​Do you want to know a secret?

Do you promise to keep it to yourself?

Well….here it is…. I struggled and I still do. For the longest time I struggled to find the balance between the work and my personal life. How could I do my job, functioning at a level of intensity, which burns out many? How could I be the husband and father which I am required to be? How could I not let my friends and family down at social events? How would I find time to relax and be myself? How could I do ALL these things and remain my awesome self?

The truth is, trying to attack all of these issues in their entirety, was driving me a little nuts. When I think about it now, it still draws me in to a darkened place.

So what did I do? How did I find balance? Honestly. I don’t think I have. What I am trying to do is change my approach. By this, I mean shift the focus from my job defining who I am, to letting me, Brian, be the priority. It’s cliché, but looking after number one is how I am dealing with the struggle. I make sure that I do the things which I enjoy and help improve me as a person.

I’ll come back to the specifics in a bit. But before this can be done. One needs to realise that the significance of what they do in the office/kitchen/restaurant, is minimal. Busting your arse for a job which would replace you within days, should you drop down dead. They would. But your family can’t replace you. Your loved ones can’t replace you. My wife may say different! But, I hope you get my point. Being run down to the point of exhaustion, so that you can’t enjoy those moments with your own family and friends is not how it should be. At the end of the day, it’s just someone’s dinner. Unless you’re a chef on the front line, in a war zone (#Respect) or dropping of aid to famine ravaged villages for the United Nations, little Veronica and Tarquin will have to wait that little bit longer for their egg and cress sandwiches. You’ll be surprised how much better you’ll feel by taking your foot of the gas by 5%. To carry on the driving metaphor, revving your engine in the red all the time will kill your motor eventually. Who does that benefit?

Too many websites, feeds and forums are still glorifying the aggressive, work hard/play hard lifestyle. Glamorising the burned out chef. Hollywood even cashed in on chefs on the edge. Two of the biggest films about our industry of recent years, both featured chefs “losing their shit!” Having psychotic episodes. But it all worked out in the end. That’s the Bradley Cooper effect. In reality. We all know how that would have ended. Most of us know the chefs who fell of the edge and didn’t come back.
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Being a chef is sexy. It’s rock and roll. But only a few, less that 0.01% of us are in the limelight, making waves. We are mostly soaping down oven doors, trying to get home. Clock watching and hovering around the clingfilm at the end of a shift. 

​So, back to the specifics. What do I do? Like I mentioned. I shifted the focus from me being 80% chef and slotting the rest of my life into the gaps. Now I am only a chef while I am in the kitchen. I stopped letting the job define me as a person. I stopped trying to balance being a chef with the rest of my life because I realised that that is an unfair battle. Chef vs Life is ridiculous. A life has so many elements, all of which outweigh your job! Chef vs Family/Friends/Self/Physical Health/Mental Health/Diet/Love. Turning the volume down on the chef part of my life is where I’m at. It’s not a perfect system. In a recent chat with “Love Letters To Chefs” I identified that this holistic approach can only really work if it is explained to your piers and employer. If they respect you, it should make sense. But every case is different. You need to be honest with yourself. It took me a long time to realise what I needed. Which aspects of my life were toxic and which were worth changing for. What I also try and do, as a senior chef, is to be more proactive and less reactive to the needs of the chefs around me. I do my best to ensure they get the days off they require. Paying as much attention to the mental health and welfare of those around you as you would to your SFBB diary and allergy checklists. I am certain that more people are effected by overwork, fatigue and stress, than are having an allergic reaction to Lupin.

Get rest, get away from the noise. Spending 12 hours under the billion Watt extraction unit, listening to that constant drone, in itself can be tiring. I sometimes take the longer walk home, just for the peace. Being in an environment which is unrelated to work or home helps me bridge the two worlds.

I am by no means a saint. Only recently being told that I can occasionally be very difficult to work with due to my moods. I know that I have been very tetchy in the recent heatwave here in the UK. This is the closest I’ve come to considering a career change. Fuelled even more by the 70 hour week which I found myself doing to cover a chef’s holiday. It’s been a while since I put in those sort of hours in the kitchen and I’m still recovering now. Only sweet baby Jesus knows how I used to do that on a weekly basis. Those who know me well will tell you that I am mostly a calm, chilled out chap. But I know I am guilty of suppressing anger and negative emotions. I would then vent this pent up rage in a torrent of passive aggressive sarcasm, bitchiness and nastiness. I’m working on this aspect of my personality. But I can only afford so much therapy! My personal belief is that life is about trying to be the best you. Some say, the best version of yourself. The emphasis should be on the try. No matter what your religious belief is, if any. When it comes to reflecting on your life. You want to able to tell the world that you gave it a go.

So to summarise. Chill out. Love. Learn to switch off. Learn to switch on. Talk.

Chat soon.

If you haven’t checked out Love Letters to Chefs, please go see the work which this site is trying to promote. The hashtag #BetterChefLife is being pushed to help improve the lifestyle, welfare, expectation and perception of chefs.

