Resy Presents

The Women Cooking for Joy – And Driving a Revolution

by Melissa Thompson

For women, and women of colour, the journey to success in food is harder than most. They have pushed back against prejudice that has seen disproportionately fewer Black chefs open restaurants, get cookbook deals, and appear on television.

But ever so slowly, a movement is building.

The foundations were laid decades ago, but often operating on the periphery, shut out by the mainstream. But in the last two years, as the national consciousness belatedly awakens to the disparities that have marginalised some cuisines and their chefs, the food of the Black diaspora is starting, slowly, to get the recognition it deserves.

And leading the charge are Black women cooking for joy, and whose brilliance in the kitchen is driving a revolution.

Portraits by Yvonne Maxwell