That's cooking, and that's not always very romantic, nor is it usually well paid. Most line cooks start without benefits, vacation time, or sick leave. All of the women I interviewed work long hours at a physically demanding job. Rather gets up at five every morning to open her bakery, where she is on her feet usually until seven or eighth at night. Alcocer-Thomas runs the kitchen at Jeffrey's five to six nights a week.
Most successful chefs are fairly compulsive about their work, women no less than men.
And it definitely takes that sort of compulsive dedication to advance through the ranks. That was the question I asked. The responses I received were curiously mixed and not always consistent. On the one hand, the women I talked to seemed wary of making generalizations about women and their role as culinary professionals. Fox insisted that in her 20-year career in professional kitchens, she has never once felt compromised or harassed because of her gender.