Across home kitchens and professional restaurants, women have long carried the stories and skills that define ​t​he world of food. Their impact deserves more recognition

• Sign up here for our weekly food newsletter, Feast

On 8 March each year, the calendar lights up: dinners celebrating women, panel talks, articles and online events amplifying female voices. The mood on International Women’s Day is joyful, the conversations energised and it feels as if the world is finally paying attention. But then 9 March arrives. Do the celebrations stop? Do we tuck away the banners with the last of the desserts? When the events conclude, are women no longer worth celebrating? The sad truth is that many International Women’s Day events can feel like lip service.

Less so in the food world – or at least in our corner of it. For generations, cooking has been predominantly a women’s realm, and the knowledge and wisdom that sustained humanity has been passed through the female line. So the culinary world is one of the few in the professional sphere where women have an edge.