Mary of One Perfect Bite took us on an amazing culinary journey. Gourmet Live brought out a list of the 50 most influential women in food...Fifty women game changers. Some are chefs, some are food writers, and some are women who are passionate about the creative process. You could certainly add or detract women from this list, but no matter what these women have all influenced us in one way or another. Being a woman and passionate about food myself. I wanted to explore and join Mary on this journey and not only learn from the masters but recreate some of their dishes to better understand what has shaped and molded them into who they are today. In doing so I have learned more about myself, new techniques and many lessons previously unimaginable. Follow us on this journey while we take an in depth exploration of these women's lives and what makes them who they are.
Men have the big toques, but when you think about it, it’s women who may have exerted the most influence over our foodways, especially since there’s been mass media to record their feats.
For 50 weeks we kept up the momentum and shared dishes from each of the 50 women on the list.
So here’s our top 50 countdown of the most important women in food. Period. It’s the view from the United States, but with key players from other cultures. Agree? Disagree?
1. Julia Child
The great Julia needs no introduction. Especially not after the great Meryl played her in the movie.
Mary - Poulet Saute aux Herbes de Provence
Joanne - Pain Brioche
Valerie of More Than Burnt Toast - Caesar Salad
Claudia - Navarin Printanier
Heather of Girlichef - Hollandaise
2. Alice Waters
The great Alice needs no introduction. OK, just this: Chez Panisse, farmers’ markets, locavore movement, Edible Schoolyard. As yet, they’ve only made documentary movies about her life.
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Linguini with Peas, Garlic and Ricotta Salata
Val of More Than Burnt Toast - Spanish Gazpacho
Susan from The Spice Garden- Roast Pork Loin
Joanne of Eats Well with Others - Summer Squash and Corn Pasta
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed - Endive, Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
Heather - Girlichef - Strawberry Orange Compote
Claudia of Seasonal Cook in Turkey - a new grandaughter in the family keeps her busy this week. Welcome to the world little one!
3. Fannie Farmer
If it weren’t for her we’d still be cooking with “handfuls” and “pinches.” Farmer’s 1896 Boston Cooking–School Cook Book introduced standardized measurements. She also explained the chemical stuff a century before Harold McGee.
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Rhubarb Custard Pie
Val of More Than Burnt Toast - Raised Waffles
Joanne of Eats Well with Others - Vegetable Paella
Claudia of A Seasonal Cook in Turkey- Pure Cream of Tomato Soup
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed - Whole Wheat Bread
Susan of the Spice Garden - Fanny Farmers Boston Brown Bread
Heather of Girlichef - English Muffins
4. Martha Stewart
Cooking as an ingredient of homemaking; homemaking as a craft; crafts as a competitive sport; the art of multimedia saturation—all this we blame on Martha.
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Spaghetti 101
Val of More Than Burnt Toast - Goat Cheese Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - Blueberry Lattice Pie
Claudia of A Seasonal Cook in Turkey - Peanut Butter Cookies
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed - Plum Kuchen
Heather of Girlichef - Strip Steak with Chimmichuri and Roasted Potato Wedges
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney - Chicken Drumettes
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living - Cold Sesame Noodles
April of Abbys Sweets -Velvet Chocolate Cake with Instant Chocolate Frosting
Susan from theThe Spice Garden - Pate au Choux
5. M.F.K. Fisher
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher invented food writing. All food bloggers would like to be her.
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Bucket Bread
Val of More Than Burnt Toast - Socca
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - be back next week
Claudia of A Seasonal Cook in Turkey - Ratatouille
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed -
Susan - The Spice Garden - Peas and New Potatoes, Spicy Rock Shrimp with Coconut Rice
Heather of Girlichef - Tomato Soup Cake
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney - Frittata of Zucchini
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living -
April of Abbys Sweets - be back next week
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud - Chilled Chocolate Pudding
6. Marcella Hazan
Marcella made Italian cucina make sense. She broke it down for us, explained the regions, and her meticulous recipes are so reliable. She banished the red–sauce image forever.
