Women have long been synonymous with cooking, recipes, grocery shopping and answering that age-old daily question – “Mom, what’s for dinner?” So why is it that so few women are working in commercial kitchens or running restaurants? What’s up with that?

Our special guests for this foodie event are proud to be in that minority, and will be sharing with us their talents, their stories and, most importantly their creative dishes, going head-to-head in a classic culinary battle right on the stage of the Fremont Theatre. Four female chefs paired with four female restaurant owners will prep and plate four distinct dishes based on what they receive in a Talley Farms Fresh Harvest Box of local fruit and vegetables.

Participants include Shanny Covey (Luna Red, Novo, Mint+Craft and Robin’s), Brooke Town (Spoon Trade), Carole MacDonal (Il Cortile Ristorante, La Cosecha Bar & Restaurant), Kari Ziegler (Comfort Market), Sierra Day (Rosa’s Restaurante Italiano) and Sarah Paddock (Chipwrecked), Molly Bohlman (Niner Wine Estates), Nicole Pope (Stolo Family Vineyards), Katie Povah (Cambria Estate Vineyard and Winery) and Clarissa Nagy (Nagy Wines.)

Creativity, sassy discussion and fun will all be the ingredients of this exciting Cooking Challenge to be judged by a panel of discerning judges chosen from the audience. Hosted by actor French Stewart(Mom, Third Rock from the Sun) who isn’t a real chef… he just plays one on TV!

Enjoy Central Coast wines by female winemakers, as well as appetizers prepared by female chefs from local restaurants served in the lobby and theatre. The Challenge/Demo will begin on stage at 2:45pm, with the fun projected on the screen, and the movie will follow at 4:00pm.

A FINE LINE
When Joanna James began working on the film, it was going to be about her mother’s journey as chef/owner of Val’s Restaurant in Holden, Mass. But when Joanna learned that less than 7 percent of chef-restaurant owners are women, the movie morphed into a larger investigation of gender inequality. World-renowned female chefs are “stirred into” the central narrative focusing on Val. This personal story helps advance the national dialogue on issues of gender inequality, the challenges of balancing motherhood and career, and how inequity in the kitchen is not the only place in which it exists. Directed by Joanna James. 71 min. USA.