Like their male counterparts, four of the female chef-owners in Cincinnati see cooking as more than getting food on a plate. It’s about style and self-expression. It's about having the creative freedom to explore the avenues of cuisine that interest them.
But nationwide, just 21.5 percent of chef and head cook positions are held by women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2013 figures. At the same time, as of fall 2012, women make up 51 percent of students at the
Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State. So where is the disconnect? Why aren’t there more female executive chefs?
Let's start with the stereotype of pastry chefs. “Pasty has historically been a field dominated by women,” says Bob White, MCI media relations and communications coordinator. The Pastry Arts Degree at MCI is close to 90 percent female. Since pastry is typically a subset of the professional kitchen, women tend not to be in the executive position. Or so the theory goes.
In reality, the top names in pastry tend to be male. Three of
Food & Wine's 2012 Best New Pastry Chefs were male, with a fourth male winning an online vote.
As a non-pastry counterpoint, female enrollment in the Culinary Arts Degree (i.e., executive chef training) grew from 30 percent four years ago to 40 percent today. So there are indications that women are a growing presence within all ranks, White says.
In this first of a two-part series, Soapbox takes a closer look at some of Cincinnati's female chefs who are thriving in a still male-dominated world. And loving it. First up, Take the Cake's Melissa Mileto.
“I always knew I would eventually be my own boss,” says Mileto, chef and joint-owner of Take the Cake in Northside. “I’m more competitive with myself than with anyone else, and I wanted to determine how creative I could be on the job. It’s imperative that I do my own thing, whether that means stirring a pot of soup or taking out the garbage.”
Mileto, 43, traces her food values back to family dinners. She grew up in the Little Italy neighborhood of Baltimore, and Mileto’s parents valued the time the family sat around the dining room table, talking and sharing food. Plus, her family owned a bakery.
“It’s just sort of in my blood,” she says.
Leaving Baltimore to study fashion design at the University of Cincinnati, Mileto cooked to support herself through school, only quitting restaurant work after graduation for a short fashion stint in Los Angeles. She soon returned to Cincinnati, hungry for more culinary experience.
Mileto learned to bake at
Shadeau Breads in Over-the-Rhine, and next picked up a pantry job at
Boca. “That’s where I really got dessert savvy,” she says.
With a large baking, cooking and dessert toolset, she began to cater weddings and dinner parties.
“I got to where I’d done so much dessert and pastry and wedding catering that I felt confident about my abilities,” she says. “But I didn’t know as much about decorating.”
Now in her eighth year of professional cooking, Mileto decided that she wanted to learn decorating at Take the Cake, then located on Main Street and owned by Patsy Schneider. Mileto visited the shop repeatedly, and made a case for herself until Schneider brought her on board as a “mass” baker and decorator. Two and a half years later, Schneider decided to sell the store. Mileto was eager to buy.
Mileto began her career as chef-owner of Take the Cake in 2005. After two moves and taking on co-owner Doug Faulkner, she now runs a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and brunch, in addition to retail and wholesale pastry offerings. In Take the Cake's current incarnation, Mileto leaves the baking to Faulkner in order to explore savory cooking.
“The way I approach a menu or dish is sort of the same way I get dressed,” Mileto says. “I know the elements that work well together, layering flavor, combining texture and color, choosing elements that highlight one another.”
This attention to “dish design” is evident in brunch creations like buttermilk biscuits with a poached egg, sometimes paired with black beans or sweet potatoes, or in a soup that integrates coconut milk and chili peppers.
“In the way a fashion designer pairs soft and hard, I try to marry sweet and savory,” she says.
Check back next week as Soapbox serves up more chef stories. On the menu: Julie Francis of Nectar, Shoshanna Hafner of Honey, and Renee Schuler of Eat Well Cafe.