Julie Lin MacLeod worked in male-led kitchens for years, and her experiences there – inappropriate sexual advances among them – served as motivation to open her own place, one that would be run by women. “I decided to work hard in order to never be in that toxic masculinity-led environment ever again,” she says.

MacLeod, now patron-chef of Malaysian restaurant Julie’s Kopitiam in Shawlands, Glasgow, says: “I think women are opening up so many places in Scotland because they don’t get the credit they deserve in kitchens led by males at the moment. So they’re thinking, ‘Well, this isn’t going to work for me here. I’m going to open somewhere I can also bring other females up’, and it’s creating this whole new tier of chefs.”

The restaurant scene is known for its machismo, but in Scotland today many trailblazing venues are run by women. “I have worked with more women in kitchens in Scotland than I ever did in London,” says Pam Brunton, co-patron and head chef of the groundbreaking restaurant Inver on Loch Fyne in Argyll.

Across the country, the inventive food of these women is creating a buzz – from Flora Snedden’s chic Aran Bakery in rural Dunkeld, Perthshire, to Rachel Morgan and Hollie Reid’s decorative cakes at Lovecrumbs cafes in Edinburgh. And Mary Hillard has brought Scotland’s love affair with ice cream into the 21st century with her trendy gelateria and chocolaterie Mary’s Milk Bar, also in Edinburgh.

But it’s in the kitchens of Glasgow that change is most noticeable. Alchemilla in Finnieston has a female head chef and co-owner, ex-Ottolenghi sous-chef Rosie Healey. Both Scandi-style Kaf Coffee and brunchy Cafe Strange Brew are run by women, as is vegan cafe MalaCarne. Authentic, traditional Panjabi food comes by way of Ranjit Kaur at buzzy Ranjit’s Kitchen. Even Glasgow’s lucrative barista movement was kicked off by a woman when Lisa Lawson founded Dear Green Coffee Roasters in 2011.

Maybe food is changing from what it used to be – the jellies and foams are going out of fashion Rosie Healey, chef

Scotland’s Michelin-starred male chefs such as Tom Kitchin and Martin Wishart still represent the old guard but the women are certainly presenting the new. It is as if a space has emerged where female chefs can cook the food they like without all the rigmarole of competitive, Michelin-style training and the ego that often comes with it. It’s the food Scotland likes too.

“Maybe food is changing from what it used to be – the jellies and foams are going out of fashion,” says Healey. “I think Glaswegians can’t be bothered with the wank; they see through it and don’t want to spend money on it.”

Glasgow’s working-class history plays a part – traditional fine dining just doesn’t resonate culturally, Healey says: “They’ll pay for something of quality, but not in that environment.”

Innovation is what sets these restaurants apart, says their owners. “We were the first place in Glasgow to have natural wines,” says Healey. Kaur couldn’t work out why restaurants weren’t serving authentic Panjabi food so she started selling it herself. MacLeod cooks what she calls “borderless food” that reflects her mixed-race heritage (her mother is Malaysian; her father Scottish). “I don’t cook strictly Malaysian,” she says. “We roast Scottish langoustines down with lemongrass for our laksa broth, and ox cheeks for our rendang.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rosie Healey, head chef and co-owner of Alchemilla in Glasgow Photograph: Steven Jones

An oft-repeated comment among them is that women have been in kitchens all along; they just haven’t been getting recognition. This new wave is here to change that. Healey says: “As a woman working in kitchens, you need to prove yourself more or else you’re just going to cut the vegetables and prep things for the guys to cook.”

Neither Alchemilla nor Julie’s Kopitiam has a hierarchy in the kitchen and both reject a culture of competition among their teams. “I don’t want people to feel beneath someone,” says Healey, “It’s important that everyone is on equal ground, and that’s definitely not the case in most restaurants. Kitchens are full of ego, and they shouldn’t be. You’re cooking food; just make nice food!”

Laura Stuart, who runs an all-female team alongside co-owner Lorna Rae Sutton at Potluck, a cafe in Strathbungo, Glasgow, recalls being called a “fucking slut” by a male chef during service in a previous “high pressure, super-hostile” kitchen. “He should have just called me an idiot, because I was being an idiot,” she says. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience but it’s affected how I run things here – we try to look after each other.”

For Hillard, starting Mary’s Milk Bar in 2013 was about “creating a nice place where I could work. I didn’t want to be an employer of 50 people that I could shout at”. She finds that working with women offers “a different kind of work ethic. It’s not power-hungry”.

Brunton, who works in the kitchen while her partner and co-owner, Rob Latimer, runs Inver’s floor, believes none of this should be a shock. “Scotland has a history of strong women cooks,” she says. “At La Potinière, historically Hilary Brown was in the kitchen. Gunn Eriksen up at the Altnaharrie Inn got Scotland its first two Michelin stars.” Monachyle Mhor’s executive head chef, Marysia Paszkowska, has been with the hotel since 2010. “Scottish women are notoriously strong characters,” says Brunton. “Maybe the point is that women have always been strong enough to stand up here.”

With MacLeod expanding and opening a dumpling shop, and Healey opening a natural wine-led bar (with a focus on Scottish vegetables) next year, there’s something in the water in Scotland – but then again, maybe there always has been; we’re just finally paying attention to the taste.