In haute cuisine and quality catering, chefs are more men than women. Why? Is it a male profession? Is it gender, talent or passion that makes the difference? We asked Filippo Sinisgalli, chef of the Italian Palate, a gourmet club that focuses on excellent Made in Italy food and wine products and which in his team has opened up the pink line. “It doesn't make much sense – says Sinisgalli – to talk about female chefs or male chefs… It would be like making the difference between blond or dark-haired chefs, however I prefer not to say “talented” chefs but rather chefs who “follow their own talent”. A cook who doesn't follow his vocation is someone who, for example, stays in the kitchen with a toque on his head but with a voice inside that begs him to go and be a gardener. "Take off your apron - I would tell him - we can't wait to have a new gardener, who will be wonderful because he is following his talent!".
But why did Sinisgalli call two women on his staff? Am I up to the challenge of haute cuisine? “My brigade – says the chef of the Italian Palate – is a beautiful unit, made up of many elements, each one brings its own identity by finding a way to harmonize with the others. Single paths are personal and not everyone is at the same stage, but the girls have stuff and it shows. They have nothing to envy to men. Of course each one has her own style, but they are winning the challenge ”.
What is the identikit of the female staff who work in the Palato kitchen? “In my team – explains Sinisgalli – there are two girls. One is Martina Dodeci, who is 24 years old and comes from a small village in the Nebrodi, San Marco d'Alunzio in the province of Messina. I'm not mincing words: she's someone I'm betting on. I dedicate my time and energy to her, I give her responsibilities that she takes on and interprets well. I also try to help her break down that wall (only mental!) according to which a woman, even for reasons of effort, would have more difficulty becoming a chef than a man. You have leadership and a thirst for knowledge and even in haute cuisine this counts for you. She wants to know everything about cooking and she has a passion above all for the preparation of meat dishes: she was sent to the Italian Palate by her friend and master Luciano Tona, who had glimpsed its potential and desire to know. The other is Rossana Sempliciano, 29 years old from Grumello in the province of Bergamo: she takes care of the creative side of pastry and bread making, two areas that I hold dear and that are protagonists every day in our kitchen. Before arriving at Palato Italiano you already worked in the restaurant business, but you said you wanted to be something more than a "pan burner". You have the soul of an artist and therefore I thought that the inspiration of the pastry shop would be right for you and one day I proposed it to her. A long and very intense period has passed since then. I won't deny that technically we started almost from scratch, for her pastry-making had been a hobby up until then but today she is already achieving very satisfactory results".
In short, it's not a matter of male or female gender: even in haute cuisine the real difference is passion, as well as talent, of course. But let's hear directly from the two girls how they live this haute cuisine experience at the Italian Palate. “The chef is teaching me a lot: his presence in the kitchen – says Dodeci – feels like her and it makes the difference. It's impressive to see how far her quest for perfection goes and this is a great lesson for us girls. One thing that struck me right away was seeing how there wasn't a single unimportant element for him: from complex cooking to simple soup to mise en place, everything is essential. And even before the kitchen there are the raw materials: I have not found elsewhere the attention to the product that there is on the Italian palate. We learn a lot from our producers, first of all what makes the difference in the quality of a production”. She adds Sempliciano: “I am living a unique experience, which has offered me important moments of human and work growth. And then there was the unexpected encounter with pastry: I find it so naive! In the kitchen times are dictated differently, in the pastry shop it is as if we lived them in our own dimension: there are moments that pass quickly and that we must be able to seize. There are ground rules, yes, but then there is plenty of room for inspiration. In addition to pastry-making, I also like bread-making, indeed I live my personal battle there every day – which sometimes seems to me so much an inner battle- it is the relationship with mother yeast, a subject that is difficult to control and a little anarchic in which a little ' I recognize myself”.
Cooking as a passion of life? Yes and women are second to none even in haute cuisine. But to make the leap in quality it is essential to find the right master. As always.
