The old adage that says a woman’s place is in the kitchen doesn’t necessarily translate to the modern American chef world.
In the U.S., out of the more than 147,400 chefs, only about 22% of chefs working in industrial kitchens are female, according to 2022 statistics from Datausa.
Reasons for the large imbalance include difficulties juggling domestic duties with the demands of being at a restaurant cooking for long shifts and unfavorable working conditions, with less than 7% of U.S. restaurants led by women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics.
Evelyn Sussman works as a catering chef at Bistro To Go and as a culinary arts instructor at Bidwell Training Center, both in Pittsburgh’s North Side. She graduated as a certified chef from Reynolds Community College in Virginia in 2009.
Sussman said old stereotypes surrounding female chefs still exist.
“That was my experience and I think it still is. My students are about 50-50 male/female, and most of the girls are going into the pastry side and the men are going into the kitchen. I think tradition has a lot to do with it,” Sussman said.
She recalled kitchen shifts while working in Richmond, Va., that lasted 18 hours. But now she works for female Pittsburgh chef Nikki Heckman.
“She employs females on purpose — many women — because she thinks it’s important to employ females,” Sussman said. “I think most of the lead positions are for men and then you’re automatically placed on a lower ladder. Not everyone is open to women advancing. I definitely feel like I’m looked at differently in the kitchen sometimes.”
Bar-Be-Que Cuisine, Sharpsburg
Kelly Young owns Bar-Be-Que Cuisine, a pop-up eatery based out of Sharpsburg.
Young is also a cosmetologist and owns The Young In You Beauty Salon, which she opened in Sharpsburg in 2016.
Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Young learned her way around the kitchen and stove from her late mother, Eleanor Stevens.
“My mom’s cooking was impeccable. Everybody desired her food. She would cook for the Caribbean Labor Day Parade and I would help her prepare for that every year,” Young said. “My father was Haitian. It’s a legacy for me — everything she started, I continued. She owned her own hair salon.”
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Young moved to Sharpsburg in 2010.
“We just wanted a change of pace from NYC,” Young said. “It’s very rewarding to have a lot of community support, including the mayor, who helped me to set up anywhere in Sharpsburg. The community embraced this.”
Word spread quickly around Sharpsburg that Young not only created great hairstyles, but great BBQ and other home cooking, too.
“We make an Ellie burger — a recipe from my mom,” said Young, who keeps all of her recipe ingredients under wraps.
She is a staple during Sharpsburg-based events such as Open Streets and Juneteenth celebrations, setting up her mobile food tent outside her salon.
“Sides include kidney and/or beans and rice, mac and cheese, collards, hot dogs, fried chicken, seafood skewers and lobster on a stick. That’s the cuisine part, with a Caribbean influence,” Young said. “Everyone dies for these burgers. It’s a secret recipe, can’t reveal it.”
Her homemade barbecue sauce is always in demand.
“It’s a spicy sauce. Not too hot but definitely flavorful with spices,” Young said.
Sharpsburg resident Corey Ochai said Young’s food reminds him of summertime childhood cookouts with his family.
“You could offer me reservations at the finest five-star restaurant, but without hesitation, I’d choose Miss Kelly’s dish every time,” Ochai said. “There aren’t many left who cook like she does, with recipes handed down through generations. Her food is a perfect example of a dish made with love, capturing the essence of what family and tradition truly mean.”
“We’re looking to add a brick and mortar in Sharpsburg,” said Young, a mother of six.
Greensburg Country Club, Greensburg
Julia Jumper has triple- threat culinary skills.
“I have three associate’s degrees — baking, pastry and culinary arts,” said Jumper, a 2020 alumnus of Westmoreland County Community College. “I have always loved baking and entered baked goods in the Westmoreland Fair ever since I was little.”
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At 24, she is the newest pastry chef at Greensburg Country Club.
She took a position near her hometown of Delmont after working as a pastry chef for two years onboard UnCruise Adventures.
“I loved doing that because there was no corporate standard of what to make, so I could get extremely creative with it,” said Jumper, who was responsible for making a daily breakfast pastry, bread and lunch and dinner dessert.
Jumper is learning the hospitality industry offers challenges.
