Celebrate Women’s History Month With This List Of Inspiring Women In Food History

We all know who Julia Child is — or at lest recognize the Meryl Streep version of the French chef. But do we all know who Buwei Yang Chao is? What about MFK Fisher? In honor of Women’s History Month, and International Women’s Day, today on March 8, let’s take a deep dive into the women who influenced and revolutionized modern-day food.

1796 | Amelia Simmons Publishes The First American Cookbook

While the rest of the country was busy becoming one nation, Amelia Simmons was busy curating recipes into what would be published as American Cookery, the first cookbook to be written by an American. Not just a woman. An American. Pretty incredible legacy to leave. The Library of Congress denotes American Cookery as one of the “Books That Shaped America.”

1933 | Eugénie Brazier Becomes First Chef Awarded Six Michelin Stars

Eugénie Brazier is one of the many women I didn’t know existed until I began my research for this article. Her first restaurant La Mère Brazier and sister restaurant Col de la Luère earned the Parisan chef a total of six Michelin stars in 1933, the first year The Michelin Guide made it possible to achieve. This accomplishment wouldn’t be matched until 1998, 65 years after Brazier secured her legacy and 21 years after her passing. Brazier, to this day, is considered one of the greatest French cooks of our time.

1937 | M.F.K. Fisher Rewrites Our Perspective on Food and Cooking

Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was the first woman to challenge the way we see food and weave her perspectives into an astonishing 27 books. The most famous of these works, The Gastronomical Me, became the framework for how food memoirs would be written. M.F.K. believed that eating the right food was an art form and explored how different cultures from around the world used food as a ways of communication and emotional storytelling.

1945 | Buwei Yang Chao Brings the Art of Chinese Cooking to America

If you’ve ever ordered potstickers or chicken stir-fry at a Chinese restaurant before, you should thank Buwei Yang Chao. She was the first practitioner of Western medicine in China, wrote a cookbook in 1945 entitled How to Cook and Eat in Chinese which went on to sell millions to Americans curious on cooking Eastern traditional dishes in their own homes. Not knowing English, Chao’s husband and daughter helped her curate over 230 recipes for her cookbook. How did it all start? While her husband was helping the US Army in language training for World War II, Chao made sure the instructors were well-fed.

1961 | Julia Child Publishes Mastering The Art of French Cooking

Bon appetit! I hope you read that in Julia Child’s voice. The beloved chef launched her career by publishing what some say is the most authentic, thorough cookbook to date: Mastering The Art of French Cooking. Child’s glittering personality and prowess in the kitchen put her in the homes of millions with her breakout television show The French Chef, which debuted in 1963. What made her so relatable was her insatiable curiosity and fearlessness. Since television technology was still so new, Child’s kitchen missteps and blunders wound up being broadcast and gave her an approachable and unapologetic reputation.

1971 | Alice Waters Leads the Revolution In the Farm-to-Table Movement

We all know the term “farm-to-table” and restaurants around the world are adopting the increasingly-popular movement (even Chipotle) — but where did it all begin? We can trace its roots back to Chez Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California, opened by Chef Alice Waters. The ideology is simple: A restaurant crafts and serves organic, locally-sourced ingredients for fresh dishes. Her hard work and dedication to sustainable consumption led to the creation of The Edible Schoolyard Project, an organization dedicated to sustainable food education to school children. Back in 2015, then President Barack Obama awarded Waters with the National Humanities Medal for her work in sustainable food sourcing.

1990 | Nancy Silverton Becomes First Woman to Win A James Beard Award

In its inaugural year, the James Beard Foundation awarded Nancy Silverton Pastry Chef of the Year, making her the only woman to win an award that year. This win catapulted her career forward with the opening of La Brea, a nationwide bread company, and her many restaurants in Los Angeles including Osteria Mozza and Chi Spacca. Unfortunately, Silverton lost the majority of her wealth in Bernie Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme which threatened to bankrupt her and upend her career. However, Silverton rose from the ashes and continued on to publish ten cookbooks as well as become an advocate for female chefs around the world.

2005 | Cristeta Comerford Becomes First Female Executive Chef at The White House

Not only is she the first woman to hold the post of Executive Chef for The White House, Cristeta Comerford is also the first person of Asian descent to own the title. After resigning from being a White House assistant chef, then First Lady Laura Bush took it upon herself to promote her to executive chef after Comerford handled an important dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She has made guest appearances on reality cooking shows and programs ever since, slowly but surely ensuring Comerford would become a household name.

While there are only eight women highlighted in this article, it is important to note that women have been making history both in and out of the kitchen for centuries. Whether they challenged the patriarchy, published groundbreaking works, or paved the way for future generations of women, female chefs, and kitchen connoisseurs, they deserve multitudes of recognition for their hard work and culinary achievements. Cheers to those before us, those here now, and those generations of groundbreaking women still to come.