Val of More Than Burnt Toast - Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onion
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Cold Herb-Flavored Marinated Green Beans
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - Pasta with Zucchini, Basil and Parmesan Sauce
Claudia of A Seasonal Cook in Turkey - Panzanella
Susan of The Spice Garden - Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed - Cucumber, Radish and Orange Salad.
Heather of Girlichef - Layered Crespelle with Tomato, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney -Roasted Chicken with Pancetta and Herbs
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living - away this week
April of Abbys Sweets - away this week
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud - Ricotta Gnocchi with Simple Tomato Sauce
Kathleen Van Bruinisse at Bake Away with Me -Semifreddo di Cioccolato
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen - Clam Soup
7. Madhur Jaffrey
As Marcella is to Italy, so is Madhur to the Indian subcontinent. She also is a great spokesperson for vegetarian, and assorted other Asian cuisines. And she is beautiful. And can act.
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Prawn Curry
Val of More Than Burnt Toast - Koftas and Corn with Aromatic Seasonings
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - Chickpeas and Chana Dal Cooked Together in a Mint Sauce
Susan of The Spice Garden - Madhur Jaffrey’s Salmon with Mustard Seed and Coriander
Taryn of Have Kitchen, Will Feed - Silken Chicken
Heather of Girlichef - Tapioca Pearl Kheer
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney - Ice Cream with Cardamon and Pistachios
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living - Cold Cucumber Soup
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud - Indian Spiced Corn
Sue of View from The Great Island - Fish Fillets in Curry Sauce
8. Judith Jones
Without her there may have been no Julia (not to mention Hazan, Jaffrey, and so many more), because Jones was Child’s early, only champion, and lifelong editor. She also rescued Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl from the slush pile, but that’s another story.
Mary of One Perfect Bite - Frenchified Meatloaf
Valerie of More Than Burnt Toast - Potatoes for Julia Child
Joanne of Eats Well With Others - Vegetable Sushi Rice SaladValerie of More Than Burnt Toast - Potatoes for Julia Child
Heather of Girlichef - Zucchini Pancakes
Miranda of Mangoes and Chutney - Linguini with Smoked Salmon Sauce
Jeanette at Jeanette's Healthy Living - Penne with Tuna, Plum Tomatoes and Black Olives.
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud - Cheese Souffle
Sue - TheView from Great Island - Chicken Salad
Kathleen - Bake Away with Me - Summer Pudding
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen - Roast Pork Tenderloin
Susan - The Spice Garden - Lidia’s Gratinate of Cutlet with Eggplant or Zucchini
9. Irma S. Rombauer
In all its eight versions, and all its 75+ years (and counting), Joy of Cooking is arguably the essential American cookbook. Irma wrote (and published) the first version in 1931, giving birth—literally—to a culinary dynasty.
10. Hannah Glasse and Mrs. Beeton
Mrs. Glasse’s The Art of Cookery (1747) and Mrs. Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861) are Important Foundation Cookbooks.
11. Patricia Wells
Milwaukee–born Wells gave us France, spreading the bistro love as the Paris–based restaurant critic of L’Express and the Herald Tribune. She taught us—and reminded the French—about Provençal cooking, and… quoi? An American woman is telling the French what to eat? Oui.
12. Lidia Bastianich (and her brood)
Everybody’s nonna, Lidia founded an empire, and she does it all: cookbooks, TV shows, restaurants, and wines galore. Then last summer—with son Joe, Mario Batali, and Oscar Farinetti—she opened Eataly, the cucina italiana Manhattan multiverse and, basically, took over the world.
13. Rachael Ray
She’s heee-eere. Your TV’s haunted by her, and, love or hate the woman, her always easy recipes have cured millions of their kitchen phobia.
14. Elizabeth David
Not that this is a competition, but David’s French Country Cooking predated Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking by a decade. The terribly influential British writer didn’t so much teach a nation to cook French as inspire one to think Mediterranean.
15. Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso
It’s hard to overstate the influence of The Silver Palate—the 1982 cookbook named after the gourmet emporium this pair opened in 1977 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Before, there was no ratatouille; after, there was chicken Marbella.
16. Maida Heatter
The beloved goddess of apple pie—and coconut layer cake, chocolate Bavarian, lemon squares, cherry cobbler—you name it. She makes every dessert in the land perfect.
17. Dorothy Hamilton
Educator extraordinaire, Hamilton founded Manhattan’s International Culinary Center, formerly known as the French Culinary Institute: It counts among its many alumni a triumvirate of iconoclasts dominant in 21st–century food world U.S.A.: David Chang, Dan Barber, and Wylie Dufresne.
18. Clotilde Dusoulier
Dusoulier’s 2003–vintage blog Chocolate and Zucchini is the Francophile’s dream. She posts from Montmartre about cheese and brioche—but also, to be fair, mochi and muffins. Her fifth book—her translation and adaptation of the 1932 French equivalent of Joy of Cooking, Ginette Mathiot’s Je Sais Cuisiner (“I Know How to Cook”),—is already iconic.
19. Pim Techamuanvivit
Bangkok–born Pim (the last name is rarely used; who can spell it?) is the eating—as opposed to cooking—blogger, who started Chez Pim in 2001. She was quickly noticed by Old Media, who roped her in for some techie cred. The inevitable book, The Foodie Handbook, followed in the fall of 2009.
20. Molly Wizenberg
Orangette, a blog circa 2004, has great, accessible recipes, and Wizenberg famously spun a book deal (A Homemade Life), a restaurant (Seattle’s Delancey), and a husband (Brandon) out of the blog. Not in that order—and, as she winningly relates, unintentionally.
21. Ree Drummond
O Pioneer Woman! You rule the World Wide Web. See Ed Levine’s profile in this issue of Gourmet Live…
22. Amanda Hesser
The New York Times food writer’s genius Food 52 combines blog with community with recipe trove with contests with shopping. Oh, and her Essential New York Times Cook Book won the 2011 James Beard Award in the General Cooking category.
23. Nancy Silverton
With the 1989 founding of La Brea Bakery, Silverton kicked off the Cali artisanal baking craze, and her same sourdough starter still seeds the more than 300 breads and rolls available through the bakery.
24. Paula Deen
The smiley Deen of the South, like the scent of her deep-fried mac and cheese, gets everywhere.
25. Paula Wolfert
The guru of the Mediterranean, Wolfert writes a clinically precise, exuberantly flavorsome recipe, and had a hand in bringing couscous, braised lamb shanks, ratatouille, tapenade, and a bunch of other things to your corner bistro.
26. Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray
You could barely eat out in London before these two opened the River Café in 1987. But soon, graduates of their market–fresh, real–Italian, open–kitchen place on the Thames had populated all the U.K.’s restaurant kitchens and most of the country’s food channels. And it was good.
27. Anne Willan
La Varenne, the culinary school in Burgundy that the English–born American Willan founded in 1975, has been moved to Southern California, but not before it spawned a couple of generations of culinary stars.
28. Anne–Sophie Pic
OK, Le Fooding is more au courant than the stuffy old Michelin Guide, but that three–star award still means something. And Pic was the first woman to win it—in 50 years at her century–old family restaurant, La Maison Pic.
29. Betty Fussell
A shelf of her books is a snapshot of every major recent food trend—often before it happened: She’s done local, and seasonal, and in–depth biographies of single ingredients (The Story of Corn), and My Kitchen Wars is one epic food memoir.
30.Barbara Tropp
Tropp taught America that General Tso is not what Chinese food is about. Her 1982 Modern Art of Chinese Cooking is still definitive, and her San Francisco China Moon Cafe rivaled Spago for Cal–Asian cred.
31.Donna Hay
Australia became the hottest food nation somewhere around 1995, and then came Hay. She’s ubiquitous Down Under with her books, eponymous magazine, and sunny TV face, but her simple, throw–it–together Pacific Rim style spread all the way Up and Over.
