Kathleen Lau, Michelle Garnaut, Cotton Ding and Kelley Lee, we love you and salute you for all you’ve accomplished. But it’s time to share the spotlight. In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, we profile eight of Shanghai’s amazing, but lesser known sisters in the F&B industry…
Cara Stadler (pictured above)
head chef, 12 Chairs
Age: 23
From: Harvard, Massachusetts, US
Years in Shanghai: Two
Stadler left home at 14, graduated from high school a year early and decided she wanted a career in fine dining. So she started work at a local bistro in Berkeley, California, and immediately fell in love with the trade. After three years in the field, she took an eight-month break to study at Le Cordon Bleu, got her stars at Restaurant Guy Savoy, did a brief stint with Gordon Ramsay au Trianon Palace in Versailles and then started an underground restaurant in Beijing. After the untimely termination of the now defunct Laris, she was ready to spearhead another Laris kitchen. “I am really young for a head chef,” she admits. “But the way I see it, if I can learn twice as fast as someone, then I’m just as old as they are and just as good.”
On being a woman in the industry: “I don’t ever want to be the girl who can’t keep up with the boys. If anyone can do it then I can – if it takes spending six hours sweating behind a hot stove, I’ll do it. I once had a whole thing of scalding oil spill onto my arm during a shift. It hurt like a bitch, but you suck it up. I’ve spent my whole career working in an industry dominated by males and trying to prove there’s no difference between me and them. Nothing makes me better than them, but nothing makes me worse."
Delia Chen
head pastry chef, Langham Xintiandi
Age: 34
From: Shanghai
People who work in kitchens often peg Chen as a pastry chef before she even introduces herself. “Well, I’m a little fat and I’m a sweet person,” she says. “And I just love eating sweets so much.” But beneath the jolly exterior lurks a woman who relishes competition. She once entered three elite Hong Kong pastry competitions, where chefs had two hours to create desserts using a mystery ingredient. She won them all and competed even while pregnant. “I never got too nervous before competing,” she says. “If you worry too much about it before, it’ll just get in the way of your work.”
On being a woman in the industry: “In the hotels I’ve been in, there have been a lot of female chefs in high positions. So I’ve really always felt like any woman can achieve this position if they work hard enough.”
Yang Lipeng (杨利朋),
founder, Yang’s Dumplings (小杨生煎)
Age: 43
From: Zhejiang Province
Years in Shanghai: 17
After getting her fingers crushed in a dough-flattening machine while working as an apprentice to her dim-sum specialist grandfather, it seemed that Yang’s career in dumpling making was over. But after a stint selling tea eggs, socks and wholesale clothing, Yang returned to her passion. She rented a small space on Wujiang Lu, next to her grandfather’s house, and got to work. “My husband said I was crazy to start this business, but I just had to,” she says. “I just love fried dumplings so much.” On her first day, Yang bought a big canister of oil, which she turned into a makeshift stove. On the second day, she found someone to help her at RMB300/month. The third day, she bought five kilos of meat and started making dumplings. When she looked up again, there was already a line of people waiting. Yang was sold out by noon. Today, she owns 21 Yang’s Dumpling restaurants across Shanghai and says one store can sell 20,000 fried
dumplings on an average day.
On being a woman in the industry: “I don’t have any impression on this. To do well you just need to push yourself to succeed. I succeeded because I worked hard. Also I’ve had really good luck.”
Catia Busa
head chef, Briccocafe
Age: 47
From: Piedmont, Italy
Years in Shanghai: Four
Busa showed up in Shanghai speaking neither English nor Chinese and had never run her own kitchen. In fact, she was coming out of 10 years in the finance department of an office. However, within four years she had learned both languages, been head chef at Otto, run the kitchen at the Italy Pavilion (where they served 3,000 meals a day) and got a divorce, and she is now turning the menu around at several branches of Briccocafe around China.
On being a woman in the industry: “For women this kind of job is really hard if they have to balance a family. I have two children. Every day they only see me in the morning for breakfast because when I come home, they’re already asleep. From this perspective, it’s hard for women chefs. It’s easier for the men. Sometimes I feel bad about my work schedule. December 24 is my daughter’s birthday. I told her no worries, come to Bricco and we’ll go out. She gets here, but we’re really busy and she waits until 10pm. Finally, she says, ‘Okay, I go home momma.’ I’m lucky because my kids understand. But it’s hard! I love my job, but sometimes this is a big sacrifice. I work very hard for them, of course. But… you know.”
