Diversity is a big issue in hospitality, and we employ a United Nations of workers. But when you look at management, it seems to be overwhelmingly ‘white guys’. We can’t keep complaining about lack of skilled staff, when we tolerate the many ways other good talent is excluded from higher-paid positions.

In this interview, Ken Burgin talks to Deborah Harris, Associate Professor of Sociology at Texas State University in Austin. She and her colleague Patti Giuffre recently published Taking the Heat – Women Chefs & Gender Inequality in the Professional Kitchen. It’s a detailed and fascinating study of why this trade remains so male dominated, and how to make changes. This is a topic I’ve long wanted to discuss on the podcast, and I was delighted to find this new book and connect with the authors. There’s no shortage of short articles about diversity in foodservice, but it’s rare to have people research the issue so thoroughly and present their findings in such an approachable way.

I highly recommend you buy the book, and the authors have also put together an excellent Teaching Guide to help instructors use it in their courses. It will also be useful for managers and chefs who want to raise the issue in their workplace and work on making changes