Brian Powlett  

I am very aware that my last few blogs have come from a negative viewpoint of this chef life. So, this time I am bringing a bit more positivity. I have previously written a post “Reasons why being a chef is awesome” Feel free to check that out if you are after that “All is good” feeling. In that post I list 25 reasons and I could have written more. In this post, I’m not going to breakdown all 25 points because I am not that thorough and I don’t have the time or inclination to do that. Instead I want to share with you a semi-autobiographical piece, which I hope conveys what this career has given me.

I recently heard an interview with Tom Kerridge and he was speaking about the kitchen lifestyle and brigade mentality. He described it as “a bit like a pirate ship!” This is not the first time we’ve heard this comparison. The late, great Anthony Bourdain made reference to this all too often. This got me thinking about why do I like being a chef? What’s the appeal? It certainly isn’t the money or the hours. The Pirate ship term gives an air of “we’re all in this together”, “We stand shoulder to shoulder, brothers and sisters, no soldier left behind.” We present an image of strength and unity, when in reality the opposite can sometimes be true. Most chefs rarely show their true selves to their colleagues. We can present a façade of calm and knowing. We talk the talk. We hope that they don’t spot our weakness or our fears. Most of us are more like the children on the Willy Wonka boat as it hares through that psychedelic, kaleidoscope scene (The original movie of course). We are on a journey, but are not sure where it’s going, or whether we will have our sanity at the end. It took me many years to realise that opening up and being honest to myself was the way forward.

Back in 1991  (Fade to flashback of young Brian, rocking an impeccable flat-top haircut and bum-fluff moustache) I spent my first summer off school working in a local library. Yes, a library. I was the guy typing up the labels for the spines of the books and putting the security stickers in the CDs and high value books. Some may call this the ultimate in rock and roll life. Life was good. I was earning relatively good money for a 16 year old. Enough to buy a few good shirts from Top Man and sweets whenever I wanted. As the summer break was coming to an end and my former school friends were heading to sixth from and college, my parents turned to me and in their best passive aggressive tone asked what my plan was? Easily translated as “Are you planning on being sticker-boy for the rest of your life?”
At this point I started to panic. What could I do? My GCSE grades were mediocre at best and I was starting to realise that being an international footballer/model/actor was not on the cards either. I liked food. I was a teenager, I was always hungry. If only there was some sort of career which involved food? Then, right on cue, my uncle Michael turned up at our house in a white lotus. Like a big black fairy godmother******! That’s how I remember it anyway. He was a chef. He was travelling the world and always having adventures…..SOLD!

Within days I had enrolled on the local college course. City & Guilds 706.1 +2. I had no real Idea of what being a chef was. As a family we had never really eaten at restaurants. My only reference point was my Uncle. At this time he was a Sous Chef at the Dorchester in London. He had given me a little advice and pointers, but I was in. Over the next few weeks my glistening new, heavy cotton chef uniform arrived. My starter knife kit and the copies of Practical Cookery, Theory of catering and of course,  The La Repertoire de Cuisine. In the run up to the start of college I was watching everything on TV to do with food. Gary Rhodes was all over the telly. Marco Pierre White was always in the newspapers. These were chefs! I wanted to be like them. I wanted to make food like them. I wanted to live their lives.
Day one at college was when I was to meet my first band of pirates. A mix of likeminded individuals who shared a similar passion. We did not have direction yet, but we had a poetic purpose. We wanted to be chefs. We wanted to be good chefs. We were also hormonal teenagers.
The college years were intertwined with overindulgence, excess and cooking. This was the first taste of the work hard, play hard mentality which would glaze our industry years. After college, came the full time working years and working with the real dogs. Men and women who had sailed the metaphorical Seas. The hardcore chefs who have not been to bed yet. The chefs who never call in sick. The caffeine addicted, camel smoking cliché. These people worked harder and played harder. I was in for the ride. Some old school friends would pop up during my life timeline, but they would not be able to keep up. Their 9 to 5 week would only raise a sneer from this chef. “You work 36 hours a week?!.... that’s what I do in a weekend!” This person was not worthy. Where are my chef pals? I was putting in 60 to 70 hour weeks and not batting an eyelid. I wasn’t burning the candle at both ends, I was setting fire to the box of candles and dripping the wax on my bare naked chest.

This lifestyle turned me into a demon. Alcohol and girls were my vice. In the kitchen I could be an angry, sarcastic bastard. Trying to impress the new girl on the bar. My charm and wit were no way near the size of my ego.

Here’s where it get’s soppy. I met a girl. She was the one who was not impressed by my cooking, my attitude or my crap jokes. She just chatted with me every now and then. She saw me in those moments when my dickhead ego is still asleep and she saw the real me. No show-boat. No ulterior motive. The real me. And I let her see it. That’s where I was. That’s when I met my wife…..And that’s when I was reminded of who I was (Deep eh?). Those early years together were by no means perfect. I wrestled with my inner dickhead, but I knew she was the person I needed in my life. So I had to make it work.

