Dr. Amirah Mazlan’s story is a blend of passion, resilience, and the drive to make a difference. From her early days as a chef in Malaysia to earning her PhD and becoming a full-time lecturer at the University of Sunderland, she has redefined what it means to merge culinary arts with academia.
Through her research and teaching, Dr. Amirah not only represents Malaysia on the global stage but also stays deeply connected to her Malaysian roots, giving back in meaningful ways.
A Passion for Cooking Rooted in Family
Dr. Amirah’s love for cooking goes back a long way. Born in Taiping and raised in Shah Alam, she grew up surrounded by the culinary influences of her family. Her mother and aunt ran a small catering business, while her father’s work at a travel agency exposed her to diverse cuisines across Malaysia.
“My family has always been very involved in cooking. After finishing SPM, I already knew what I wanted to do,” she shared. Watching her aunts enrol in culinary school was a key inspiration, and her family encouraged her to pursue her dreams.
She began her journey with a diploma and bachelor’s degree in culinary arts from the Management and Science University in Malaysia, followed by a master’s degree at University College Birmingham.
In between her bachelor’s and master’s, she gained practical experience working across various hospitality sectors like resorts—Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa and Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur—airlines and hospitals.
Breaking Bias and Embracing Academia
Dr. Amirah’s transition from chef to academic was fuelled by a desire to challenge stereotypes about chefs.
“When most people think about what it takes to be a chef, they think you’re just going to work in a kitchen, restaurant or hotel, but education matters too,” she said.
“I used to get a lot of people saying, ‘chefs don’t need to study’ and ‘why study until PhD’, but I think that is not true and I want to break that bias”.
After completing her bachelor’s degree, Dr. Amirah thought about what she could do to strengthen her position as a chef.
Eventually, her academic curiosity led her to pursue a master’s in Culinary Arts Management at University College Birmingham.
During her master’s studies, she completed her first thesis, which focused on the work-life balance of female chefs in Europe.
Her research exposed her to literature about gender studies and female chefs, which expanded her worldview and enabled her to view the role of a chef from an academic perspective.
Upon her return to Malaysia in 2017, she worked as a teaching fellow at Sunway University, where she coached young chefs and led them to international successes, including a gold medal win at a cooking competition in Shanghai
In 2020, she then decided to take her academic pursuits further by getting her PhD in hospitality at the University of Sunderland in England.
Unpacking the Experiences of Female Chefs in Malaysia
At the University of Sunderland, Dr. Amirah embarked on her second thesis. This time around, her research focused on something closer to home—the career experiences of female chefs in Malaysia, while examining the intersections of gender and ethnicity.
What first inspired her to delve into this topic was the wealth of insights she could gain from her own experiences as a female Malay chef in Malaysia.
Secondly, “Malaysia is so unique in terms of diversity, and I wanted to explore how women navigate professional kitchens,” she said.
Her study involved 18 participants from the three main ethnic groups of Malaysia—Malay, Chinese and Indian.
The findings were eye-opening. One of them was that gender played a more significant role in shaping career experiences than ethnicity. “The majority of the participants shared that they were the only daughter in their families or the eldest in their families. As such, they felt responsible to cook for their families, which helped shape their career journey and career behaviours,” she shared.
Dr. Amirah also discovered that body size influenced their colleagues’ perception of their ability to handle physically demanding tasks in the kitchen. Additionally, her findings highlight the impact of menstrual cycles on women at work, where many female chefs expressed a belief that they must adapt to these challenges on their own, given the lack of adequate workplace support.
Lastly, she shared that her participants demonstrated great positivity and a strong drive to continuously better themselves, despite experiencing stereotypes related to their gender.
Staying Connected to Malaysia
Coming to the end of five years in Sunderland, Dr. Amirah remains deeply connected to her birthplace.
For one, she is an active member of the Northeast Malaysian Community in Sunderland, in which she participates in gatherings for festive Malaysian occasions by cooking Malay food for fellow members and sharing their recipes with them.
Her university colleagues have also been on the receiving end of her culinary prowess, as Dr. Amirah shared that she cooks local delicacies like nasi lemak and bihun goreng for them once every semester.
Additionally, “I watch Malaysian films and dramas every day. I can’t get rid of that Malaysian-ness in me,” she shared.
Her efforts to promote her roots extend to the classroom, where she makes it a point to include Malaysia as a case study in her lectures. “Malaysia has many good examples of hospitality,” she said.
On top of that, she makes an effort to connect with and support Malaysian students who enrol at the university by showing them around and helping them to adapt to life abroad.
Future Goals and Advice for Aspiring Female Chefs
With a PhD under her belt, Dr. Amirah is setting her sights on a new chapter of her career. “I want to be a professor once I gain more experience, and I want to continue cooking whether as a lecturer or chef,” she shared.
Besides that, she wants to produce and write more research about the culinary landscape in a Malaysian context, which she believes will boost how people perceive chefs.
To aspiring female chefs, Dr. Amirah offers this advice: “Don’t be demotivated when you face gender barriers. They’re there to stay. But you can change how you see things and adapt. Be resilient, embrace your uniqueness, and focus on what’s within your control.”
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