Incorporating the home into the restaurant kitchen: The case of Israeli female chefs

Abstract

This study looks at the ways in which Israeli female chefs interpret professional cookery and mobilize their position to form feminine restaurant spaces, in which they instill their professional agenda. Israeli female chefs, we argue, maintain that their gender grants them professional flexibility to construct cooking spaces where alternative working norms apply and certain privileges, such as a flexibility to establish cooking spaces that do not otherwise function in the realm of upscale dining. By perceiving their restaurants as an extension of the dwelling, they interpret their head chef position as that of a professional mentor and counselor. Moreover, they exercise their legitimacy via an ongoing dialog with their staff, based on respect, empathy and emotional support, all with the aim of turning them into better cooks. Their professional vision of cookery also translates into designing menus that reflect a homey feeling and enable creating a community of diners.