You may or may not know of Gordon Ramsey: an excellent chef (Anthony Bourdin rates him as one of the best in the world and that’s good enough for me), a reality TV star in shows from his own kitchens and, well, he’s also remarkably foul mouthed. What’s really rather a surprise given his reputation is that he’s extremely supportive of women aiming to become top chefs themselves, indeed he employs at least one at one of his offshoot restaurants.

However, that’s not the point that struck me so much about this article. Rather, it’s from one of those women who has become a top chef in her own right:

Men and women tend to cook in different ways. Women are intuitive and men are analytical. Look at a lot of Michelin-star cooking in London and the food is all neat, structured and precise, and compare that to someone like Sally (Clarke) or River Cafe. It’s a different type of food: It’s more about flavor than form. It’s a more organic feel, more natural. More people now realize the importance of good food and that it shouldn’t be so expensive. I’m hoping that will give more openings to women. But there comes a time when some women want to make a choice and have children. In the restaurant world, that’s hard. It’s not like being a writer or something. Unless you own a restaurant, you can’t necessarily take your toddlers into work.

The hours in the restaurant trade, especially for those aiming for the top, are punishing. It wouldn’t be unusual for a head chef to be there at 8 am to check the deliveries in and still be there at 11 at night checking the last desserts as they go out to the tables. That schedule five and six days a week. It certainly does rather limit the family life options for women, there’s no doubt about that.

But the part I found really fascinating was the way in which the female chef points to there being a male/female difference in cooking styles. Men are more analytical (Aha! think of systemisers in our EQSQ personality tests) and women more intuitive (think empathisers here) in the ways that they cook.

Now, I will admit that it’s some decades since my stint in commercial kitchens and also that I’m rather an unreconstructed male chauvinist, but there’s a reason that we used to call men chefs and women cooks.

Because men were more analytical and women more intuitive…..equally good in their own ways, but sufficiently different that we used different words to describe them. Sadly, people would shout at me if I were to try and make the same distinction today.