.........................INSISTS HOME 'CHEFS' ARE MORE CREATIVE!
This was the headline that screamed at me from today's 'Daily Mail'....and it begrudges me to even say so, but on first glance, Nigella may have a point!
There is a slight truth to her statement that restaurateurs, both owners and chefs, live a life of quiet, invisible, drudgery.... (if hauling yourself into the kitchen at 7am to prepare for lunch service after only 5 hours of sleep because a party of ten decided to turn up for dinner the night before arriving 10 minutes before last orders and then proceeded to have starters, main-courses, desserts and then settled in for the evening with coffee and drinks....and more drinks...and you do this 6 days a week...could be considered drudgery) then I can't blame some who would think it a terrible life.....but having seen both sides of the cookery coin, I have spent years in the industry and cooking at home for my family and friends,.......I would agree that home cooks have a chance to be more creative. I will admit that some of my best dishes have been devised when I have been cooking at home for the family, but that was all very well because I didn't have 150 or 200 people to feed at the time or 4 hours of prep to do beforehand!....and yes, those dishes did see the light of day on the restaurant menu!
But I think Nigella is missing a few vital points.....for many 'restaurateurs' this is their livelihood, this is how they pay their bills, put food on the table at home, and take care of their families....there are many in the industry who are not out to become millionaires.....and a good job too because it is the rare exception that makes it out of the kitchen and onto our TV screens or onto the shelves of the local bookstore.......people do it to survive and if that means sticking to a menu with good, wholesome quality food that the customer enjoys and will return for time and again then that is what you do....if it ain't broke, don't fix it! If Nigella had actually spent some time having to earn a living by working in a restaurant kitchen then she might understand that instead of taking cheap shots at hardworking people all in the name of promoting her new venture 'down under'.
Another point, is that the majority of chefs do it for the love of what we do, in fact I am being disingenuous when I use the word 'majority'......all chefs do it for the love of food.......food is our medium of creativity, it is our oils, our watercolors, our clay.....and our plates and platters our canvases.......no one questions an artist as to why they paint the way they do.......did anyone ask Van Gogh why he painted his canvases with strokes and swirls? or Jackson Pollock why he literally threw paint at his? NO! but good chefs can go one even better......not only do we produce art on the plate, but we create taste sensations in the mouth..... our art fills the senses and satiates hunger....no other kind of artist can do that!
Nigella also states that.....'A few chefs are creative, but once they achieve success all they do is recreate their dishes to consolidate their success'.......well what did Picasso or even Michelangelo do?....they discovered their own style and stuck to it.....because it worked for them.....for example... Stephen King...the literature master of the horror story......why would he write a love story when his heart and his art lies in the telling of creepy tales .... if you have the chance to do what you truly love, what makes you happy, regardless of what others think..... then you will be a 'great master' no one can ever copy!
you can read the Daily Mail article in full HERE! make of it what you will.
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