Everybody is a Chef

But there is another aspect to this freedom. The pervasive influence of 24×7 cable television,which brings world cuisine into living rooms,has also made celebrities out of chefs,pulling them out of kitchens and putting them on the screen. The era of the chef wary of interacting with guests to being downright disdainful of them seems to be in the past. What we have today are crowd-pleasers in white,people who are telegenic,good speakers,networked,offensive on cue and dishy. The “Bada Chef” who never smiled and whose footsteps had their own fear-inducing cadence (from my days as a trainee) seems to be a creature of the past.

There is some mumbling in the chef community, and conflicting feelings about terms like Master Chef or Celebrity Chef. It’s an over-simplification and commodification of a title which stands for something. In the regimented kitchen cadre,one earns one’s stripes; today,the path to such monikers is too easy and superfluous. Its casual use is offensive to most chefs. Especially in the context of reality shows that bestow such titles on people who have no formal training or sustained experience in the craft and in kitchens. One chef I spoke to went as far as to call it cheating. The reactions are passionate. Most don’t want to be perceived as pulling anyone down and refrain from public comment,but there is lamenting,that a “celebrity” chef like Jamie Oliver doesn’t exist in the Indian context; someone who has the skills and culinary repertoire to be considered a chef. One of their own. There is a sense of closing of ranks on outsiders which is muted by an extolling of Oliver’s commendable philanthropic pursuits. His Fifteen restaurant chain,which trains disadvantaged children and helps them find a career in the kitchen,is one such example. Presently,there is a newly launched restaurant awards “scheme” that asks people to register and pay a nomination fee to be considered for the awards. In the crowded restaurant space,there is an assumption that recognition comes at a price,unfortunately they may be right.

The Chef (from my columns) can mince as well as the next guy,at least that’s what he claims when I speak of my concerns that this might be a case of the have-nots getting at the haves. But he insists that this isn’t a case of sour grapes,there is something a little sad about this culinary proliferation. This convenient precocity that understands so little of what it means to be a chef,conveniently distilling its essence and packaging it into something that sells. The Chef likens it to the generic dentist in the toothpaste ad who promises whiter teeth. They are doing it to another guy in a white coat — the chef — who is now seen holding up a jar of polyunsaturated oil and saying it’s recommended by the heart society or someone. Don’t you see,he tells me,that doesn’t make the guy a good chef.