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UPDATE – 20th March 2024 – Kate Austen made history & became the first woman in Great British Menu’s 19 year history to have her main course reach the banquet. Congratulations Kate – we look forward to watching you prepare your stunning Olympian dish for the banquet at the British ambassador’s residence in Paris to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics – BBC2 22nd March 7pm.

At Women in the Food Industry we are interviewing the strong female line-up of chefs from across Britain competing to serve their dish at the final banquet of Great British Menu. To kick start the series, our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, interviewed Sally Abé, chef consultant at The Pem Restaurant in the Conrad London Hotel in St. James’s.

We are delighted that Great British Menu (GBM) is returning to our screens on 24th March 2021 for series 16. The BBC Two show puts the nation’s most talented chefs to the test. At Women in the Food Industry we were pleased to see women making up almost a third of the chefs from across Britain who will be competing to serve their dish at the final banquet. 

Would reducing social distancing requirements to one metre see more hospitality businesses survive the Covid-19 crisis and save “thousands of jobs”? We spoke to a number of prominent women in the food industry for their thoughts.

At Women in the Food Industry we are continuing our series of interviews the strong female line-up of chefs from across Britain competing in Great British Menu to serve their dish at the final banquet. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, interviewed Shauna Froydenlund, joint chef patron and business partner of Marcus.

BBC Two’s MasterChef: The Professionals is returning for its 13th series and once again looking for chefs with the talent and ambition to make it to the top of their industry.

For the last three years CODE, the leading hospitality magazine and website. have published a list that honours women who “genuinely affect change in the hospitality industry.” We are delighted that so many supporters of Women In the Food Industry (WiFi) feature in 2020’s list of amazing women.

We are delighted that Great British Menu (GBM) is returning to our screens on 18th March 2020 for series 15. The BBC Two show puts the nation’s most talented chefs to the test. At Women in the Food Industry we were pleased to see women making up a quarter of the chefs from across Britain who will be competing to serve their dish at the final banquet.  This year GBM has been re-vamped again with more dishes, more chefs and a new presenter.

The SquareMeal Female Chef of the Year award was launched in 2018 to celebrate the huge contribution female chefs are making to the UK restaurant industry.  On 21st October 2019 Skye Gyngell chef-patron of Spring and culinary director of Heckfield Place became the second winner of the title. Skye was presented with her award at a Champagne reception at The Goring in Belgravia for the shortlisted chefs.

If you had just graduated from Le Cordon Bleu London do you think you would be able to face the critical eyes of MasterChef The Professionals judges Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing, a week later? Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim,  got the chance to speak to Luciana Berry about her experiences championing Brazilian food, cooking for Prince Edward, braving the critics and what happened after MasterChef The Professionals.

The British Library are running another season of last year’s highly popular talks, workshops and courses on food, all inspired by their extensive food-related collections.  Many of the events, which run until 30th May 2019 feature prominent women in the food industry. We highlight some of our favourites here.

Listen to Mex talk about how Janie Ash and her came up with their new incarnations and how Chantelle Nicholson caught Marcus Wareing’s eye.