Women In The Food Industry Events are recognised by Regional and National Press

The first events for new initiative Women In the Food Industry for International Women’s Day were recognised by the Daily Telegraph, the Lancaster Guardian and the Edinburgh Evening News.

Just in time for International Women’s Day the Lancaster Guardian reported on Better with Jam‘s news and the partnership of co-founders Janie Ash and Mecca Ibrahim.

“A series of new events will bring together female food and drink leaders and entrepreneurs to discuss the issues impacting women working in food related careers in the United Kingdom” wrote Nick Lakin. “Janie Ash, a Lancaster business woman and managing director of brand agency Better with Jam, has co-founded Women In the Food Industry with London based Mecca Ibrahim.”

“….events, in London and Edinburgh take place in the run up to International Women’s Day on 8th March with further events planned for later in the year, specifically in Lancashire and the North West.

“Women in the Food Industry is supported by major female influencers in the food world, including Asma Khan, first British chef on Netflix’s award-winning Chef’s Table, Michelin starred chef Frances Atkins, MasterChef winner, Jane Devonshire, Executive Chef of the Allbright Collective, Roux Scholarship Finalist and Great British Menu Entrant, Sabrina Gidda and Great British Menu judge and Saturday Kitchen host, Andi Oliver.

“Previously Head of Social Media & Marketing at Great British Chefs, Mecca also joins the team at Better with Jam as Marketing Director.”

Earlier in the week The Edinburgh Evening News had reported on an event taking place at Edinburgh New Town Cookery School and said “Celebrating International Women’s Day 2019, the inaugural Scottish Women in the Food Industry event will bring together a diverse mix of female food and drink leaders and entrepreneurs to discuss the issues impacting women working in food-related careers in Scotland. Hosted by Sound Bite PR the panel will include Julie Swee Lin, Chef Patron at Julie’s Kopitiam, Fiona Richmond, Head of Regional Food, Scotland Food & Drink and Fiona Burrell, Principal of Edinburgh New Town Cookery School”.

Women In the Food Industry was also mentioned in a feature by Xanthe Clay in The Daily Telegraph, writing on whether female focused conferences can change attitude towards women  In a feature called – Does the food world have a toxic attitude towards women – and can female-focused conferences change anything?, Xanthe Clay said “Now in its fifth year, Parabere is part of a growing movement in the food business to raise the profile of women by bringing them together. The likes of “Women in Food” and “Women in the Food Industry” in the UK, “Women in Hospitality” in Australia, and “Women in Hospitality United” as well as the Jubilee conference in the US have sprung up to join more established organisations like the international “Les Dames D’Escoffier.”

The first events for Women in The Food Industry finished on 8th March (International Women’s Day) with two events held at the prestigious Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in London. Mecca Ibrahim gave a live stream talk at 2pm highlighting learnings from the week’s events. She opened up for questions to explore why women are a minority in professional kitchens (only 18% of professional chefs are female) and discussed what could be done to change perceptions and the reality of women in the food world. Her livestream can be viewed here.

The second event at the RSA Women in The Food Industry present Pioneering Women closed celebrations of championing women in the food industry with a panel of women who are trailblazers and pioneers in their field – panellists included: Frances Atkins Michelin Starred Chef since 2003 at the award-winning The Yorke Arms; Claire Clark MBE MOGB International Award-winning Pastry Chef, consultant & author and Founder of The Claire Clark Academy; Anjula Devi Cookery School Owner, Author, Brand Ambassador for TRS Foods, the world’s largest Indian food company and Chef Consultant for Manchester Utd; Niamh Shields Award-winning food writer, author and one of the UK’s best known food bloggers who has been blogging since 2007; Bettina Campolucci Plant Based & Gluten Free Chef, Author and Influencer; Jennifer Earle Founder of Chocolate Ecstasy Tours and Taste Tripper. Chocolate Expert, Writer and Food Industry Consultant and Jodi Hinds Award Winning Food photographer who has worked on numerous cookbooks and publications, narrating food stories and documenting the artistry of the chef behind each dish.

“We are delighted that regional & national press recognised our new initiative and their support will only spur us on to create more events around the country to highlight women in the food industry”
Mecca Ibrahim