It’s no secret that women are breaking barriers in the culinary world – though there’s still quite a ways to go before gender disparity is overcome.
But recently, the Tacos of Texas podcast spoke with a couple of women who are helping to change the game when it comes to representation.
Podcast host Mando Rayo shared more with the Standard.
Texas Standard:Tell us about these two women you recently had on your program.
Mando Rayo: We have Teresa Charnichart, also known as Chuck – that’s her barbecue nickname. She’s one of the owners of Barbs-B-Que in Lockhart, the barbecue capital of the world. I mean, that’s perfect.
It’s perfect. It’s also tough competition, isn’t it?
It is. It really is. And especially being a woman and in kind of this male-dominated industry. When you think about barbecue, you think about big burly guys and, you know, smoke and lots of meat.
And what Chuck is doing is she started in 2021 as a pop-up and in 2023 she opened up Barbs-B-Que in Lockhart. And they’re kind of obviously infusing some of their flavors from South Texas, from the Valley, and really kind of honing in on some of those recipes, but also inviting people that represent them too, you know.
So you do get the traditional type of barbecue eaters, but you also get like a big mix of a really diverse group of people trying out barbecue, which is great to see, and it’s so delicious.
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Let’s shift gears and talk about a place in Austin, well loved, called the Eldorado Cafe. Tell us about the woman you talked with who works there.
For a long time, when you think about Mexican restaurants, we think about those beautiful plates when they come out, the combination plates or good fajitas or enchiladas. And so we decided to really talk to a restaurant worker, a cocinera.
Because you know, when you think about Mexican food or even Tex-Mex and those recipes that are like, whether they’re inspired by or taught by generations of women, they’re usually our grandmothers, they’re our mothers, there are, you know, our sisters.
Basically what I wanted to do is give kind of that platform for this restaurant worker – her name is Esme Tejada from Eldorado Cafe in Austin – and talk to her about what it takes to actually run a restaurant, like the back of the house. They have to work with so many people on the line and doing the prep and make sure everybody kind of comes together, and what does it take?
And sometimes in a sense they’re not getting the proper credit, I would say. You know, when you think about recognition, it goes to the chefs and the owners, but there’s hardly any recognition that goes to the back of the house. And so we talked about that and the need for recognition of restaurant workers and women in this space.
There is a sense of pride, and being a woman, for her, what she explained to me was that it’s more than just a job because part of her experience is bringing, you know, the value she has at home and her children, her family, to the restaurant. And so she brings that type of environment.
But also the need for that recognition of women in the back of the house, you know, and this idea of like when you get your plate –when you order your food and it looks perfect – we have to thank those cocineras that are doing that work.
Hear from Teresa Charnichart and Esme Tejada in the audio player at the top of this story or at the Tacos of Texas podcast.
