Cris Comerford: A Chef's Discriminating Toque

By JULIETTE ROSSANT During this week -- chefs' week at the White House -- women's week at the White House -- Cris Comerford's week -- one question kept coming up during interviews: why is it important that a woman got the top toque at the White House? This morning, The Washington Post wrote in its "This Week That Was" section: Monday15 Columbia Woman Is Named White House Executive Chef After first lady Laura Bush fired the White House executive chef in February, a group of female chefs and restaurateurs sent her a letter urging her to do what no other first lady has done -- name a woman to the position. On Sunday, she did just that, selecting Cristeta Comerford, a Columbia [Maryland] resident who is 10-year veteran of the White House kitchen, as the new executive chef. This paragraph says nothing of the obstacles facing women in professional kitchens in this country. Heres one story: Once upon a time, a woman left the restaurant business just as she was nearing the executive chef position -- went on to work with the late Julia Child and went on to become an early and continuous Food Network star, Gourmet Magazine's executive chef, ABC Good Morning America's executive chef, and co-founder of the New York Women's Culinary Alliance. That is a thumbnail sketch of Sara Moulton. (Click here to read a short profile, with lots of links.) Have you heard this one? Once upon a time, two women started work at the same time on the bottom rung of one of Chicago's finest French restaurants dreamed of overcoming the discrimination against women in America's professional kitchens by going out and competing with their own restaurant -- which grew from little side cafe at L.A. Eyeworks to an empire of restaurants, a slew of cookbooks, two shows on the Food Network under the name "Too Hot Tamales," and the co-founding of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs. That is a thumbnail sketch of the careers of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. (Their careers are profiled in an chapter of Super Chef.) There are many other women's stories, but now we have a fresh one: Once upon a time there was a woman who studied at a culinary school in the Philippines. She worked in Europe, came to the States, worked in Washington, and was selected by the previous White House executive chef, Walter Scheib, to join his kitchen -- to serve the President of the United States. She became an American citizen, worked hard -- and was eventually recognized by First Lady Laura Bush, who selected her to succeed her mentor Walter as executive chef to the President. With Cris' achievement, there can no longer be an issue of a woman heading up a professional kitchen -- what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and what's good for the President is good for all Americans. This wonderful moment will pass all too soon. It was hard won -- as any woman executive chef or chef-owner of a restaurant can tell you. People will forget all too quickly the struggles of women in the kitchen -- which will not magically end this week, anyway. The Media will buzz other news into our heads. This is a record of this week, this moment, and this achievement, so that we may not forget the efforts of Cris and so many before her and with her that got her where she is today. Well, there are a few things we can do to keep the memory of this week alive: in the spirit of our previous nominations, superchefblog nominates Cris Comerford as honorary lifetime member of Women Chefs & Restauteurs. What's next to overcome? Well, we might see a major effect of Cris' selection in as little as three years. You see, now that the White House has a woman as executive chef in 2005, superchefblog reiterates that we need a woman chief executive in the White House in 2008! Hmm... Who could make that run?... Did you ever hear this story? Once upon a time, there was a woman who graduated from Yale Law School and came to Washington as a young attorney to work on the Watergate Case -- I think her name was Hillary... Previous articles: Cristeta Comerford: First White House Woman Chef White House Chef: Close to the Bone? Tell Laura Bush: White House Woman Chef NAMC Newswire: A Woman in the White House Before 2008? Wireless Flash: White House Woman Chef (complete coverage) Technorati Tags: chefs food restaurants cooking branding cuisine White House Politics feminism gender equality --> back to superchefblog