I guess I’m a Cook. I’m not a Chef...I tell people I make food Hot. I have survived five years in an industry that usually chews you up and spits you out in three months. The Food Network has convinced the whole planet that anyone can be a Gordon Ramsay , Thomas Keller or Rick Bayless. This is NOT the reality of the industry. Most end up back in school working towards their next Dream. I am starting to get to the point where I can’t even remember all the cooks I have worked with...most of which are no longer cooks. This business is not what it is portrayed to be on TV. The television doesn’t show the heartbreak and the crushing of one’s soul.
I got into the business later in life. I was a Goldsmith (made handmade jewellery) for the Family business and decided I was not happy and needed a change. I racked my brain for the things that made me happy and I ended up applying to a two year Culinary Arts program. I was lucky...I worked full time in a kitchen while I went to school...I could apply the things I learned instantly. More often than not I was told that what I had just learned was useless and “Do it this Way!!”.
I got my first job because of my Pastry Arts teacher at College. He mentioned that a local restaurant needed some help on the weekend and I should go talk to the Chef right after school. So I did what any student would do...I skipped the rest of my classes and spent a few hours in the computer lab making a half assed resume. I went down to the restaurant scared shitless! I had never worked in a restaurant before (excluding a stint at McDonalds as a teen) and had only been in school for a month or so...so I just had the most basic of skills. I can remember the Chef bringing me down the stairs of the hotel to a little table (we will call it the staff room) sitting beside 80 cases of stinking empty beer bottles. He asked me if I smoked...we both sparked up..which helped to calm the nerves...then began to look at my resume. I could see in his face that he was disappointed. I knew he was in dire need of help the next day...but I also knew he was about to turn me down!! He stood up, put out and his smoke and was about to speak...I cut him off!! “I know I don’t have any experience Mr. Davidson...but I really want and need the job...I’ll tell you what..I’ll work for free for you tomorrow night..if you don’t like how I am working I will leave after the function and mention the job to a few others at school!”. All of a sudden he got a lil grin on his face...”How did you know I was looking for someone with more experience?”. We agreed on the free help.!!
