Women gain space in high gastronomy despite being “more difficult”

Justa Nobre is one of the best known bosses in Portugal. “I really wanted to be a cook. I wish I had my job, my job. I didn’t want to give up what I liked, which was the kitchen, and it was a bit difficult”, Lusa reminded the chef at 69 and 40 as a cook.

There is a role, that of a mother, that no one else occupies, and that leads many women to have to give up their career, particularly in a profession that forces them to work at night and on weekends, commented.

“The woman goes as far as she wants. The woman just decides. There is a time of life when she decides what she wants to be, if mother, if professional”, she said, admitting that she had to do “sacrifices” to follow the dream.

Only in 2025 two women, Marlene Vieira and Rita Magro, won the first Michelin star in Portugal, after an interregnum of almost 30 years, before Maria Alice Marto had won this distinction at the Tia Alice restaurant between 1993 and 1996. This year, Angélica Salvador joined, the first Brazilian to receive a star outside Brazil.

It was to “put the spotlight on women”, cooks, pastries, producers, business owners, that Nelson Marques created the Ladies Night Fest, a festival that “celebrates feminine talent in Portuguese gastronomy“.

“Before, the [star delivery] gala Michelin looked like a firehouse,” said Lusa the festival’s creator, who wondered: “How do women in traditional cuisine have the most prominent place, and not the same in the most creative kitchen?”.

“ Whenever I asked this question, the justifications never convinced me much”, admitted the creator of Ladies Night Fest, which promotes, throughout the year, 10 dinners throughout the country, always with feminine talents.

Motherhood and the role of housecare are realities that hinder women's access to high gastronomy, he recognized.

“ When society puts women in Portugal still working, on average, two and a half hours a day more than men in home care (...) yes, it may be more difficult for women”, he said.

In addition, “for decades there has been violence”, psychological, but also physical, in the kitchen, an “abuse environment that was not conducive for women to thrive”. Currently there are more women to gain prominence, said Nelson Marques.

“Today the festival also exists because there are more women in prominent place, also because we were normalizing and began to be more common“, said, despite recognizing that “it is still difficult to find restaurants” led by women.

On September 11, Ladies Night Fest leads to the MACAM garden, Museum of Contemporary Art Armando Martins, in Lisbon, an event that combines author gastronomy, ‘street food’, wines, art and live music, all in the feminine.

Adjoké Bakare, the second black chef in the world to win a Michelin star, Angélica Salvador (restaurant In Different, Porto, a star) or Elisabete Ferreira, considered the best baker in the world in 2024, will be present at the party, which has Lara Figueiredo, pastry chef of the year 2025 of the awards Mesa Marcada, as hostess.

“ As women, we have more natural and biological responsibilities imposed by society, which makes it more difficult to make certain decisions”, said Lusa Lara Figueiredo, 27 years old.

In addition, “historically there were fewer opportunities for women and many eventually became discouraged,” said the pastry chef of the “Contemporary” restaurant, integrated into MACAM, the first five-star hotel-museum in Europe.

However, Lara Figueiredo considers that today's path is easier: “Every time people are more aware. About 10, 15 years ago would be a bigger problem.”.

The young pastry maker ensures that Ladies Night Fest is not an exclusive event for women: “Men are part of it, but it is also very important for women to have their moment and society to start looking at it in a much more natural and much more necessary way.”.