“The hospitality industry in general can be very hard to work in, and it’s a fairly male-dominated one. I think one of the challenges is that in the past, women have been expected to cook mainly in a family aspect, but not to the level of creativity and presentation that’s expected. So I think having a woman’s attention to detail actually makes them a better chef in some cases.”
Lately, she’s been ramping up her creme brulee desserts, creating cookies with cream cheese icing with caramelized sugar on top.
“It gives it a crunchy layer and it’s something different,” Jumper said.
Jumper emphasized aspiring chefs should hone their photography skills, which she worked on while visiting ports of call that included Alaska, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Hawaii.
“Never stop learning. Learn photography techniques to help your food/desserts look amazing. To be able to showcase your work at interviews with the photos really does give you an edge.”
Senza, Etna
Chef Jessie Manowski boomeranged back to Pittsburgh after several years cheffing in Seattle, South Carolina and New York.
She is co-owner of the newly opened Senza, a bakeshop and cafe in Etna.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., Manowski developed a keen interest in food during her teen years.
“I fell in love with food because I didn’t necessarily grow up with homemade meals,” Manowski said. “Once I realized what food was, I went to vo-tech culinary school in high school.”
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She and her husband, Matt, co-own the European- style bistro. They cook together and handle all restaurant operations, for now. Justin and Caitlin Steel, of Bar Marco in the Strip District, are partners in the venture.
She realized how few women were working as chefs when she interviewed for her first restaurant job after graduating from culinary school.
“I applied at a couple of Michelin-starred restaurants and they offered me a job on the pastry team. That’s gender-specific, and it took me a while to get over that,” Manowski said. “I think sometimes that’s how the world looks at it. For me and my perspective, it’s always been important to not say I’m held back because I’m a female. I think everyone is capable, and it’s hard work.”
For now, hours at Senza are limited: 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and prix fixe dinners on the last Thursday of each month. Saturday dinner service, from 5 to 9 p.m., “I want people to feel the love we put into the food,” she said. “It’s very important we satisfy people. We want them to come here, have a glass of wine and enjoy.”
Senza in Italian means “without.” The owners chose it to signify “cooking without labels,” Manowski said.
Small plates include burrata and heirloom tomatoes, summer squash fritters and whipped feta.
Main courses include tagliatelle with pine nuts and artichoke, scampi and shrimp risotto, and a roasted half-chicken with stone fruit.
Open since February, the couple likes to mix up the menu, but weekend brunch staples include making a Danish dough for various pastries, with sweet and savory combinations such as a pesto, artichoke and feta cheese.
All breads are made in-house.
“The menu will continue to evolve and change,” Manowski said.
Forma Pasta, Sewickley
Chef Rebecca Romagnoli thought everyone grew up eating made-from-scratch pasta.
Her Italian relatives made an impression on Romagnoli from an early age.
“Culinary school taught me the basics, but Christmastime at my grandparents’ house was my biggest influence,” she said. “It’s this vivid memory of fresh spaghetti, drying out, made by my grandfather. He and my grandmother have passed away. I didn’t make the pasta then because I was too young, but I grew an admiration for it.”
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Romagnoli, 30, opened Forma Pasta last year in Sewickley.
The restaurant and market offers casual dining, to-go meals and handmade in-house pasta, along with sauces, soups, take-and-bake meals, desserts and more.
“It works well because it’s a very niche concept. It is time-consuming to make it fresh every day,” Romagnoli said.
Romagnoli works six days a week alongside her team of two full-time pasta makers, churning out up to 15-20 pounds of ravioli, pierogies, pasta, lasagna and dried pasta each shift.
She has a culinary degree from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh and previously worked at Altius on Mt. Washington.
Self-taught, Romagnoli loves to get creative with her pasta flavors and shapes.
“We have a balsamic ravioli right now with balsamic and sun-dried tomato in the dough,” Ramagnoli said.
Customers love the classics. For Romagnoli, forging ahead as a female chef and establishing herself as a pasta maker in Sewickley appears to be working out.
“The cheese ravioli and fettuccine Alfredo sell like crazy. People know what they like, and they want to get it at a good price,” Romagnoli said. “I never thought this business would come this far.”
Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com