Who's in the kitchen?

[tsquare]

Faith,

Thank you for participating in this forum.

I had a wonderful trip to a small part of Italy last month - Milan, Florence, Venice, Siena, and a Val d'Orcia (SE of Siena.) I was surprised at the number of young women in the kitchen of the restaurants. Small, tipico type places.

Is this common throughout Italy?

At home, we tend to have immigrants in many of the back-of-house positions - I assume Italian policies make that more trouble than it is worth - or is it that the Owners aren't teaching the staff and the cooks are taught at home and bring their skills with them?

[Faith Willinger]

It sounds like you had an exciting trip, covered a lot of territory. I think you're talking about the kind of restaurants where the cucina is an extension of the home kitchen. Not chef cuisine, but the kind of cooking that I'm crazy about, simple, based on season, with a sense of terroir. Women are frequently in the kitchen of family-owned restaurants. Staff members may go on to open their own restaurants but family members are in the business for as long as it last, which may be generations. It's not easy for immigrants to get working papers, although I do see many foreigners doing a "stage" in the most unlikely and remote kitchens.

a presto

Faith

Faith,

Thank you for participating in this forum.

I had a wonderful trip to a small part of Italy last month - Milan, Florence, Venice, Siena, and a Val d'Orcia (SE of Siena.) I was surprised at the number of young women in the kitchen of the restaurants. Small, tipico type places.

Is this common throughout Italy?

At home, we tend to have immigrants in many of the back-of-house positions - I assume Italian policies make that more trouble than it is worth - or is it that the Owners aren't teaching the staff and the cooks are taught at home and bring their skills with them?

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