Best Female Chef

• 

  Intelligent and softly spoken, Anne-Sophie Pic’s composure belies the fact that she has made it to the very peak of a profession that has long been notable for its formidable egos and unbridled masculinity.

  Despite her distinctly unstereotypical characteristics – or perhaps partly because of them – the 41-year-old chef of Maison Pic, in south-east France sits side-by-side with her male counterparts at the top table of global gastronomy, earning her the inaugural Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef for 2011.