Don’t worry that’s the romance part done. Look, what I guess I’m saying is that I was far from a saint. But that is truly the innocence of youth. We think we are indestructible, untouchable and invulnerable to the world. As chefs we can get caught up in our own majesty and believe our own bullshit. Here I am, twentysomething years later, looking back on a career which has been good. I never won rosettes or Michelin stars, but I have fed a million stomachs for sure. I feel I have been through the industry and I have seen the light and the dark side. They are both equally beautiful. They have made me the man I am today. In the same way that Gareth Southgate missed that penalty in 1996 has made him the inspirational manager of the England football team today. His previous fall has made him stronger. I have seen what this industry can do to people. The negative and the positive. The friendships I made which are still strong today. Chefs tend to have a good understanding of who their real friends are. The friends who try to arrange meet ups for a Monday or Tuesday evening, not a Friday night. The friends who stick their heads in the kitchen to yell “Hi!” but leave, not wanting conversation, just wanted you to know they were there.

The darkest part of the industry is the saying goodbye. Too many fallen soldiers. Men and women who have been violated to the edge of existence. Mentally and physically abused into submission. Some are never seen again. Some reappear with a new facia. New armour to protect them from poisonous arrows of bureaucracy. They are the lucky ones. Many chefs are battling with mental health issues. Maybe that chef you spoke with today has issues which you cannot see. If there is one thing a chef is good at, it’s making something crappy, look good. Food and life. Add garnish, send it!

This career has given me so much. I love being a chef and I love how it’s made me the person I am today. I am far from perfect and my shit is definitely not together. I still drink too much and my demons are always just sitting in the corner of the room, waiting for the moment to strike. I use my blogs as therapy. I know I sometimes overshare, but I can only write what I know. So you get this drivel.
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I really cant remember what my original point was? Did I cover it? I was trying to be positive and I didn’t really want to go down the Mental Health route. So many blogs out there who can offer better advice than I. My point is that This life as a chef has given me lots of opportunity to improve as a person. I am not defined by the kitchen I stand in. I am a dad and a husband. I am a son and a brother. I am family and your mate. I am all those things before I am a chef. I am still a chef but I refuse to be a cliché or a stereotype. I am Brian. That chef bloke who writes blogs no one reads. Seems legit.  

“Chef?!.... A customer wants to know what’s vegan on the menu tonight?” comes the cry from the front of house team member, yelling over the drone of the full power extraction system. A shudder courses over the chef’s body as they wrack their brain to try and come up with a sensible response. Supressing the urge to holler back something abusive, sarcastic and really unhelpful. It’s 6.15pm and it’s already busy, one chef has not turned up and the kitchen has been playing catch up all day. This could be the straw which breaks the camel’s back.  Now is not the time to respond with “my arse is vegan!”

As chefs, most of us have been there. As Front-Of-House staff, we’ve been on the receiving end of uncooperative chefs. NEWS FLASH!! It’s 2018 and the days of serving up that mushroom risotto as your standard vegetarian option have gone. Coupled with the “I guess I can make that vegan if you want?” this has to end.

I’m not vegan, I don’t think I could ever be vegan. My will power is terrible and I feel my relationship with meat is deep rooted in my DNA. So many good memories with feasting of roast rib on beef, shoulders of pork, even dipping into a bargain bucket of fried chicken. It’s not necessarily the food, just the associated memories. I can’t recall any nostalgia connected with eating broccoli. This is just me. I have total respect for the reasons behind veganism. I get it.

I sometimes imagine the scenario of Aliens landing on earth, on their intergalactic quest for knowledge. They would turn to us humans and ask “What do you eat?”… obviously they’d speak English! We’d then turn and point out to them that we eat pretty much everything. “Yes the animals too!” At this point they run for the hills or beam up to their mothership.

We eat the animals. This sounds a little weird when said out loud right? In its first few years, my own event catering business “Knife Of Brian Cookery” had offered a Hog Roast as one of the services. I have sold my roaster recently…. I had to. Making eye contact with a 70lb Pig as I loaded it into my Hog Master Oven left me racked with guilt. It’s unbelievably human-looking eyes felt as if they were looking in to my own soul and this chilled me to my core. That was the point I decided that I didn’t want to do Hog Roasts any more. It didn’t have an effect on my diet. In the words of comedy legend Chris Rock “I’d eat a pigs ass if you cooked it right!!” But the events of last summer had started to sew the seeds in my own mind that I should try to make some changes. I know Ethically it makes sense. You don’t have to search too hard on Netflix or YouTube to find a documentary highlighting the malpractices of the meat and dairy industry. Not to forget the shocking statistics raised by cattle farming.

