Chef Beverly Kim Eyes Actionable Change Within Restaurant Industry

WDCB’s Gary Zidek catches up with award-winning chef Beverly Kim to talk about her non-profit, her participation in The Women of Food series and recent Beard Award nomination.

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WDCB 90.9 FM · The Arts Section: Chef Beverly Kim Continues Efforts to Help Women In Culinary Industry

“I want to change the idea that a woman is a liability, that being a working mother is a liability to a restaurant or company, women and mothers are assets. It starts in the community, because waiting on government policy (to change) is going to take a long time. It starts with cultural and community aspects of having these conversations, and putting actionable change in our own restaurants.” - Chef Beverly Kim talking about her efforts to shine a light on the challenges facing women in the restaurant industry.

You might think there’s little left for acclaimed chef Beverly Kim to accomplish. She’s won a Beard Award, her restaurant has been awarded a Michelin Star and she was finalist on the popular competition series, TOP CHEF. But the Chicago-based chef is also working on larger systemic challenges, with a focus on helping on women in the culinary world. One of the ways Kim is helping is with her non-profit, THE ABUNDANCE SETTING, that she started with husband and restaurant partner Johnny Clark. With some additional time to think during the COVID-related shutdown, Kim launched the organization with a mission to provide resources to working mothers in the restaurant industry. Kim is also interested in tackling boarder injustices regarding gender and race in the restaurant world. Later this month, she’s participating in a special one night dinner on 6/28 at her restaurant Wherewithall that’s part of a nationwide campaign titled THE WOMEN OF FOOD, that aims to shine a light on systemic inequities in the culinary industry.