The James Beard Award 2016 semifinalists were announced yesterday, with the accompanying flurry of news activity surrounding the nominees. St. Louis was thrilled last year when Gerard Craft brought home hardware as winner of “Best Chef: Midwest.” Eight local chefs and restaurants were nominated again this year, which speaks to the quality of the St. Louis food scene.
Shortly after this year’s nominees were announced earlier today, Eater’s Helen Rosner posted an interesting statistical breakdown of the nominees by gender. More women were nominated than men in only one category, “Outstanding Pastry Chef,” where they nabbed 18 of the 20 nominations.
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Most categories were heavily tilted towards men. Six women were nominated for “Best Chef: Northeast,” for example, with 15 men. The Midwest, however, stood as an anomaly. Out of the 22 Chefs nominated for “Best Chef: Midwest,” all 22 are men. It was the only category not to have a single woman nominated.
While many of the nominations are the same as last year’s, the 2015 nominations for “Best Chef: Midwest” included Michelle Gayer of Salty Tart in Minneapolis. While Gayer was not renominated this year, she was nominated for “2016 Outstanding Baker.”
Kansas City’s Celina Tio won “Best Chef: Midwest” in 2007, but no St. Louis woman has taken the award. Craft, in fact, was the first St. Louis Chef to ever win the award when he won last year.
The issue of gender equality in the kitchen is certainly complicated, but we look forward to the day when we not only have a St. Louis woman nominated for “Best Chef: Midwest,” but have a St. Louis woman named best in the region.