My eldest son, who, now in his twenties, has dived in to veganism. This happened a few years ago and my wife and I joked that it would never last. He’s still vegan and loves it. He lives in London now and although more expensive, the food choices are always vast. Especially when it comes to street food, pop-ups and events. I recently visited Brighton. I was there to support friends during the marathon and I took the opportunity to see if I could “go vegan” for the weekend. It was ridiculously simple. I wasn’t checking for isinglass in the beers or wearing Pleather shoes, but I was doing my best to make vegan choices. In a town like Brighton, it was so easy. Every other café, pub or restaurant was totally vegan friendly. A glimpse of the future maybe?

So, what next? As chefs and food industry professionals we are on the front line of seeing the food trends and how half arsed the governments and legislators tackle issues with Sugar, fast food and food labelling. We see the Gluten free tourists who request a specially designed menu, then proceed to gorge on bread rolls anyway because they looked nice. The vegan who eats dairy, milk and fish….and some chicken! We see the food trends first hand and this time, I think it’s here to stay. It’s not a trend. This is an awakening. A movement. A revolution. I’m not on board yet, but I’m walking the platform. The recent cookbooks which landed on my doorstep recently have been vegan or plant based. Like I’ve said, I don’t know if I could ever go vegan. I love cheese. I love bacon. I am currently addicted to Nduja salami.  But my overall meat consumption has fallen by 80%. I try to make those meat free choices when cooking at home or eating out.
There are those chefs who’ll stand their ground. With their never say die attitude. Tearing the flesh of a turkey leg like some old-school cartoon character. They sneer and snarl at the mention of a vegan in their restaurant. I was one of those chefs. I’ve even seen the famous anti-vegan Gordon Ramsay tweet about “Giving this vegan thing a try…” It is time for us to move with the times. Jump on, or be left behind.

Take a look on social media. Scroll through the images on Instagram or Chef+ and you’ll see that it’s not all avocado toast and sourdough. A quality chef can filter through the bullshit and discover some new flavour combinations. A new challenge to keep the daily graft more interesting.
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I’d love to hear if you have made similar changes. Would you consider becoming vegan? Are you vegan? How are you finding it in a non-vegan kitchen? I’d really love to know. Thanks for reading.

Should I no longer talk to young people about being chefs?

It’s getting difficult now. I try to stay positive about this industry. I do my absolute best to encourage, persuade and nurture young people into choosing a life in the hospitality sector. I would invite them to come and do their Work Experience Placement with me and get a real fast track and immersive experience of what it is like to be a chef. I would tell them that a good chef will always have work. No robot or machine will ever be able to do our job in the kitchen. This could be a job for life!
But now, as I approach my mid forties and see more and more of my chef friends drop out of the kitchen in favour of better pay and better hours outside of the Chef-life hashtag. Delivery drivers, mechanics, Supermarket management and even bus drivers. There are a few chefs locally, who have migrated towards the fruit and vegetable suppliers. It’s not rare here to see an ex 2 rosette chef turning up to deliver my trays of salad and potatoes.
Am I the mug? Punching in 55 plus hour weeks. Long weekends trapped in the kitchen, feeding the aforementioned ex chefs, who are now enjoying their Friday afternoon to Sunday night with their own family and friends. Am I the crazy one? Don’t answer that.
I know there will be those hardcore chefs who’ll be saying “If you cant take the heat, get out of the kitchen!” And yes. They have a point. But I do like it. I love being a chef. I don’t want to leave. My problem is, I am finding it more difficult to encourage people to enter it as a career choice. The stress, the hours and the isolation from love ones. My teenage daughter has a real passion and talent for cooking, but it would break my heart if she ended up work in a sweaty bistro kitchen, surrounded by grumpy old chef bloggers and sociopaths. Having to miss out on so much, like me.
The strain on relationships is always difficult for a chef. If they are lucky enough to find someone who will be happy with broken weeks, split shifts and Christmas dinners alone. Then I salute them. But will that situation survive the trying to raise a family? How many family events will you miss before they are fed up with it. Fed up with you being permentantly tired, on your day off. I have been with my wife for all of my career. I recently asked her how she would feel if I suddenly got a nine to five job and was home evenings and weekends. Her response… “What? Even Fridays?…Cos that’s when Greys Anatomy is on and you’ll just annoy me!” We can draw from that, that she does not want me hanging around the house. She has fully converted to #ChefWife. Total independent parenting and a single entity. To have me hanging around would completely upset the dynamic of our relationship. She’s got so used to me not being there, she rarely considers me when accepting invites out. I’m still referred to as “+1” or her invitations. Even though we have been together for 24 years, if you collate the total time spent together, we’ve barely had 5 years in each other’s company. I’ve got 10 more years before we get to the seven year itch (quick maths)
For all the positives that these jobs can offer by way of career longevity. The mental strain it puts on chefs, young and old is real. For young people coming in to this game, the reality of missing out on social engagements and general “hanging out” will test their own relationships with friends and family. Employers need to do their best to accommodate days off. They can’t act all surprised when the commis chef hands in their notice, to go and work in Morrisons Supermarket. Because they are fed up of missing their friends’ parties. The older chef equally should be respected. Sometimes they are treated as expendable commodities, they should be encouraged to take the occasional Friday or Saturday off. It’s not uncommon for senior chefs to work 48 weekends of the year. Employers should be accountable to a duty of care to the welfare of all their staff. Not just in the work place, but outside of the kitchen or restaurant too. They’d be the first to call out an employee if their behaviour reflected on the business in any way. So would it be unfair for an employee to blame their working conditions on the breakdown of their own relationships or behaviour. With mental health featuring regularly in the media, hospitality is pretty high up on the contributors list.
So, back to my initial point. Is it right or fair for me to encourage people in to this life? Personally. Yes I will. But I will always be honest. Let them know that this job can give you everything, but it can also take a lot away. Work hard, but know when to take a break. Find the job that is right for you. Don’t be afraid to ask for that time off.
This generation gets a lot of bad press. Being called snowflakes and a generation of young people expecting instant gratification. I’m very much against this ideology. There is nothing wrong with people expecting to be treated fairly. This generation has seen the effect excessive working hours has had on us. Why would they not want to say “**** that!” Friends and family are important. When all is said and done, they’re the people we’ll need in our lives. Maybe the boss will have to get his hands dirty this weekend.

