Author: ChefandLaura

So I was recently tagged in this tweet where ‘women in the food industry’ stated that they were cheering me, along with the 4 other women appearing in this years Great British Menu.

The huge difference between the number of females competing compared to the men made me think about why it is so difficult to get ahead in the food industry when you are a woman.

Of course we have well known faces such as the fabulous Monica Galetti and Angela Hartnett (to name but a few) but why is it a chill seems to go down certain spines when they hear a woman is the chef? It is never an issue in the home environment where women have often been told their place is in the kitchen, but bring that into a commercial environment and for some reason it just doesn’t seem to fit.

From a young age I was always drawn to cooking. I loved the idea of being able to create something for other people to eat that they enjoyed. I wanted to go to college to learn more. Complex cookery is both scientific and technical as well as creative and arty. It draws on the perfect split of ‘gender norms’ for both boys and girls, so why the differences in numbers?

It became apparent when I entered full time work in a kitchen that you have to be a particular type of personality in order to fit in and get along. The constant shouting and swearing and being told “this is shit, it can’t go out” could be an absolute barrage of hostility, draining the more sensitive of us. I quickly learn to put up and shut up, rightly or wrongly and deal with the constant sexualised remarks about how I looked in an apron, all at a decibel akin to that of a jumbo jet.

Kitchens are loud, unforgiving places. They are hot, they make you sweat, you are under constant pressure and criticism. You end up smelling of garlic, raw meat and fish constantly and it is difficult to maintain an air of attractiveness whilst you are at work.

Of course some of the hostility and behaviour which could be construed as sexual harassment should have no place, however I can’t say that working in this sort of environment hasn’t shaped me into the person I am today. I absolutely thrive on the pressure. The more shit the kitchen is in, the more I love it. There is nothing better than getting to the end of the day and thinking, “we f***** made it”.

Nevertheless there is still this misconception that women chefs do not make good leaders, do not make good senior chefs. When I have worked in the past as a senior chef I have encountered blatant comments by more junior, male, chefs who seemingly just can’t deal with the fact that a woman is in charge, Get over it boys. Whatever mummy issues you may have, it does not make you cool to disrespect a woman for working bloody hard to get to where she is. Whining about how my recipes differ from this male chef or that male chef is not going to get you far. If you can’t stand the heat, you know what to do.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few female chefs that I have worked with that also have difficult personalities. I’m not intending to shout down all males chefs here. Not at all, I have worked with a great number of male chefs, many of whom have inspired me to work as hard as I have.

There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish

Michelle Obama

So maybe we, as women, should start to stand up a bit towards the behaviour we get when we chose to work in a difficult environment like a kitchen. Only by standing firm and saying that this is not acceptable can we start to change perceptions. All genders can work hard and get far in whatever they choose. The misconception that there are ‘male’ jobs and ‘female’ jobs is getting less, however I am concerned that it is still a barrier to many talented female chefs out there who get put off by the casual sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment that goes on in a kitchen.

Judge us in equal measures to our male counter parts. Don’t shut our ideas down. Stop excluding us because of our gender. The world out there needs to hear from women too.

Often the best innovations come from a mix of ideas between both men and women. Let us work together.

After all, this girl can.

• 

6th February 2019

So we came across this little gem by accident after getting caught in traffic on Whitchurch Rd in Cardiff and noticed it out of the window. It looked like a cool bar and when we went in we realised they did food as well.

Society Standard promises to be anything but standard and I think they certainly deliver on the looks front. The decor is hip and urban and upon entering you almost forget you are not in the city centre.

However, there is a lot of exposed brick every where, and I know that this is very in at the moment, but it does sometimes feel like a plasterer would make a lot of money here.

There are two main areas, the bar area and the dining area by the kitchen. The kitchen is an open one.

An open kitchen comes with two separate schools of thought; those that like to be able to see how clean the area their food is being prepared in; and those that think sometimes ignorance is bliss. I fall into the former category.

I’ve worked in many open kitchens before in my time and have always prided myself on keeping my work space clean and tidy and managing not to scream at the other chefs in full view of a captive audience…because they are captive. An open kitchen invites stares and photos and customers thinking they can ask you questions whilst you are trying to plate up a work of art on the pass.

“Sorry Carol, can you just f*** off from my kitchen and stop trying to talk to me about the views from the restaurant whilst I am trying to create a masterpiece for you to eat, which you will inevitably complain about it taking ages to come to you”

Luckily for the chefs of Society Standard, we were not those sort of guests (although, I may have been a little stare-y – i’m in the industry, I like to suss out any competition).

The menu was the usual sort of burger and steak fare however some of the options looked different. The burgers in particular and this prompted a conversation over Cardiff’s influx of burger joint. As a result we decided to go on the search for the best burger in Cardiff, starting here.

I ordered the buffalo fried chicken burger and Laura ordered the Mac P.I.G burger. In addition, because our eyes are bigger than our bellies and Laura seems to think we are on an episode of Man v food, we also ordered a side of dirty fries (our favourite junk food at the moment).

We were not disappointed.

Portion size was great. The speed with which the food came out was also good. Just long enough so you knew it was cooked from scratch but not long enough that you had started to gnaw on your own limbs.

The buffalo fried chicken burger came with cheese, aioli, and a hot sauce. Personally I think the hot sauce could have been a little bit hotter but that is just me own preference. The fried chicken was crispy and succulent and the aioli nice and garlicky. The Mac P.I.G burger was a portion of deep friend mac n cheese (mac n cheese in a burger?! – who knew?) with a fried egg (yolk perfectly runny) and pulled pork. It was indulgent and rich.

We probably could have, and perhaps should have done without the huge portion of dirty fries, also topped with a pulled pork, as the size of the burgers along with the substantial fillings was just enough for us. However for those of you who can eat a little more, the fries would be a nice addition. Not overwhelmingly incredible but a good side, albeit a little on the greasy side for me.

We did find it a little awkward to eat out of the small bowls and could have done with a larger plate or other receptacle, just to make it easy to cut the burgers up (I know, i know, it should be eaten with fingers but it was just getting too messy).

All in all, this unassuming little place has now become a firm favourite of ours. The atmosphere is chilled, the food the best kind of comfort food, and they have a pretty good selection of beer and gin at the bar. Plus it won’t break the bank – £25.50 for two burgers and fries. What is not to like?

So on our search for finding the best burger in Cardiff as the starting challenge for my first blog, I was pleasantly surprised. Certainly somewhere I would pop into again and again. Society Standard should be proud of being the first rated and currently top of the leaderboard in our quest for the best burger.