Food for Health

A Culinarian's Relationship with Food

Why do you cook? Is it to feed people healthy and fun food? Is it for the art, the chemistry, or do you just like making sauces? Whatever draws a cook to cook, it is imperative that they have a strong relationship with food. If a cook isn’t eating breakfast, or misses lunch to push through prep, they need to restructure their time allocation. Food is fuel, nutrients, and the basic building blocks of every cell in your body. A cook who doesn’t eat well, doesn’t think well. We won’t touch on prep and organization here but all pros schedule time to relax and take care of themselves.

We hear it all the time, “I cook for a living, the last thing I want to do in my free time is cook.” Maybe you shouldn’t be cooking for money. To be a Culinarian is to be in love with the craft and dance that is food service. Now we don’t mean you need to cook your every meal, we might even suggest you skip eating for a day or two. But if you regularly visit the Mc D’s by your house on the way home from work each night, you need to stop. There are much better options out there, and honestly if you have a few basics at home you can rip out a meal in 30 minutes or less. If you’re a new cook and it takes you an hour to cook a meal for one, good, sounds like you could use the practice. 😉 But honestly, most of us can improve the quality of food we eat. Farmers markets are all around you and cooking for yourself is the cheapest way to eat by far. Save your going out money for that epic tasting menu or to scope out the competition. Furthermore, we always say, “A meal cooked for you is the best meal.” Have a loved one or friend make you a meal once a week to give you a break, and try your best to eat veggies that are just a day or two out of the ground whenever you can. Veggies lose an estimated 30% of their nutrients in the first 3 days of harvest. Eating higher quality foods will fuel you better, and with better fuel you will perform better. Give it a shot and make sure to eat your veggies, you’re going to like the way you feel, we guarantee it!

Maybe you love making beautiful food with lots of exciting techniques. The art and design of a plated dish is one of the most fun and dynamic food service aspects, and one that is present in all great kitchens. Being that chemistry is involved, food can do all kinds of things you might not expect, and while you can give your customers a protein that makes lemons taste sweet, should you? Remember that food service on a whole is the ambiance, the service, the drink, and the food. While we can make some wild and fun dishes, keep in mind how they work together in a menu. Remember your clientele and what their expectations are, then use food science in ways that will push them enough, but not out the door. And lastly, when it comes to a cool tuile, or a fancy half liquid gel, remember that taste is the winner on all counts when it comes to enjoying a dish. Never sacrifice flavor and taste for flair.

In the end, a culinarian must enjoy the act of preparing food consciously and with love. They must enjoy feeding this wholesome and flavorful food to guests. Then, the culinarian, must have a good sense of experience and how to give that to the guest. The guest experience is often thought of as the front of house’s responsibility, the chef of many great restaurants is very much concerned with guest experience. While we may not get to interact with the guest in a direct manner often, we may have control over the ambiance, the flow of the menu, the construction and edibility of the dishes. And when it’s all said and done, the chef is often the spirit of the restaurant. Many of the greatest restaurants start as one person’s vision, however, the best of the best share this vision and work with reality to create something that is truly unique and entertaining. No one person can feed 30 people a 12 course menu day after day within reason. We need preppers, dishies, line cooks, sous, managers, somms, servers, hosts, and chefs. A true culinarian is a leader, a follower, a problem solver, and a giver of health, spiritually and physically. “Cooking is like love- it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” Harriet Van Horne. 

Ninja Ballerina

When we think of Ninjas, we think, strong, fast, disciplined. When we think of Ballerinas, we think, graceful, flowing, disciplined. To be a Ninja Ballerina would be to wield such immense power, that there really is only one path to take, giving people a comfortable and safe place to eat wholesome food. To protect the crops we grow for consumption down to the very water that fills them, and to do our part to pass on our knowledge of food, community, and health.

We all love the Ninja’s To-do List: Slay the bad guy, Over-throw the leadership, Practice for the next mission. Some classics no doubt, but some lesser talked about items of note: Stretch and meditate, Sharpen the Katana, Scrub the toilet. It’s often easy to get caught in a smash-cut trailer, fists of fury flying and cherry blossoms, but a true warrior of any cause knows the importance of maintenance and balance. A Ninja is a trained assassin capable of feats that would seem impossible to the average person. The strength to size ratio would seem unreal, and the pain tolerance or understanding, unmatched. The Ninja practice for so many more hours than they actually execute. Ninja master their minds and are in control of their emotions and fears. Be the Ninja, be sharp, be healthy, be strong, and be stretched. Be the warrior in the garden, after all, Ninja or Shinobi, were just like us, trying to live their lives before oppression came for them. Be humble and blend in, strike when it is most effective, and never give up.