So, here’s the thing. A few weeks ago, I sent off a menu to the Suffolk Food and Drink Awards for the Suffolk chef of the Year Category. Fuelled by a few Gin & Tonics, I constructed a menu inspired by dishes from my years as a chef. The initial entry round involved submitting this menu for a three course meal for two using local produce where possible.
I filled in the forms, a brief curriculum vitae and submitted my menu. The competition has a history of winners coming from The Angel Hotel in Bury. Four out of the past 5 years in fact. This doesn’t bother me. I am fully aware that the competition hosts lean on the side of rural Suffolk life over town living. I just want an opportunity to show what I can do. Hopefully gaining a platform to stand up on and inspire young people to enter this industry which has given me so much.
I used to enter competitive cookery competitions as a student. Winning a Silver medal at Salon Culinaire in 1993 which I take great pleasure in telling my kids about (and anyone who’ll listen). This gave my the confidence to go on and be a chef. It secured the desire for me. “Next year I’d do better” The competition never returned.
Once I knew about this competition, I made sure that I entered a category. This is my third attempt. Although I did help my junior chef Georgina Blake get through to the cook off final of the Junior Chef of the year competition last year (2017).
Anyway. To my surprise, I got through! Next week (5th April) I have to head off to West Suffolk College for a cook off against lord knows who! I’ll be totally out of my comfort zone, but after making Georgina go through this last year, I could not back down.
My  plans to launch my cookery classes have had to take the back seat for the moment too understandably. So my apologies to those who have been waiting for details.
My menu for the event? You’ll have to head over to www.instagram.com/knifeofbrian to see my dishes.
It would be nice to win. My plan would be, like I said, to use it as a platform. Maybe I can promote the junior competition for 2019 (No junior competition this year) The industry is crying out for new talent. But this challenging career is not for everyone. At 43 years old, I already struggle with the busy day and long night. A few more years and I’ll be off to cook in retirement homes or school canteens…maybe?
If you want to see how I get on, check back on my website and follow me on www.twitter.com/knifeofbrian
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Where do the Food Stylists fit in? Are they Friends or foe to the chef? For a long while, I would get a little annoyed when swiping through my Instagram feed and seeing beautiful dishes. Dishes, which at first glance look like something you’d eat at a Michelin Star manor! Then as I click on the profile, I’d realise that the creator of the dish is not a kitchen veteran, but a food stylist. A blogger. Someone who I would assume had too much time on their hands.
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 I would be angry and felt cheated. Who were these people to be tweezering false hope on the Grand Assiette of my aspirations? Their plates looked stunning and flawless. Do they not own a restaurant? Surely, they must be worthy of Stars or Rosettes? I carry on reading through the dish info and eventually get to the food stylist or food photography hashtags.

There are plenty of these pages and feeds out there. Some of them are chefs. Some are not. Some are chefs, reproducing their images for a professional photographer to snap on their £10k camera. Putting my greasy Samsung S7 to shame in a single click of their billion mega pixel camera. Then sending an image to their web development team, then launch the image to an avalanche of Likes and Hearts… meanwhile in Ipswich, my wild boar linguine tip toes up to 40 thumbs ups! Woo hoo, yay me! There are a fair amount of chefs who snap some amazing shots on their smartphones too. They ones whose filter game is way strong.
Jealous, Moi? No…well maybe a little. But who am I? I’m just a chef. A 50 hour a week pub chef. Grafting and trying to make those coins, to put my kids through university and keep my wife (and the bank) off my back. Can I compete with the big boys and girls on the social media playground, without buying virtual followers?

