Another woman chef left professional kitchens in 2022 after appalling treatment at the hands of male colleagues – including one incident of a male chef inserting his finger in between her buttocks when she was bending down to pick up a pan.
I was told on a regular basis by male counterparts that women 'aren't good' at being professional chefs, and though I knew instinctively this was rubbish, when I looked around, I could only count on the fingers of one hand the number of women who had made it to the top of the profession.
A Michelin-starred chef and owner of six restaurants in the UK, Atherton told The Times he had 'not seen' sexism in today's professional kitchens, it was best not to dwell on the past and 'there is way too much focus on our industry' because of its attitude to women.
A young woman chef I know was working in a Michelin-starred kitchen in London in 2021, when her Head Chef and Sous Chef joked about 'spit-roasting' her.
Plenty of men still bully and humiliate women in the restaurant industry today, says top chef Anna Haugh.
