The below full-length version of50 Women Game-Changers by Kate Sekules appears in the current issue of Gourmet Live. Download the free Gourmet Live app to get this story and more.
Illustration by Ma'ayan Rosenzweig
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.
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? Let us know what you think.
- Julia Child
The great Julia needs no introduction. Especially not after the great Meryl played her in the movie. - 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. - 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. - 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. - M.F.K. Fisher
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher invented food writing. All food bloggers would like to be her. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - Clotilde Dusoulier
Dusoulier’s 2003–vintage blog Chocolate & 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. - 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. - 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. - Ree Drummond
O Pioneer Woman! You rule the World Wide Web. See Ed Levine’s profile in this issue of Gourmet Live… - 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. - 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. - Paula Deen
The smiley Deen of the South, like the scent of her deep-fried mac and cheese, gets everywhere. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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! - 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. - 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. - 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. - Edna Lewis
The granddaughter of an emancipated slave, Lewis, another Judith Jones protégée, brought sophisticated Southern dishes into the spotlight. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - 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. - Harumi Kurihara
…who probably hates being incessantly called “the Japanese Martha Stewart.” - 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. - 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. - Diana Kennedy
The uncompromising, adventurous Mexican culinary authority is profiled by Kemp Minifie in this issue of Gourmet Live. - 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. - Zarela Martinez
The Manhattan restaurateur has done much to popularize, and demystify, regional Mexican cooking. - 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. - 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. - 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.
Kate Sekules, a recovering print journalist (editor–in–chief of Culture+Travel, travel editor of Food & Wine…), is the founder of the couture swapping site Refashioner.com.
please take Julie Powell off the list! She did nothing to deserve a spot on the same list as Alice Waters and Julia Child! Good Grief!
I totally agree about the Julie Powell thing. Why? When you have real game-changers like Gale Gand and Sherry Yard, who changed the face of pastry in fine dining, to give thanks for???
Ruth Reichl should be more than an honorable mention, she should be in the top 5. Where are Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken? They were instrumental TV chefs as the tv food craze began. Irma Rombauer should be #2.
And what about Deborah Madison? She’s done so much to change the way we (vegetarians and omnivores alike) eat our vegetables.
every time you single women out (whether culinary, comedy, politics, whatever)-
you make women seem like they are in some inferior class
can we stop separating men and women, please?
thanks
Darina Allen deserves a mention !!
Gosh! Haven’t you guys heard of the phenomenon called TARLA DALAL who made it cool to be vegetarian at a time when gourmet meant gourMEAT!
Alice Waters and Irma Rombauer should switch rankings. TJOC is a definitive guide on “how” to cook the basics and I value it for its massive instructional sections written in understandable language. . Waters caters to a select bunch who can afford organic, seasonal, natural etc. Rombauer is for the “everywoman”, teaching the basics of roasting, frying, spices, soups, etc so that anyone with a creative impulse can take a basic lesson like how to roast a chicken, and add their own flavors and flourishes – or simply use the recipes as written and get a great end product.
How this list could include Rachel Ray but not Madeleine Kamman is not only beyond belief, but beyond shame.
to put RR above the Silver Palate girls is criminal; and to not include the Two Hot Tamales is shameful
It’s a long list, and no offense intended, but take Amanda Hesser, for example. I enjoy her work, and have a fun book by her and which I use from time to time to cook with. But there isn’t any comparison with Diana Kennedy. That’s AGAIN not to take away from AH, but Kennedy has spent decades in Mexico compiling recipes that otherwise would have vanished forever. And her many books are quite approachable, even for someone from New York! : )
PS if you have never heard Ms Kennedy speak, you’re in for a pleasant treat when you finally do!
I am shocked that Suzanne Tracht’s name is not on that list. She should most definitely be there.
How can you leave off Marion Cunningham? Without Marion the Fannie Farmer Cookbook would have been just a historical account of cooking instead of a staple of classic American cuisine.
Leave it to Gourmet! SO great that someone finally took the time to do this.
A shame Ms. Reichl cannot claim her spot at the top, but we al know she’s there.
The big name missing is Gabrielle Hamilton. This chef (and memoirist) changed dining in NYC before the gastropubs and the David Changs. This past month she was finally recognized with a James Beard award.
Gabrielle took home Best Chef New York, the first woman to do so!!
Go Gabrielle!
CARLA PELLEGRINO!!! Rao’s (NY & VEGAS), Bratalian and the newest BACIO in the new Tropicana…not only amazing chef, but groundbreakingas well.
