PBS高端访谈:培养女厨师的重要性（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to our NewsHour Shares, something interesting that caught our eye. For decades, the culinary industry has been lead largely by men. But, as Renee Shaw and producer Abbey Oldham of PBS' Kentucky Educational Television report, one high-profile chef is trying to change that.

EDWARD LEE, Founder, The LEE Initiative: This is an industry that I love. It's an industry that I have devoted my life to. And the restaurant industry is just a very tough and high-pressure environment.

RENEE SHAW: Edward Lee is an award-winning chef, author and owner of five restaurants in the Louisville, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C., regions. In 2015, he founded The LEE Initiative, a nonprofit seeking to increase diversity and equality in the restaurant industry. Last year, the group launched the Women Chefs of Kentucky Initiative as part of that mission.

EDWARD LEE: What we're looking for are young women chefs who are not only going to rise to be great chefs, owners, investors, what have you, but also great activists for the next generation.

RENEE SHAW: Five female chefs from Kentucky were selected in the inaugural year of the program. In addition to participating in group learning events throughout the year, each woman spent a week being mentored by an established female chef elsewhere in the country. Lindsey Ofcacek is The LEE Initiative's managing director.

LINDSEY OFCACEK, Managing Director, The LEE Initiative: We wanted a way to bridge the gap between women in leadership roles and women at the bottom in the restaurant industry. When you come in, you see a lot of women who are servers and back waits and bussers and bartenders, but you don't meet a lot of women who are general managers, chefs and owners.

RENEE SHAW: Mentee Nikkia Rhodes studied under chef Anne Quatrano in Atlanta, Georgia.

NIKKIA RHODES, Chef: I have never worked in a kitchen so diverse, from race to age to sex. It was really interesting and really powerful for me to see.

And since doing this, I have realized that I can't just be into my work. I have to be developing myself too.

RENEE SHAW: The program culminated with the five women preparing and executing a menu at New York City's renowned James Beard House in the fall.

EDWARD LEE: At the end of the day, like, they have to perform as well. This isn't a feel-good charity. And I have confidence in them. We picked the best that we found. And so they have to live up to that challenge.

RENEE SHAW: And, in doing so, Lee hopes the Women Chefs of Kentucky Initiative will help address another challenge facing the culinary industry: allegations of sexual misconduct by high-profile chefs and restaurateurs.

EDWARD LEE: For every bad chef that's out there, there's an army of good ones. And when you have women in positions of power, you just have companies that are just run with a little more equality, more fairness.

RENEE SHAW: And while it is a new and small program, Lee hopes his initiative will stimulate a ripple effect across the industry.

EDWARD LEE: We're trying to use our platform to make the restaurant community a better place. If I can inspire five, 10, 15, 20 young chefs to do the same in the future, it just creates now this environment where all that starts to blossom.

RENEE SHAW: The Women Chefs of Kentucky Initiative will select its next group of mentees in March. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Renee Shaw in Louisville, Kentucky.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：欢迎收听《新闻一小时》，这里会分享吸人眼球的故事。过去几十年间，餐饮业大多是由男性主导。但根据PBS驻肯塔基州科教频道蕾妮·肖和制作人阿比·奥尔德姆的报道，一位备受瞩目的厨师将改变这种情况。

爱德华·李，李氏计划的创立人：我爱餐饮业。我毕生倾注于这个行业。但餐饮业的环境艰苦，压力又大。

蕾妮·肖：爱德华·李是一名获过奖的厨师，也是作家，他在肯塔基州的路易斯维尔、华盛顿特区等地方开了5家餐厅。2015年，他成立了李氏计划，这是一家非营利组织，宗旨是提高餐饮业的多样性和平等地位。去年，该组织发起了肯塔基州女厨项目作为为宗旨而努力的部分目标。

爱德华·李：我们希望年轻的女厨师们不仅能够成长为大厨，也能自己开餐厅、自己投资，同时也能成为下一代的活动家。

蕾妮·肖：项目发起的第一年，来自肯塔基州的5名女厨师经过遴选进入项目。除了参加一整年的学习活动之外，每位女性都用一周的时间跟随本国其他地方的已有建树的女厨师学习。林德赛是李氏计划的常务董事。

林德赛，李氏计划的常务董事：我们寻求一种方式来弥补餐饮业顶层和底层女性之间的鸿沟。每次观察都会发现，有很多女性是服务员、侍者、服务员助手、调酒师，但鲜少看到很多女性担任总经理、大厨和老板。

蕾妮·肖：接受培训的罗兹跟随大厨安妮在佐治亚州的亚特兰大进行学习。

罗兹，厨师：我以前从未在如此有多样性的厨房里工作过，这里有各种种族的人，男性女性都有。我很乐于见到这样的景象，这让我颇为震撼。从这里开始，我就意识到，我不能只是一心投入在工作中。我也要磨练自己。

蕾妮·肖：最后，参与该项目的5位女性都于秋季在纽约市著名餐厅詹姆斯·比尔德之家参与菜单准备与执行。

爱德华·李：最后，他们总要自己上手的。这不是自我感觉良好的慈善，我对她们有信心。我们在候选人中挑选了最优秀的人，她们一定可以攻克挑战。

蕾妮·肖：通过这样做，李希望肯塔基州女厨项目能助力解决餐饮业面临的另一个挑战——高层厨师和餐馆老板存在的性行为不检指控。

爱德华·李：有多少行为不检的厨师，就有多少品行端正的厨师。一旦女性掌权，公司的平等性和公平性就能提高。

蕾妮·肖：虽然这个新项目规模不大，但李希望这个项目能在整个行业里激起涟漪。

爱德华·李：我们正在努力通过这个平台来让餐饮业成为更好的地方。如果我能激发5个、10个、15个甚至20个年轻厨师以后也做这样的事，那就能创造一种环境，让这样的风气蔚然成风。

蕾妮·肖：肯塔基州女厨项目将于3月遴选下一批培训者。感谢收听蕾妮·肖从肯塔基州路易斯维尔发回的《新闻一小时》。