Why do men and women get paid differently? It’s just beyond me The chef Asma Khan
Asma Khan’s Darjeeling Express restaurant in London’s Kingly Court has been in the limelight constantly since opening in 2017, employing an all-women team of untrained cooks delivering authentic Persian-influenced Mughlai dishes, such as saffron chicken stew. She recently opened Calcutta Canteen in London’s Soho.
‘Before the restaurant, I started my first supper club in 2012 at my house in London. It was women – nurses from the local hospital, the nannies after school – who would sit around the table prepping with me, peeling the potatoes,’ recalls Asma. ‘This is the team I still have with me today.’
There is no hierarchy at her establishment.
‘Everyone is on the same wage, including me.’ She asks the question, ‘Why do men or women get paid differently? It’s just beyond me – why would one be more significant than the other?’ Considering Darjeeling’s roaring success, one wonders why there aren’t more restaurants like this. ‘Because of prejudice,’ comes Asma’s answer. ‘It’s incredible what people ask: I get asked about hormones in my kitchen. It’s deeply offensive.’
She believes we’re far from attaining equality in the food world. She says, ‘Somehow men look down on female chefs, they expect them to be pastry chefs, to work in the cold kitchen – it’s a misconception that women can’t take the heat.’
Asma’s newest project is setting up the Second Daughters Fund, a charity that aims to empower second-born daughters in India by sending
celebration care packages on the day of their birth, as well as helping to fund their education.
‘I am a second daughter, most of my team are second daughters and we knew that our birth was a disappointment. We were not the sons the family had anxiously hoped for and most of our births were not
celebrated. Through the charity, I want the birth of second girls to be celebrated in the village and for them to have the same rights as boys: an education, an opportunity and a reminder that they are not a burden on their family.’
Twenty percent of the profits from Darjeeling Express will go to the charity. Asma will be profiled on Netflix series Chef’s Table this spring.