Questions About The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness and the Making of a Great Chef

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Has anyone heard that the aggrandizement of food and cooks is a sure sign of an empire in decline?

Gavin Esdale A line cook here to give you a sort-of answer:

I haven't heard that sentiment myself, but here's some food for thought: valorizing cooks might not be a…moreA line cook here to give you a sort-of answer:

I haven't heard that sentiment myself, but here's some food for thought: valorizing cooks might not be a sign of an empire in decline (I think it's good to appreciate just how fundamental food is to, well, pretty much everything related to stable human society) but it could definitely be argued that the huge media empire that exists around food and cooking has done a disservice to the culinary craft itself in two ways: the first by making a celebrity of the chef, and the second by the misrepresentation of the craft itself.

Cooking as a profession is not made for TV. You have to be a little bit crazy to do the job, and you absolutely have to be crazy to WANT to do the job, and this kind of crazy is not the kind that plays well for an audience that's just there to have their salivary glands tickled. As a job, cooking is a combination of tedium and panic, with occasional moments of glorious satisfaction.

Unfortunately, that moment of glorious satisfaction is expanded to encompass far more of the culinary experience, which is why being a chef can seem to appealing when presented in the cooking show format. Even the rougher parts of it make it look like just part of the grand experience. You won't see the hours put in poring through cookbooks to plan a menu when you don't have a studio's budget, but you will see a figure presented as the near-omnipotent, passionate, and made-for-TV kind of crazy that makes the job look appealing, and, unfortunately, just a little too attainable for someone who thinks they can do the job because they can cook at home and know how to use the Allrecipes website, which does happen, and sucks.

Food is good. Being a cook can be good. Appreciating the labour, resources, and planning that goes into a meal is excellent. Thanking the cooking staff at a restaurant for a good meal can provide one of those glorious moments I mentioned earlier. However, yes, aggrandizing the role of the chef and presenting the job of cooking as either a pretty spectacle OR a merciless and thankless struggle does no good to the craft itself.

So, enjoy your meal and just make sure to thank the chef if it was good and thank the line cooks if it was REALLY good.(less)

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