That’s where those pesky stylists come in. In my opinion, these people are helping chefs like me raise my game. So where I was angry, I am now inspired. Where I was feeling cheated, I was now motivated. These people are producing beautiful dishes which I may not always be able to be reproduce in my kitchen. But, if I can add a single aspect or element to one of my dishes on the menu, then surely, this is progress. The stylists are here to be the chef’s muse, whispering their Siren song over the drone of the extraction unit. Can I emulate? There was a time I had draw the line at adding nasturtiums to my rib eye steaks salads. The chef flower-power movement went to my head for a while, but I’m over that. But wow, what’s next? Ooooh! That combination of Shellfish and Game looks interesting no?

There is definitely a place for the food stylist. As chefs, we need these people to flood social media with inspiration and imagery which can inspire and motivate us mere mortals. I may not be the most  technically gifted chef, but I make nice food. I don’t do foams, gels or the trendy tuiles. But I love to combine flavours. I love to see new colours in dishes and I really appreciate the artistry of food presentation. I love it when convention is challenged. As chefs, we should not fear the blogger, the stylist or the food photographer. Embrace the filter. Challenge our own beliefs and evolve this profession.

…but I do hate wellness bloggers, they can shove their avocado toast up their……

Are we future-proof? That’s the question I was asked in a recent conversation, regarding news and features, which had been reporting on how staff from supermarkets were being made redundant. Staff in high street banks were being laid off. And in both incidences, being replaced by automated, self-service counters.
I initially felt sorry for these sectors. Then, on reflection, I thought about how these employees have been pushing me towards these self service points every time I visited their place of employment. And here we are now. Expecting to dish out sympathy, because they have be replaced by artificial intelligence.
Okay, I’m not that heartless. I do care. As a father of three teenagers, all at various points of secondary and further education. They are trying to work out where they will fit in to the employment world. Which profession should they choose? There was a time when manufacturing was a safe “Job for life”. Not anymore. How secure is any industry now? Retail? It’s only a matter of time before sales assistants are a thing of the past. I see that Amazon have opened an unstaffed grocery store in the USA. With cameras on the ceiling, reading bar-codes as you put your groceries into your bag, scanned on your way out. Payment sent digitally. I’m sure we’re only years away from a staff-less Department store experience. Jeans, perfume and fancy underwear, all straight into your bag. No need to queue in Debenhams or John Lewis behind someone who is returning all their Christmas gifts.

So, as hospitality employees, are we safe? I recently stayed at a Premier Inn at Stratford, London. My wife had booked our room online. There was no hotel reception so-to-speak. But there was a touchscreen monitor, which after a brief tap, tap, tap, it dispensed our room key cards. You getting my point? So far, zero human interaction. In actual fact, the first hotel employee we met was the barman, that evening. How long will it be until hotels like this will do away with bar staff to bring the costs down even more? I have seen that there are some self-servicepubs and bars already appearing in cities around the world. It’s only a matter of time before this becomes the norm. Contactless payment on the beer pump. Wine dispensers mounted on the pub walls. I’m not sure if the cocktail maker Jukebox is a thing yet, but I’m in!
As for chef and waiters. Who knows? Service staff can be replaced up to a certain point. Many fast food restaurants are opting for ipad/tablet ordering, whereby, the customer is responsible for their own order. Are there any Michelin rated restaurants who have adopted this? In the kitchen. I will stand here now, in 2018, and say that no robot can do what we do! Being a chef is an art. Yes, I know that there are factories pumping out batches of lasagnes and turkey burgers, but I’m talking about being a chef in it’s traditional meaning.
There are issues with the lack of school leavers coming in to this industry. Catering colleges are seeing numbers decline. And although people are enjoying cooking more as a hobby, their interest in turning this into an actual job or career seems to fade. Why should they chose a career catering & hospitality? The pay isn’t great, the hours are mostly terrible and it’s not got the best reputation in the media, with cliché angry chefs dominating the TV shows. We, as chefs need to encourage and promote our trade. Highlight the positive aspects. I’ve said before that a good chef will always have a job. It’s a skill which travels globally and you can have a career as thrilling and as diverse as you want it to be. “People will always need food!” That’s what my mother told me. So whether they want to be a city centre pizza chef, an award winning mega chef, a school canteen cook or a travelling chef with a pro cycling team (That’s my dream job). The world is their oyster.
So until we get to the stage where everyone is popping meal replacement pills, I do believe chefs are safe….But I am looking over my shoulder every week. The robots are coming.