Gabriela Fernandez
head chef, Mi Tierra
Age: 36
From: Tamaulipas State, Mexico
Years in Shanghai: Three
There’s nothing Fernandez hates more than nachos. Or people who say their favorite Mexican food is nachos. “I know the flavors are nice,” Fernandez says. “But it’s not real Mexican. I mean, a child could make nachos.” Fernandez instead likes to dig up recipes that are hundreds of years old and make mole sauce from scratch. She started with restaurants as a waitress in Arlington, Texas, but doled out so much advice that her boss soon put her on the salad line. After stints at El Mexicano and Maya, she touched down at Mi Tierra, where she’s proud of her authenticity. “One day this guy complained and I said, ‘Hold on a second, if you don’t like my food it means you don’t like real Mexican food,’ she says. “I think probably my temper got the best of me.”
On being a woman in the industry: “No matter what people say it’s still difficult to be a woman in this industry. They say the world has changed, but it’s not really true. I mean, if there are 20 guys in the kitchen, they feel frustrated. They don’t want a woman telling them what to do. I used to say ‘F***’ all day and was always upset. But know what? This life is not easy, but it’s not impossible and honestly, easy things are not for me.”
Diana Chen
head chef, Bellagio
Age: 52
From: Shanghai
Years in Shanghai: Three
When her son was born with severe allergies to nuts and
perfume, Chen started cooking at home because they couldn’t go out to eat. “The doctor told me not to turn my kitchen into a restaurant,” says Chen. “I don’t think he thought I could cook.” A professional media photographer by trade, Chen went to culinary school in Chicago and at age 45 started work in an Italian kitchen. “I showed up to this one interview with my Chinese rolling pin in hand,” she says. “The boss asked me what I could do, and all I could say was Chinese pot stickers.” He hired her.
On being a woman in the industry: “You know, it’s harder to be a woman chef, though for me, it might just be my height. Also, women always get yelled at by guy chefs in a kitchen, especially in China. My mother is definitely against my doing this; she says I should just teach and do pastry. I don’t know how long I’ll be here because I really miss my children. It has nothing to do with being a woman; it’s just my height and my time.” After the interview, Diana announced her resignation from Bellagio.
Angela Chen,
co-founder, Latina, Alle Torre
Age: 38
From: Chongqing
Years in Shanghai: 15
After working for years as a software engineer and IT saleswoman, Chen decided it was time for a change. “I got really tired,” she says. “But when I retired, I got really bored.” Enter her Brazilian partner, who helped Chen start up bar and grill place Latina. She now has over 200 people working for her and relishes the challenges in her work. “The F&B industry in Shanghai is tough, easy to get into and easy to get kicked out of,” she says. “Every business is a risk, but the joy when you’re successful in the face of risk is immense. It’s like gambling, there are so many challenges, but I love being a winner.”
On being a woman in the industry: “There are a lot of independent women in China; women and men are equal. Sichuan, where I’m from, is famous for independent women. My mother is a doctor, and that environment encouraged me. I think as women we’re lucky that society is very open. If you’re a great mother, you’re a successful woman. If you’re successful in business, you’re also a successful woman. Even with little things, we can be really happy. For men, it’s not the same, maybe because the standards for us are a bit low, especially in the office.”
Maiko Kato,
head chef, Benkay (Hotel Nikko)
Age: Over 30
From: North of Nagoya, Japan
Years in Shanghai: One
It’s unusual to find Japanese women working as sushi chefs. But Kato says you can see her gender in her sashimi because her slices are more feminine. She has been in the industry since she graduated from high school, but won’t reveal exactly how long because she thinks her age will deter potential suitors. For all her years working in fine dining, she still prefers the countryside cooking of her mother. “My mother doesn’t believe that I cook for a living, because I never cook at home,” she says. “All I do is wait for her food with utensils in hand.” On being a woman in the industry: “I never feel being a woman in the kitchen is bad. For example, Japanese men in the kitchen are expected to form alliances and tensions often develop around loyalties. Because I’m a woman, I’m a neutral figure. I don’t have to take sides or worry about breaking allegiances. Women also do better than men at teaching. When men teach to other men, it’s hard for the old to teach the young, but women, they don’t care so much. I don’t have any kids, but it feels like I’m being a mother when I’m teaching.”