This list is, as the food media usual does, gives short shrift to women chefs. As the author of, “Hot Line: How America’s Women Chefs Are Taking Back the Kitchen” (pub. date Nov. 2011) I understand better than anyone the neccessity of paying homage to women who are not necessarily chefs but lumping food writers, bloggers, and others with women chefs is absurd. The erroneous assumption once again being that there are not enough women chefs for their own list. As I write in the book, “Women may have developed a majority of American recipes, written most of the country’s cook books for centuries, started its two most important food revolutions and founded its three most acclaimed cooking schools, but they have struggled to find a place in the professional kitchen and now that they have they have had a Hell of a time getting anyone to notice.”
The leading female Michelin chef, and as such one of the leading female innovators in the world right now: Carme Ruscalleda. But this list puts anyone who put together a cake recipe people liked ahead of any sort of newness, innovation or creative theory. Basically arguing that women are not intelligent enough to do so, they are all artesans and mediators here, and so few leaders or leading voices.
So a rather sad list and pretty sexist in the end.
I agree with so many, remove Julia Powell from the list, even her book was unreadable. I would like to be able to get a copy of the movie with her character completely cut out.
Besides she did nothing to further food trends or culinary knowledge or history, unlike Marion Cunningham, Dione Lucas, Barbara Kafka, Barbara Tropp, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Cristeta Comerford, the first female Executive Chef at the White House, Paula Lambert who one of the first people to start making and selling fresh gourmet cheeses in America.
So many more….
let me get this right rachel ray is more important than elana arzak april bloomfield or diane kennedy how many 3 star michelin restaurants does she helm like in elenas case or one star like april or is a icon in a ciusine that is not even native to her like diane that just amazes me
Food doesn’t really include agriculture or nutrition or community here does it? France Moore Lappe? Rachel Carson (really, do you think those pesticides were for flowers?), Joan Dye Gussow, Marion Nestle. What about Jane Addams, who helped poor women create kitchens and food? Or Vandana Shiva, who has brought women’s agriculture and food practices to light across the globe? I can’t even begin to address the narrowness of what you mean by “food” here…
Regardless of who you think should or should not be on this list, we should all be CELEBRATING each other and embracing the fact these women (and men as well) are successful in their own way. Why tear each other down when we can embrace their success and contributions? Seriously people, get over yourselves. There’s enough negativity in this world without you adding to it.
Nice to read a few constructive comments here, but the negativity around Julie Powell continues to amuse me. I’d like to see some figures on just how many young people’s eyes have been opened to Julia Child’s work, and how much money Julie’s book and the subsequent movie earned the publisher of The Art of French Cooking. There are so many other things far more important to get worked up over than who is on which list these days.
What about Jennifer McColm? She was at the forefront of the farmers market movement, opening over 25 markets in California, helping small farmers sell their produce and introducing organic and local produce to hundreds of thousands of inner city and suburban families.
[...] list of 50 Women Game Changers – women who have influenced today’s food world – includes the greats like Julia [...]
Lots of interesting comments. I have to agree about Julie Powell. I mean she didn’t “get” aspic for goodness sakes. And what about our Southern Goddess, Nathalie Dupree? And I have to suggest Chef Marie-Claude Gracia from Poudenas.
Dorette
http://www.plantingcabbages.com
one chef’s fable to table
Literate, iintelligent, accomplished – Sara Moulton. I guess she doesn’t have the same “pop-culture” panache as Julie Powell or Ree Drummond. Kind of an embarrassing omission.
As always a “Top 50″ or “Top 10″ or “Top Whatever” list leaves out some deserving and includes some not as deserving, but it is always subjective and creates dialog to help advertise our passion: The Joy of Cooking (and/or Eating?). However I think one important name should have been included or, at least, mentioned: Betty Crocker. JK Like it or not Rachel Ray is very well known and I seem to be eating a lot closer to her style than to Ms. Child’s whether at home or out.
I agree take Julie Powell of that list she not a cook nor a Chef she just read the famous Julia’s Childs cook book like we all do. To make gourmet foods
You forgot Adele Davis…..she began it all !
Rachel Ray? Really? And although I adore Molly and Ree, I think Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitchen) should be there, too.
Now, Marion Cunningham. That woman taught me to cook. Dorie Greenspan and Rose Levy Berenbaum taught me to bake.
Julie Powell may have written a book, but she is not a game changer.