With recent reports on sexual harassment in the workplace and in government offices making headline news. I thought I’d throw in my two-penneth. Although I cannot really claim to be a victim of sexual harassment, I know my work place banter has edged close to the line over my 25 year career. As most chefs, male and female will tell you, we’re not in the school playground anymore. The jokes and banter can be of a level which would make most mortals blush. There is a fine (not really that fine) line between the 1980’s style, Benny Hill comedy moments and the uncomfortable hand on the arse of a politician. Both would be considered inappropriate here in 2018 and rightly so.
Being born in 1974, watching TV through the 80’s has meant that I was can’t help but be influenced by the misogynistic, sexist comedy of the likes of Carry On movies and the chat shows of the time. Watch those old interviews now and you’ll realise how much the women were objectified and being treated like second or even third tier citizens. It was a time where the standards of what was acceptable were unchallenged. I mean, TV audiences were still pining for the Black and White Minsterels dancing on their tv’s. Some may say this was all harmless jokes and banter. But we now understand that these views are just reinforcing stereotypes of a generation. Anyone who was not white, male and heterosexual was considered fair game. I do wonder future generations will look back at this decade and try to decipher our obsession with celebrity, body shape, smartphones and social media.
All forms of media had, and still has, it’s responsibility. There are few who would break ranks to stand up and acknowledge that there’s a problem which needs addressing. This is why now, in 2018 I can stand here as a 43 year old black male and can say with my hand on my heart that I have been on the receiving end of racism at several points of my life, most weeks, most months, most years. I’m not talking about the hard line, right wing fascism. Although that happens. I’m referring to the casual remarks. The “just jokes” comments. As well as the blatant ignorant comments and assumptions.
What’s this got to do with being a chef? Nothing really. But I was compelled to write this post after I noted the surprise in the eyes of a supplier when they realised I was the head chef. Assuming that my bigger, hairier and white colleague was the guy in charge. Didn’t even consider that I was the guy that had sourced his product and paid for it out of my hard earned cash. To be fair he also overlooked the female I had working with me too. I was far too busy be offended at the time. The incident just got logged in my subconscious for later. Their are people out there who would have taken massive offence at this point and the situation would have ended very differently. The gentleman was a local cattle farmer, from out in the countryside, who had probably only ever read about black people in his 1954 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica.
A few weeks later, I was talking with someone who had said they thought they’d seen my wife out running. Now baring in mind that this chap had never met my wife. He just assumed the the woman was my wife because she was black and running. That was all he had to go on. Because that’s how it works right? My wife does run. She’s white and was 100 miles away with her girl squad that weekend.
Like I said. These incidents are not full on, right wing racism. This is just ignorance, stupidity and naivety. And had the two events not happened so close together I may have not even written this post. I know on both incidents that there was no malice or hurt intended so I would not even think to kick off. That’s just the shit a person of colour has to deal with. It’s a long way from the lynch mobs of yesteryear.
I know I’ve been overlooked for jobs and positions purely because of my colour and a judgement associated with it. Applying for head chef positions, to then be offered a senior sous chef title, with no head chef was a classic. I took great joy in telling that employer to go and **** themselves when they tried to offer me the senior position within a week, realising that I was bloody brilliant (Obviously i’m kidding #Bants). I then left.
Equally I have been offered positions just to fill a racial demographic. This was not within the hospitality industry to be fair. But They call it diversity now.
So let he/she without sin, cast the first stone. There is so much bad shit going on right now. Everyday a new story comes out about a celebrity abusing their power. Taking advantage of those they see as weaker than themselves. Men and women alike can and have been guilty of many bad things in this industry. Black, White, Indian, Asian or whatever. It is now time for the profiling to stop. Assuming that this white, female chef can’t cook Caribbean rice n peas. Stop believing that the Asian chef knows nothing about Classic French cuisine, and that black guy must be the kitchen porter. This is 2018 and the world is getting smaller. We are getting closer to each other and the sooner we can tear down borders and barriers in our micro-worlds. The sooner we can all just crack on.

In my current position as head chef, I like to “give back to the industry” by offering work experience to chefs, young and old. Students and mature learners alike. And one of the questions I get asked is “What are the best knife sets to get?” 
So I thought I should write down my personal view on the tools of our trade.
There are several great brands out there. From a classic Sabatier from France to the hand crafted, British made blades. Knives are personal, individual and there is no “One size fits all” system. For me, I love a wooden handle. I tried using Global knives but it felt weird in my hand. Also I don’t like the nylon/plastic handled knives. These always feel cheap. Maybe they just remind me of when I used to teach at college and the students would be issued with some useless, unbranded, cheap training knife. What’s the point of that eh? Poor knives slow chefs down and that’s something we don’t need. My day to day knife brand is Victorinox, Rosewood handles. They tend to suit my budget and the steel is a good quality, hard wearing steel. 
I was given a beautiful Japanese “Shun” knife a few years back. This was a thing of beauty. Layers of folded samurai steel with a perfect black wooden handle…. Then a waiter took it as a cake knife for a customer to cut their £2 Mr Kipling, Victoria sponge birthday cake and it was never seen again. I now, don’t like to let my knives out of my sight. This tends to be a chef law standard. Other rules include:

• Don’t touch my f***ing knives
• Don’t ever touch my f***ing knives
• If I catch you using knifes, I’ll f***ing finish ya!

