‘We're trying to work with other allies in the food industry’ - Mex Ibrahim [Interview]‘We're trying to work with other allies in the food industry’ - Mex Ibrahim [Interview]

You co-founded Women in the Food Industry, a community that shares insight, stories, information, and group support to help women overcome the obstacles of inequality and inclusion. What led you to create the network?

“I used to work for a large food recipe website called Great British Chefs for almost eight years. Our focus when I started was on great chefs and our definition of ‘what a great chef was’ [was] someone who had a Michelin star. Unfortunately, that meant mostly men, because at the time – and even now it’s not much better – there were very, very few women in the UK who had Michelin stars.

“We got asked a lot as to why we didn't have more women on our website, and we managed to persuade our board that [our policy] was kind of short-sighted and that we should [expand] our definition of a great chef: whether they were good writers, what they were doing in the community, etc. We brought on a lot more women as a result, but the numbers were still much lower.

“I think the turning point for me was when we started speaking to Asma Khan. She's an Indian chef who's based in the UK and featured on the Netflix series, Chef's Table. They chose her mainly because her kitchen is all women. At Great British Chefs, every month we would focus on a particular cookbook and get our community of about 30,000 people to cook from that book. We chose her for our feature, and we became really good friends as a result. It made me much more interested in the whole feminist angle and what I felt should happen in the industry: […] shining a spotlight on what women are doing, getting women to be more confident in themselves, and to become better leaders and managers.

“We were aware that there were lots of other networking groups that were focused on particular verticals within the industry - Women in Wine, Women in Farming etc. With Women in the Food Industry, we wanted to try and bring all of those together to collaborate because it's only by collaborating that we can grow and be strong. It’s also to show women that there are other roles in the food industry beyond the chef. You can be a nutritionist, a food stylist, you can work in farming or food technology…”

Can you tell us a bit more about the kind of activities and services that Women in the Food Industry offers?

“We do a lot of networking events – about two a month – and a lot of panels, predominantly in London, but [also] in Scotland, Lancaster, Bristol, and we're looking to do more events up north. We like to bring women together in person because it's then that we find we can learn better from each other. We also have a fortnightly newsletter which shares news and [information] from our partners. We partner because, going back to that point about collaboration and not competition, we're trying to work with other allies in the food industry. We work with, for example, the Craft Guild of Chefs and NCASS, the national catering association, and an organisation called Curious Vines, which focuses on women in the wine industry.”

Women in the Food Industry says it believes in “collaboration, not competition” and it welcomes men to help achieve these aims for the benefit of everyone. Do you find men are receptive to your message and keen to work together?

“They're receptive – but they don't necessarily come! When you are an organisation called Women in the Food Industry, it is hard to get men to come to the event.

“But we know that we can't do this alone and we want men to join. We want them to understand what we are going through and the challenges that women face in the industry.”

Since 2023, you have been a trustee at the non-profit School Food Matters. What are the main issues School Food Matters is fighting for, and how?

“School Food Matters has two main missions. One of them is to improve the food that is being served in schools and to make sure that kids get a healthy meal regardless of what school they're at – private or public – and whereabouts they are in the country. That means working with the food services, the schools themselves, Parent Teacher Associations, and with the children to help them to understand more about where their food comes from.

“The other [mission] is very much focused on policymaking because we are certainly finding that, in the UK, food is not where it should be – mainly because we don't have a minister for food anymore. The closest we had was Henry Dimbleby, who prepared the National Food Strategy, and then he found it incredibly challenging. He is obviously still working in that area, but he actually resigned from that role because the government wasn’t listening to a lot of his recommendations.”

With rates of diet-related non-communicable disease – including childhood obesity – on the rise, how do you view the intersection of public health and today’s food industry? Where does responsibility lie?

“I think it’s everyone. We can't just rely on the government. I believe the government could be doing a lot, lot more and they are trying to do more on things like banning the advertising of junk food [before the 9pm watershed]. But I do believe that we as the public and we as networks, associations, and educators have a role to play. If we have a healthier nation, it [puts] much less pressure on the NHS [National Health Service] if nothing else.

“I think from an educational point of view, if we all took a little bit more time out and tried to cook more from scratch, it would A, help our health; B, be cheaper; and C, [be] engaging and enjoyable.”

It sounds like you are a bit of a foodie. Do you like to cook yourself and, if so, what's your signature dish?

“I do like to cook! I like international food, so I'd say I could do a good a Thai curry, but I also quite like baking. I learnt to cook, luckily, when I was very young. I bake things like apple cake, banana bread; it’s a great way of using up bananas and apples that are a little bit past their sell-by-date.”

This interview has been edited for length.