32.Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian
The gorgeous, intelligent locavores of the magazine world, Ryder and Topalian’s Edible series now numbers 60 editions, from Allegheny to WOW (southeast Michigan). And, despite the handicap of being free print mags, they actually make money!
33.Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton
Food royalty. Hirsheimer (yes, she’s a she) cofounded Saveur and shot all its food; Hamilton ran Saveur’s test kitchen, and is sister to Gabrielle, of restaurant Prune and memoir Blood, Bones & Butter fame. Now they run Canal House, the indie food magazine and book imprint.
34.Ella Brennan
“I didn’t know they gave awards for having fun,” was the New Orleans restaurant matriarch’s line on accepting the 2009 James Beard Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. From Commander’s Palace on down, the Big Easy would have been Smaller and Harder without her help.
35.Delia Smith
If you’re British, she’s a saint; if you’re not, you’ve probably never heard of her, but the cookbook author who looks like a nun and owns a Premier League soccer club has led generations of Brits to the kitchen, and will no doubt continue to do so for decades to come.
36.Edna Lewis
The granddaughter of an emancipated slave, Lewis, another Judith Jones protégée, brought sophisticated Southern dishes into the spotlight.
37.Severine von Tscharner Fleming
Founder and director of the Greenhorns, the fabulous von TF’s mission is to recruit, promote, and support young farmers. The upshot: Nonindustrial farming is fun and it’s hip; it’s an explosive movement. And this is indubitably a good thing.
38.Darina Allen
Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery School on a 100–acre organic farm in County Cork, Ireland, has reached far into food culture since it began in 1983. Everyone still wants to take classes there.
39. Ina Garten
The Barefoot Contessa is the only White House nuclear policy analyst with a packaged– cake–mix line. And a lot of cookbooks and TV shows. She’s not a countess. Her (defunct) East Hampton fancy food store was named after the Ava Gardner movie.
40. Elena Arzak
Elena is almost as lauded as her very famous New Basque chef dad, Juan Mari Arzak. She’s the top of Spain’s tree.
41.Elizabeth Andoh
As Barbara Tropp was to Chinese food, so is Andoh to Japanese, with specialties in—who knew?—Japanese vegetarian, and the almost equally obscure home cooking.
42. Harumi Kurihara
…who probably hates being incessantly called “the Japanese Martha Stewart.”
43. April Bloomfield
New York’s Spotted Pig and Breslin chef came from England to infect an entire country with the gastropub. Which wouldn’t have worked if she weren’t such a culinary magician.
44. Nigella Lawson
Nigella invented the art of suggestively licking wooden spoons on TV, but the British domestic goddess (her breakout book was How to Be a Domestic Goddess) has penetrated the food culture further than that implies. Think Rachael Ray, but more classy—or pretentious. Your call.
45. Diana Kennedy
The uncompromising, adventurous Mexican culinary authority is profiled by Kemp Minifie in this issue of Gourmet Live.
46. Gael Greene
She was one of the first powerful female restaurant critics and used that power to help millions of New Yorkers by founding Citymeals–on–Wheels.
47. Zarela Martinez
The Manhattan restaurateur has done much to popularize, and demystify, regional Mexican cooking.
48. Cat Cora
Being the only female Iron Chef earns Cora a spot on the list. Plus, her telegenic glamour and golden locks surely help in hooking folks on cooking—and having four sons with her wife, well, that’s just cool.
49. Soraya Darabi, Alexa Andrzejewski
Foodspotting, in which FourSquare meets those backlit pictures of dishes in diners and Chinese takeouts (with a dash of, well, Gourmet Live thrown in), is no doubt part of the future. Not sure why—it just is. And these two (plus a guy) thought of making a business out of it.
50. Julie Powell
The blog that spawned a movie. And turned on a few more million to the great Julia Child.
And honorable mentions to (we couldn’t be so self–serving as to nominate our own):
Ruth Reichl
Gourmet magazine’s former editor–in–chief, memoirist, dining critic
Tanya Steel
Epicurious editor–in–chief, cookbook author.
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