How Canada’s Yes Shef gives women chefs exposure and fights sexism in hospitality
Yes Shef, involving 30 female chefs, is organised by the Worth Association, founded to combat sexism in the hospitality industry
Hospitality is in chef Ying Ying Gao’s blood. Months before she was born, her mother opened a restaurant in Beijing and as she grew up, Gao learned about good taste and flavours from her family.
“I love cooking because I like to share with people. If there is delicious food I can cook, I want to share it with people,” she says. “I can cook with family, I can cook with friends. I can cook with someone I don’t even know. But after cooking together, we get to know each other. We can share the food we make together.”
In 2010, when she was 20 years old, Gao migrated to Canada with her family. She learned French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa Culinary Arts Institute, before working in a few restaurants. Nine years ago, she moved to Vancouver, working at places such as Blue Water Cafe, Elisa, and CinCin.
In the summer of 2024, Gao became executive chef of Araxi Restaurant + Oyster Bar, in ski resort Whistler, British Columbia, a two-hour drive north of Vancouver. The restaurant serves dishes including beet salad with baked Brie; Québec foie gras parfait; roasted celery root and tarragon risotto; and miso-marinated sablefish.
In the Araxi kitchen there are 20 cooks under her, although only two women, and Gao is settling in nicely.
