It''s a familiar trope: angry men berating each other in kitchens as pots furiously boil, sauces burn and a giant slab of beef rests in the background. The dominant view of a professional kitchen is one of chaos and pent-up fury - a gladiatorial contest of male ego. Why then do we also hear the misogynistic refrain that women ''belong in the kitchen'' if, in a professional context, they''re all but erased from them?
A Woman''s Place is in the Kitchen is the story of Sally Abé''s rise to become an award-winning chef in the brutal world of restaurant kitchens; how a girl from the midlands who used to cook herself Smash to get by is now one of the most successful fine-dining chefs working today.
More than that, Sally''s story is also a stirring manifesto - drawing back the curtain on restaurant kitchens to show how she is endeavouring to change them for the better. Filled with stories of Michelin-starred food, the relentlessness of kitchens, as well as the hope for the future of the culinary landscape, Sally''s memoir is set to become a classic.