Ballerinas, the thin, delicate and graceful, smooth and strong dancers. Capable of standing on toe tips and twirling, flexible and dynamic. Ballerinas are a symbol of art in dance, we too hope to be so elegant. All the flight and spinning of the ballerina comes at a cost though. That cost is time and discipline. The ballerina like a wrestler, must eat a strict diet to fit a certain shape and muscular build. They must stretch all the time and to extreme lengths to be able to pull off the wild moves they do. Ballerinas must practice their choreography to move as a unit of beauty and grace. Nothing comes without effort and practice. Bring the balance of strength and grace of a ballerina to the kitchen. After all, we dance here.

These two lifestyles are good examples of the payoff that dedication brings. Moving forward, make an effort to live as a ninja ballerina. Make time to rest your body, take care of those around you, and practice, practice, practice. You are as powerful and smart as the next, do your best every day, and fight for what you believe in.

Abuse in the Kitchen

Everyone is familiar with Chef Ramsay’s hot-headed attitude, some have heard of Marco Pierre White’s volatile actions, and some have experienced these situations in their own life. We’ve seen articles about kitchen culture and the intensity of the industry. Often, these articles have portrayed the kitchen as abusive and advantageous over its employees.  With temperamental chefs who get all the glory at the expense of the cook. We want to share our experiences with this and to explain a piece of culture that we feel is misunderstood.

Let’s dive into the concept of abuse in the kitchen. Of course, there is some trick to categorizing actions as abusive, but let’s look at times our team has seen what we qualify as abuse from the Chef. One of our chefs had been in places where the chef would throw an absolute fit. Once while making sushi and being totally in the weeds our chef listened as their mentor stomped around and yelled about how poor of a job they were doing. The chef punched a towel dispenser, berated their ability to perform, and in general used aggressive and belittling language. We think this was an overreaction and ultimately not helpful. While our chef won’t forget this moment, they also understood why this chef was so upset. The food wasn’t coming out timely, therefore the customer could become displeased. Ultimately harming the restaurant and its reputation.

Another great example from a time in a very fine restaurant, our chef experienced situations like: The chef taking their hand and guiding them to the area they were supposed to find the ingredient in, saying “take my hand little baby.” Times where the chef would grab them by the coat and cuss them out. Even being told that they were stupid and incapable. Again, these are times where we don’t think these actions were necessary and could be construed as abusive. However, we can understand that in these moments there was some driving force that the chef was feeling, which made them take these actions. Often the chef is trying to push their team to be the best the can be. Of the collective 30+ restaurants our team has been in, there have been remarkably few abusive moments and the two examples above are the worst our team has experienced.  

We certainly don’t support abusive personal attacks, or degrading language. We don’t want to defend poor communication nor fear driven performance. We do have to understand our half of being good communicators though. When you receive these calls and these lash outs, you have the opportunity to understand, the person barking them is concerned that the guest experience is going to suffer. In the restaurant there is incredible pressure to have a fluid and consistent performance. It's been compared to piracy, a home for the misfits, laden with alcoholics and with a history of drug use. Kitchen service has been compared to war and the lifestyle is one that is reveered and feared. If you are the owner of a 30 seat dinner restaurant that serves oysters and good steaks, you will know how tight the profit margins are. A good chef too, knows how important accuracy, consistency and experience are.

There is a lot on the line, from farmers, to servers, restaurants are a tiny community. At the heart of this community is either the floor manager, owner, or chef. This person has the vision and the knowledge of how to orchestrate a great restaurant, or not. From the top to the bottom, a great restaurant comes from a great team. Help chef feel confident that the standards are being held or lifted, be excited to be part of this group. If the chef is incompetent or the management poor, if you feel uncomfortable or otherwise uninspired, move on. You deserve to be in an amazing space. But if you are coming into the world of professional cooking, it is best to be open to a breadth of peoples. Long hours and high stress can make people snappy. Do your part to keep calm, and cook on.