Heston Blumenthal Roasted For Female Chef Comments

Photo: Getty Images

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, just 17% of professional chefs in the UK are women. There are complicated reasons behind the catering industry's gaping gender inequality, some of which are shockingly sexist: in 2019, do some people really believe that women make great "home cooks", while men are the true gastronomic innovators?

AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT

Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, owner of The Fat Duck in Bray, one of just five restaurants in the UK to have three Michelin Stars, has shared his thoughts on the matter and they're not exactly helpful.

"I have always employed female chefs, but historically and ultimately, the body clock starts working," he told the Economic Times. "It’s evolution, and it is one thing to have a 9-5 job and quite another to be a chef with kids. So, that makes it difficult."

Blumenthal also cited the physical strain of lifting "heavy pots and pans" as a potential reason for the lack of women in professional kitchens, before adding: "But I think it is much better now that it was 15 years ago. This I can speak for."

Unsurprisingly, the internet is roasting Blumenthal for his sexist and reductive views. One person tweeted: "Heston Blumenthal thinks that evolution means mums can't lift pots and pans but they can lift their 2 stone toddler."

Check out a selection of reactions to his comments below.

First Marco Pierre White + now Heston Blumenthal maintain that female chefs "aren't strong enough to lift heavy pots and pans." Hmmm. I suspect they're strong enough to roast a chauvinist pig on a spit. Now there's a recipe for success. #sexisminthekitchen
— Kathy Lette (@KathyLette) October 12, 2019

Less mothers/women are chefs because the hospitality industry has notoriously bad flexible working options for parents, not because they can’t lift the pans 🤦🏼‍♀️
You ever tried lifting a 6 month old baby in a car seat Heston? They’re bloody heavy you over privileged idiot 💪🏼 https://t.co/0zRVZVY4vo
— Candi Tegg (@candi_tegg) October 11, 2019

Heston Blumenthal thinks that evolution means mums can't lift pots and pans but they can lift their 2 stone toddler. pic.twitter.com/V6jBqdntXW
— Emilie (@silverwoodcope) October 13, 2019

Heston Blumenthal ' comments in yesterday's mail has infuriated me. My daughter has been a top chef in many top restaurants throughout the north west for 30years and can handle any equipment in the kitchen with ease. She is 5 foot and weighs 7stone. How dare you
— anne wilson (@2663anne) October 13, 2019

Heston Blumenthal busy lifting 1950s pots & pans over here

“WOMEN! Get in the kitchen! No...not like that” pic.twitter.com/myWzLePR1f
— Vix (@lillai23) October 13, 2019

Ugh ugh ugh - some men still believe women 'belong in the kitchen'🤮 but then as soon as they look to make cooking a profession, they are 'unable to lift the heavy pots and pans' https://t.co/12I8IhRwzA
— Grace Gausden (@gracegausden93) October 11, 2019

Sadly, Blumenthal's take is disappointingly similar to recent comments from fellow celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, who told the Irish Independent in August: "The real positive with men [in the kitchen] is that men can absorb pressure better, that’s the main difference, because they are not as emotional and they don’t take things personally.

“Look at the size of some of the pans you are carrying," White added. "Can you imagine you’re a lady in the kitchen and saying: ‘Will you carry that pan for me?'"

Still, a flawless response to their dinosaur views was shared by Julie Goodwin, a winner of the the Australian version of MasterChef.

I’m disappointed to read that Heston has joined Marco in saying that women can’t do the heavy lifting in the kitchen. This is what I look like after service. Mulberry-stained fingernails, old scars, new burns. Big muscles too, lads. I’m as tough as I need to be. pic.twitter.com/cOIZOVL2DH
— Julie Goodwin (@_JulieGoodwin) October 13, 2019