It's tougher for women of colour: Chef Asma Khan on sexism in culinary industry

You can almost smell the biryani taste the phuchka and hear the crackle of the luchis being fried when you watch Asma Khanrsquos mdash chef and owner of the Londonbased Darjeeling Express mdash journey on the Netflix show Chefrsquos Table But what also stays with you is the chirpy camaraderie the Kolkataborn chef shares with her allwomen team mdash mostly South Asian migrants mdash as they hum rsquo90s Bollywood songs and cater to the Biryani Supper Club Itrsquos like any desi kitchen always bustling with aunts mothers and grandmothers chopping cooking chitchatting and currying lives with flavourSince 2012 Darjeeling Express has grown from serving an intimate homebased supper club to occupying the heart of London at Soho and more recently to a new address at Covent Garden However Khan reveals that despite her success she struggled to move to a bigger site thanks to sexism Edited excerpts from an email interviewWhat ordeal did you face while looking for a larger restaurant spaceFor the last two years Irsquod been trying to move to a bigger site The Soho restaurant wasnrsquot made for 200 covers which was what we were doing I was unable to get any landlords to show me a site and the first time I was shown something was in early March 2020 just before the pandemicDarjeeling Express Covent Garden in LondonIncredibly while Irsquod already paid for a designer to work on the layout I discovered from a third party that the neighbouring restaurant had asked the landlord to not give me the space Nobody had told me I realised then it wasnrsquot bad luck When I was told that the site was not suitable for me what they really meant was that I didnrsquot have a suitable boy with me possibly a venture capitalist investor or a business partner As a sole female founder landlords werenrsquot willing to give me prime restaurant propertyI realised I had to be brave I saw an opportunity when so many big restaurants were closing during the lockdown It was unfortunate that it had to take a global pandemic and for mostly male chefs to fail for me to have an opportunity to get the place I did I wouldrsquove preferred to compete in an even race but when yoursquore a female founder and a woman of colour yoursquore not running the same race as others Your path has hurdles that nobody else even seesKhan with members of her allwomen teamWhat are some of the challenges that women chefs and entrepreneurs faceThere is an lsquoall boysrsquo clubrsquo network that operates in hospitality This is an unspoken club where you can visit but you can never become a member if you donrsquot fit into the image of the majority who tend to be white and male The few Michelinstar women who make it mdash it seems as if they value the chef aspect rather than the female aspect Itrsquos rare for them to speak up when there are allegations of sexism and bullying against females This undermines the confidence of women who may want to raise allegations of abuse I speak up so that women whorsquore going through difficulties know that at least therersquos a voice who will speak up for them This isnrsquot about lsquous and themrsquo Itrsquos important to have powerful and empathetic male allies For any change there needs to be collaboration in the entire industry at every levelAre there women in your family who left an impression on you and your culinary and entrepreneurial visionThe person whorsquos inspired me to be what I am today is my mother In the rsquo80s she ran a successful catering business in Calcutta She was the first food entrepreneur in fact the first entrepreneur in her family She made it look so effortless she shook the world gently around her I learnt a lot from her and later she taught me how to cook tooTell us what itrsquos like to work with an allwomen teamWorking with a group of women who cook with patience love and respect is very inspiring as theyrsquore not trying to impress Theyrsquore cooking to heal and nourish I never began with the intention to have an allfemale team I needed people who could cook like me by oral instruction and lsquoandaazrsquo This comes from learning to cook by watching mothers and grandmothers I couldnrsquot work with someone who was trained in culinary school mdash the route most male chefs have taken in the Indian food industryWhatrsquos next for you mdash will you be travelling to India any time soonIrsquom travelling to Calcutta very soon and will be returning in January for some filming I hope to travel to Mumbai next year and I know this may sound so predictable but I would love to eat chaat I was in the city for a day before the pandemic and I spent two hours eating at Swati SnacksWhatrsquos your advice to young women chefs and culinary entrepreneursItrsquos important to understand that every individual is unique The food or drink that you produce has to be meaningful On dark days you need to have that core belief in what yoursquore doingWomen who inspire Asma KhanIrsquom inspired by Maya Angelou who was able to use words to express her entire heritage and Abida Parveen who dominated a field where traditionally it was men who sang Sufi qawwali