We have taking life by the hand!!

[Chef David Simpson]

Good day my friends, There are some things I would like to say about this trade that has got me wondering, where we will be in 50 years or so?
There is more than enough people in this industry taking on large and vast ideas about what they would like achieve over some ten years or so. I mean BIG!!! We are growing into a monster people, and it won't slow down for those who don't have the proper education. So we have to dig deeper and find it in ourselves to learn more about what it is we are doing.
This is a 3 billion a year industry gross and growing. So it's not just about the love for cooking anymore folks. If you think about it, we kind of run the show in this country. So, in twenty years we must possess a vast array of knowledge to teach the next generation of chefs, not for them to teach us.

What you are talking about is exactly what has been happening in the medical field.
For example the original respiratory professionals (then called inhalation therapists) have been grandfathered in becase they were there when the field originated.
See next response

Now that schools have openend and credentialed and educated professionals are graduating at sound speed, the grandfathered professionals are very much feeling behind.
My opinion in this case is that being booksmart and graduating with a credential are definately recommended, but experience and motivation in my book are so important.
I believe that if you are a chef because you worked hard to get there through internships etc you much keep yourself updated with the latest trends and most of all if you are creative and make a niche for yourself.
You cannot fall behind in the industry.
Hope I made sense.
Danielle

I believe like in any other field fads will come and go. I think people will only come back again and again if you serve only the freshest and best (opps I forgot about all the fast food chains) but for people who love to eat, the only ones I prefer to serve as I said before I will say again classical technique, fresh local ingredients. Which actually take time to learn properly under the guidance of one who already knows them.

Chef David Simpson, I couldn't agree more with your posting, but I think that we all learn from each other so if the new generation can teach us something I am open, as long as they are open to learning from the folks who have already been there done that.

[Chef David Simpson]

This is true Danielle, but not what I aiming for. And yes, BigD You have those people coming back for fresh ingredients but what about that new innovative and stillesh restaurant that will open around the block next week. What's to keep your loyal patrons from dashing over there. I know, I have seen it done a thousand times. We are in a business to entise and surprise the soul of creation. Without the proper tools of encouragement, we are doomed to a lesser since of bewilderment. "how did that happen"
I am a chef, business man, counselor, teacher, professor, poet, artist, and lover of all things that good in life.
In any case, we must remain teachable but not to be taught by some know it all kid, who just got out of school. This is why we must, as professionals, remain on-top of everything.


[This message has been edited by Chef David Simpson (edited 12-13-2000).]

I am not in field. However, I love to cook and I love to eat at good restaurants. In my field (Accouting) which I have taught at the University level, I feel that a combination of formal education and experience is best. If I have to choose one over the other, I choose experience. But, I believe what we should strive for as professionals in any field is what I call "maturity in the field". That is best achieved through a combination of education and experience. IMHO

A wacky thought! (We're all a little crazy!) What planet do you want to work on? Or do you think you want to stay here on Earth? That's what I think of late at night. Tom Cruise had his Cocktails and Dreams, I have big dreams! Do you think our kids will ever have that chance/desire to work on the ever growing space station they don't tell us about (until something goes wrong)? I thought of that one when I was in elementary school when the teacher asked us where we were going to be in the year 2000!

[Nick.Shu]

i had a vision of the future. People are going to get so lazy, that frozen dinners are going to come with disposable robots that actually cook the food rather than instructions on the box.

Anyway, these so called "grandfathered" ppl will always be around. Those around the track many times are always much more well versed in the ways of the world and work than those only once around.

Many of you students will have stories of these wise sages of cookery who have guided you through knowledge and experience.

I for one want to remain a chef, perhaps even teaching, who know, but i will always be educating myself.

[Chef David Simpson]

Thank you Nick.Shu. I hope people will understand this post.

[Live_to_cook]

Chef David, when you say a $3B a year industry, what portion of the dining business are you including?

Education, training and experience are valuable. But a great restaurant can't survive without a sound business head keeping track of revenue and expenses. These things are important to survival, but....

The most important thing to remember is that cooking is still an art. We can send Michelangelo to school to learn how to paint a ceiling but lots of other people in his class ain't gonna be doing the Sistine Chapel.
I had a cook once who made an apple pie that was the best - sine non qua. She had no formal training. She had the touch and could do miraculous things with the most simple ingredients.
I have had well trained people work for me who had the most expensive training and ingredients, working with the best equipment, who turned out product that was worthy of the cover photo on Gourmet -- the stuff just didn't taste good.
There are times when I think of the food world as the kingdom of the emperor with no clothes. Uneducated diners eat what they are told is trendy and good but because they have no understanding, they don't criticize where they should. Restaurants that trade in trendy, which have the right owners and press contacts, drive really good restaurants onto the red ink. Soon we will have only marginal, trendy food and won't be able to find the serious classics.
Educated diners are the best hope for the future.

[cape chef]

Very well put Margaret. I like the analogy of micelangelo.I think in general mediocrity rules.i think that it our responsibility as professionals to educate the eating public. We need to understand that what we do.we need to do well. If you make a perfect beef stew and your customers like it and order it..then keep doing it,and do it the way you have in the past. I loyal patron does not like new spins on the food they have come to dine on.As far as trendy is concerned I think that is a over used word. Chefs and the like always want to learn,experiment,try new ideas, This is the way we keep our sanity of not becoming so redundant in your food that we become robotic.There are many restaurants that try cutting edge food styles and do it fairly well,while others do it extremely well. Example, Gray Kunz formally of Lespannise in Manhattan and Jean George Vongdericten of everything everywhere.
they are hugely successful because they studied,tasted,traveled,trained,And bottom line they know there ingredients, and have wonderful staff support. You do not need to be a Kunz or Vongderichten to do things well.
Do what you do best,master it. Then move onto the next thing and master that.And while you are doing that always practice things that give you a hard time, So eventually that will become part of your repotoiure.What where we talking about?
cc

You're right, Capechef. There are some artists among our current chefs. There are also some hacks with great PR.
Great: Last time I ate at Nobu, the bill was about $250 for two people -- for the food alone! It was worth it. We had the tasting menu and it was memorable. Ingredients I could not have access to, prepared perfectly, presented beautifully.
Not good but nameless out of kindness: Then I hit restaurants with $20 entrees and I know that the boneless, skinless, tasteless chicken breast came frozen with those black grill crosshatches already in place. The sauce is prepared in batches and ladled on in a a "one-from-column-A, one-from-column-B" manner It is easy to prefer an honest hamburger to pretentious **** .

Educated diners are the best hope we have. But even that is a problem among a population eating microwaved carryout or frozen food in front of the TV.

[Chef David Simpson]

Margaret, Thank you for your edtion. You know I have to agree with you on some of what you said, but in an instance you say we must educate the diner. This is true, but in any case we are what we create. And that stems from all angles of the industry. What I mean is, we educate while the patron is at the table. The menus and sleeves should have meaning to what they are eating. You can lead a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink it.

[This message has been edited by Chef David Simpson (edited 12-21-2000).]