Chef, restaurateur, and head judge of Top Chef Tom Colicchio appeared on Larry King Now to talk about why there aren’t more women heading up restaurant kitchens, which side of the great tipping debate he falls on, and who he’s voting for.
When pressed about why there aren’t more female chefs, he said “I think it has a lot to do with society in general and what women have to do to have a successful career. Especially, you know, a career that mostly happens at night, and a lot of young women drop out at a certain point and I think if we had a better child care system in this country and we had other ways to support women… I think there’d be more women chefs.” He also noted that in a lot of restaurants he’s worked in, when he started out the women he worked with advanced faster than the men, but at a certain point, they dropped out and the men kept going.
On America’s obesity epidemic, King questioned Colicchio on whether chefs are to blame. Colicchio blamed agriculture policy, noting that most of the subsidized crops in this country are currently used to make processed food. “Calories,” he says, “are cheap. Food is expensive.” Not surprisingly, he said that he believes Hillary Clinton will work to address these issues whereas Donald Trump (who, not surprisingly, Colicchio is not voting for) will not. He didn’t hesitate to say that he throws his full support behind Clinton.
King then asked about the great tipping debate. Colicchio and Danny Meyer, who used to run Gramercy Tavern together, were the first people to ban smoking in their restaurant. People thought they were insane, but ultimately, business went up. Meyer is also a pioneer with his “hospitality included” policy. Lots of people, including Eric Ripert have spoken out against it, but for Meyer, the policy is working so far. Colicchio is on the side of hospitality included, and thinks the rest of the world will fall in line. He says that young people don’t like tipping.
The two then played If Only You Knew, which is King’s version of a lightning round. Watch the video:
To see the entire episode, click here.
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