I think you get my point (No pun intended!)
 
As for knife sets. I recommend NONE! By sets, I’m talking about the 10 piece trainee sets on offer in the Nisbets/Russums catalogues. Most chefs can survive on 3 or 4 knives to complete their day to day tasks. A good paring knife, a solid 8,10 or 12 inch cooks knife, a filleting knife and a boning knife. The last two are interchangeable in my opinion. Find the right knife for you. You may like the heavyweight European blade or lightweight Japanese steel. The choice is totally yours.
Knives should be looked after. I carry a wet stone and a steel. Only I am allowed to sharpen my knives. No other chef should ever try to sharpen another chef’s knife. That’s a bad move. I’m getting upset just thinking about it! Get yourself a good roll, case or box to store them in. Count them in, count them out!
Don’t let yourknives go through the dish washer. This really messes them up. Especially the domestic dishwasher you have at home. I don’t know why or what goes on in there but They will just come out blunt, grey and if they have a wooden handle, this will be ruined.
In time, you’ll start to realise which knives you’ll like. I’d always suggest seeing it in real life first. Looking at something online is a world away from filleting 5 stone of Sea Bass with it.
A good quality knife will last you your entire career. That’s a fact. 
Take a look at some of the links below. These are pretty cool. The video on knife sharpening goes on a bit, but highlights the need for a good quality wet stone.

MY GEAR:
​Here are my most used knives at work.

• Sabatier 8" over 20 years old
• Victorinox Santuko and Filleting knives (Both currently missing in action)
• My Japanese knife (3rd one down) which is well over 25 years old!! Bonkers eh? Only paid around a tenner for it too!!!

Further reading:
Other articles worth checking out. GQ’s Michelin Starred knives and what does Anthony Bourdain think?

Review link: If you are looking for a comprehensive review of knives, please try this link here:
https://www.reviews.com/chef-knife/

I have no association with any of the links included in this post.

Are we superstitious? Is there actually a chef code. As a chef do you believe in an all mighty Chef deity, who oversees your daily grind?




This blog post was inspired by a conversation in my local chef forum. It was one of those moments where I realised that I wasn’t alone in what I thought were my own idiosyncrasies. So here are a few highlights:




Commandment one



Thou shalt always double tap your knife the chopping board or work surface before commencing with any slicing, filleting or chopping duties. This ensures the knife still works and makes the chef gods happy.




Commandment two



Thou shalt never utter the words “I think it’ll be nice and quiet tonight” before the end of service. This is ALWAYS a trigger phrase for the chef overlords to strike you down!




Commandment three



Never look at the clock on the wall. Service is not over!




Commandment four



Thou shalt not touch another chef’s knives, pen, or tools. This will only create tension and you can legally be assassinated by ninjas.




Commandment five



Never ever tip away the last portion of sauce béarnaise before the end of service. It doesn’t matter how sure you are. Even if you’ve sent out the last table’s meal. They will ask for a splash more.




Commandment six



This one is not really a superstition, but important all the same. ALWAYS use a dry tea-towel. Assume everything is hot.




Commandment seven



On the subject of tea towels. How many should be tucked into your apron? Personally, I am a one cloth chef. But I know some who appear to be living out Hawaiian hula skirt fantasies. Going with three or even four tucked in there.




Commandment eight



Never tell your fellow chefs, “I’ll just stay for one drink, I’ve got to get home”, this is basically provoking a challenge. You’ll soon be tip toeing into your house at 3am.




Commandment nine



Always have you chef’s back. If you know they got plastered with you last night, the least you can do for the lightweight is help them with a little of their Mis En Place. Especially if they have had the decency to turn up.




Commandment ten



Thou shalt not be a dick (not gender specific)




There are several blogs and posts which cover the “chef code”. My own view is that number 10 here covers it all. You don’t have to search too hard to find online chef Facebook group pages and forums which are filled with opinions, take-downs, negativity and general childishness. The modern term is “trolling” I guess. We, as chefs have enough to deal with without taking swipes at each other. There are some social media pages where I would never post photos of my work. No matter how proud I am of it. I know some jumped up Michelin Guide wannabe will be waiting to post a comment about preferred presentation technique. Or even suggest adding wild garlic (a joke I never really understood on chef’s arse FB page).
I love being a chef. I love the history of it. I love the simplicity and the complexity. But it is just food at the end of the day. No double tapping of the knife or pre service cigarette ritual will make any difference. Our knowledge is our power. It does take a certain type of person to stick it out as a chef. I’ll be 43 later this month and I am one of the last remaining chefs from the group I graduated with back in 1994. The others are either bus drivers, dead or somewhere in between. I’ve said before that I am not sure how many years I have left on the front line so-to-speak. But I will never stop cooking*.




*Obviously, if my numbers come up on the lotto I AM OUTTA HERE!!!