry saying, “The content industry is very competitive and it does not discriminate amongst genders. It is the same for everyone. However, personally I feel men should come forward and help the women in their family. Share their duties. That makes a lot of difference.”
Speaking about the event, Elizabeth Lee told My Kolkata: “It’s important to encourage conversation on issues like equity and inclusion in all aspects of life and work. We want to challenge people to think more deeply about these topics, and encourage everyone to consider new ideas with an open and curious mind. Watching films and talking to experts are ways to spark ideas and to ask people to see the world from a different perspective. I hope that everyone who participated is able to utilise some part of what they learned to create a more equitable world for all.”
