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The original conversation [in the Times] was about the Row on 5 team winning a Michelin star within a few months of opening. I was asked if I had witnesses or seen sexism in the kitchen and my reply was to rebuff the question — I said that I hadn’t seen it or witnessed it, and that was to close the question down.
I was then asked a second question: do I feel the industry has moved on from where it once was? I said that the industry has come a long way — not just in sexism, but in working hours, in pay. And I believe it has, for every gender.
Most of the restaurant awards now, rightly or wrongly — and I don’t know if it is right or wrong, I’m just a chef — have awards for the best female chefs, the best female pastry chefs, the best young female chefs. This year there was one female chef to pick up a star from Michelin. There’s always going to be people who have their opinions about these awards, but I’m just a chef. I know I’m seen as a high profile chef, but my job is just going into the kitchen. Beyond that…
What I can say is that I am categorically and absolutely against sexism, 100 per cent, and I will not tolerate it. It will not happen in my kitchens.
What I can say is that I am categorically and absolutely against sexism, 100 per cent, and I will not tolerate it. It will not happen in my kitchens.
I’m not a journalist, but I thought I’d answered those questions quite well. The headline reads ‘I haven’t seen any sexism in the kitchen’ but I never said those words, and I didn’t say it didn’t exist. I categorically do not believe there isn’t sexism in the industry, of course there is. There is in every industry. I just have not witnessed it personally. I was answering for me, no one else.
When I trained as a young chef, it was a different world, cooking was a male dominated industry, it just was. You’re talking about the Seventies and Eighties, I’m an older chef now. Back then, I was just a young man from the north of England with nothing: I didn’t pay attention to anything that was going on, I was just working, keeping my head down. My role was never to be a spokesman.
I have three girls, three daughters, and if they came back from work and had experienced it, I’d be so upset. I’d probably want to go down there and sort it out personally
Today, it is a very inclusive industry, and I stand with every female in our industry. Sexism is never acceptable under any circumstances, and I’m really sorry for anyone who has been subjected to it. I back every single female working in our industry: sexism is not acceptable in the workplace. I’ve never condoned it, never committed it, no chance, no way.
I have three girls, three daughters, and if they came back from work and had experienced it, I’d be so upset. I’d probably want to go down there and sort it out personally.
I’ve defended my interview and I think for me that’s it. I’ve said my piece, there’s nothing more to be said. I just want to go back to working in my kitchen and looking after my girls.