This list is based on visibility, not on changing the game. Frieda Caplan introduced more ingredients used by modern ‘American’ chefs than any one else; yet she seems to remain anonymous. :
Frieda Caplan founded her company “Frieda’s” in 1962. “Frieda’s” is the first wholesale produce company in the U.S. to be founded, owned, and operated by a woman — and remains a family-owned and operated business today. Frieda Caplan is founder and Chairman of the Board, while her daughters Karen and Jackie serve as President/CEO and Vice President, respectively.
Frieda’s has introduced such table-staples as Kiwifruit, Brown Mushrooms, Alfalfa Sprouts, Spaghetti Squash, Jicama, Shallots, Mangos, Donut® Peaches and a wide variety of Latin and Asian specialties. Visit her website at: http://www.friedas.com
I disagree with all the petty comments about Julie Powell, What she did was legendary and i would add to the list Sally Fallon author of Nourishing Traditions the bible for natural authentic whole food cooking and tireless advocate for real food
Intrigued by the mention of Zarela’s where I have enjoyed so many margaritas!
How about Molly Katzen?
If you’d have listed top one hundred we would still have read it and you could have put more, really important people and included the cooking revelation that is Nadia G. If Rachel Ray and Martha Stewarts skills impress you, you are going to be blown away by Nadia Giosia. She is to cooking what Lady GaGa is to music!
Molly Katzen! Where’s Molly Katzen?
Yay! Donna Hay, great Aussie on the list. What about Nigella Lawson???
even though i disagree with a few of the women being on the list it’s mostly because i think a few others are missing. i must say julia child at #1 is perfect. my inaugural post on my blog http://wildfreshntasty.com was simply a photo her with a quote: “find something that you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” -julia child
all these women have done this in one way or another, and influenced others to be passionate about food as well.
Martha Stewart easily 2 and Ruth Reichl come on….honorable mention. Are you smoking pastry dough?
I’m undeniably biased but I’d say the women of Cuisine at home have been “game changers” in the way I cook starting way back with Cinda, Sue, Jenna, and Sara and up to and including Kim, Haley, MJ, Robin Zimmerman ~ they put out some fantastic food and food photography, teaching all of us at home how to do it better, even if we’re never going to be Ruth Reichl, Alice Waters, or Donna Hay. : )
I love this topic, but agree with Alex 100%! Susan Feninger and Mary Sue Milliken have been the biggest game-changers not just as women, but in the culinary world as a whole on so many levels – BIG omission…But thanks for opening up the discussion.
Pioneer Woman????? I just threw up my lunch.
While there are a few names here that I wouldn’t put on *my* list, I am pleased to learn about, or attach names to a few that I didn’t know before! Yummy list!! Mmmm…
I too was missing Sara Moulton and Molly Katzan. Both were serious influences on my career. I think game changers are not necessarily the most popular. Glad this list went back to Fanny Farmer! That was my first cookbook!
Before there was Paula Dean, Rachel Ray and all of the other women, and really men, on the Food Network there were the Hot Tamales, Susan Finegar and Mary Sue Milliken. How they were left off the list is a mystery. They are still cooking and still relevant. Today the likes of Paula Dean and Rachel Ray simply make recipes from Ladies HOme Journal and other such magazines whereas the Hot Tamales actually taught many Americans about different cultures through recipes and researched and studied the cuisine of different countries and cultures. There was a time when the Hot Tamales were as much food rock stars as Mario Batali and Emirl Lagassee.
Paula Wolfert is not just a culinary guru extraordinaire but a lovely story teller… her extensive research and attention to detail is astonishing ! Cannot wait for the release of her soon to be released book on Moroccon Cooking this Fall.
I noticed a comment about the women behind the Silver Palate and the Silver Palate cookbooks. I had figured to see them much higher on the list. Besides being well written, easy to understand cookbooks, their approach to cooking and entertaining at home using fresh ingredients and upscale restaurant quality recipes that a home cook could make without more than a few knives, a food processor and some pots and pans, was revolutionary and at least I am concerned, broke the way for Martha Stewart and Ina Garten. Really what is either of Stewart and Garten’s cooking shows than the Silver Palate cookbooks on video.
Rachel Ray on this list and Goop Paltrow on the cover of Bon Appetit….Maybe the fundie nuts are right and the apocalypse is upon us. Rachel Ray anywhere near Julia Child is sacriligious.
Pioneer Woman/Ree Drummond? You’ve got to be kidding. She may rule the web, but she doesn’t rule in the kitchen! Unless she’s hiding her knowledge of food, I know more about food than she does.
What about MaryJane Butters? She’s a true pioneer of the organic foods/cooking movement.
Anne Burrell changed my life in the kitchen. <3