Alors que les femmes cuisinent beaucoup, elles ne le font pas, culturellement parlant, dans un contexte professionnel.

When Julia Tissier got in touch with me I had a bit of a freak out.

She’s the editor of a new online magazine called Cheek, a French publication that focuses on modern feminist issues (think: portrayal of women in the media, etc.) It’s smart and savvy.

“We’d love to have you contribute to Cheek since you write about food topics,” she wrote in an email. Note that this was all in French.

“Um, sure. You ready to edit?”

Fortunately she was.

We went back and forth a bit, and decided that I should address the issue of women in the restaurant industry. “Oh god, I’m going to write a feminism piece in French?” I thought to myself.

I did and the result is the first thing substantial thing I have written in French (emails do not count) since college. It’s a look at gender roles and sexism in the food industry, particularly in response to the recent Time “Gods of Food” article. If you’re French is up to par, you can read it here.

Moral: challenge yourself, it’s good for you.