Is there a recipe for success?

Whenever I go to a bookstore, I can’t help but notice all those Complete Idiot’s Guide To… books overflowing on the shelves. It seems like there’s one for anything and everything. There’s a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Flyfishing, a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Accounting, a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pleasing Your Woman, and a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing the Harmonica. I have yet to see the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Becoming a Complete Idiot, but I’m sure there’s one somewhere.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the whole series. I think the title is very catchy – you can’t help but look through the different topics. If you look through the series, there’s bound to be a dozen titles you would like to skim through. After all, it’s safe to say that all of us – even the Einsteins of the world – are idiots in some aspect in life. Personally, I am an idiot when it comes to quantum physics. But so is 99 percent of the world. So I don’t feel too bad. I’m in good company.

The Complete Idiot Guides are usually placed in the same row as the "how-to-be-successful" books. The titles vary but they seem to offer the same thing: How To Be Rich, How To Make It To The Top, How To Succeed In Business, How To Succeed In Business… Honestly, How To Be Debt-Free In 3 Months, How To Be a Millionaire, How To Be a Billionaire, How To Be A Billionaire Without Really Trying, How To Run a Successful Business, How To Be A Successful Entrepreneur.

Now, if I could only find the book How To Choose The Right Book On How to Be Successful, I’d be on my way, because frankly, with all the titles available, I don’t know where to begin. In the meantime, time is ticking away. And since time is money, at the rate I’m going, I’d be broke before I chose – and read – any book about how to be successful in anything.

What am I trying to drive at here? Well, it seems to me that with all these guidebooks and how-to books, one thing is clear: people are demanding answers – specifically, answers to age-old questions like "What should I do?," "How do I do it?" and "Why should I do it?" Ultimately, it all boils down to one thing: We want to find the path to success, and when we find it, we want to take it. And I’m not just talking about financial success. I am talking about all aspects of success – professional, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and relational.

For centuries, man has tried to figure this out. And in the course of history, we’ve somehow managed to come up with what seems to be a sure-fire formula on how we should live our lives and how we can be successful: First, when a child is born, we’re supposed to teach him the basic stuff – the alphabet, numbers, values, the importance of obeying his parents, proper use of the toilet, etc. Second, when the child is around four, we’re supposed to enroll him in school so that he can be taught math, science, social studies, music, language, etc. Third, when the child graduates from high school, we’re supposed to tell him to pick a course he likes and enroll in a college, and when he does enroll, we admonish him to "stay in school and don’t drop out." And finally, when the child graduates, we are supposed to tell him to go get a job so he can make a living.

All over the world, that seems to be the formula – the recipe – for success. From Japan to Lebanon to India, from the US to Dubai, that’s what parents are doing for their kids. The recipe for success seems clear: Learn the basics, obey your parents, go to school, study hard, don’t stray, keep away from bad company and bad vices, and get a job in a big company that pays well.

Personally, I bought into that whole thing. I followed the path of least resistance. I obeyed my parents, enrolled in school, studied hard, kept away from vices, and looked for a job. And so here I am. At this stage in my life, I can confidently say that I am not a complete failure, but sometimes I wonder, "Am I a success?" By following the path, did I become the person I might have been had I not followed the standard recipe?

Recently, I met a very interesting gentleman who defied the whole "recipe for success" process. His name is Ed Quimson, one of the most renowned and respected chefs in the country.

I met chef Ed in Teak at Rockwell, a restaurant where he is a consultant, and later at his restaurant Filo’s, on the Fort Strip (which he runs with chef Anne Quinio). Teak and Filo’s are two of my favorite restaurants – and that’s no coincidence. Ed is the key person in both establishments, and the great dishes he concocts in both restaurants are the main reason why I like eating in them.

One time, I had a chance to have a long chat with Ed. It was one of the most enlightening and amusing conversations I’ve ever had. At the start of the conversation, I casually asked him how he became a chef.

"Do you believe I never went to culinary school?"

I was stunned. "No way!" I exclaimed.

"Yes way, man – no formal training," he proudly answered.

Being a student of the old school that thought you had to graduate from something to be successful, I had a hard time accepting that. I curiously asked him how he became a chef. His answer was so simple, it floored me: "I love to cook."

At this point, I became more curious. I said, "Okay, I’ll go deeper. Why do you love to cook?"

He answered, "Simple. I like to see people delighted after I feed them something that I made. The sight of people enjoying a good meal is what gives me the ultimate thrill."

He told me that he started cooking at the age of eight, mostly for his family and friends – and mainly because he loved eating. "My mom let me cook the meals for the family and this went on for awhile. But later on, she stopped letting me cook when she realized that I ate most of the family meals even before I could serve it!"

We started talking about school and learned that we were from the same batch. I asked him when he graduated.

"I was supposed to graduate high school in 1984, but I failed. I had the lowest grade in the history of the Ateneo for any subject – I got a 59 in Pilipino! I repeated first-year high school. But I was not going anywhere. I had no interest in school whatsoever. I had zero interest in social studies and math and whatever they taught. As far as I know, the only thing I ever wanted to do was cook."

With no motivation to go to school, Ed inevitably dropped out. "I was a complete bum by the time I was 14. That’s when my life spun out of control. I got into all kinds of vices – drugs, alcohol, you name it. I am not proud of it, that’s for sure. I am just stating it because it’s a part of my life. My life, at that point, had totally no direction. But in a way, that may have been a blessing in disguise."

Having seemingly no future here, Ed was sent abroad. There, he continued to "party." But soon, he realized that he could not sustain himself – and his vices. He had to find a job. But having no high school diploma to show, he had to settle for odd jobs. He worked for various international cruise liners as a dishwasher, cargo loader, cook reliever, messenger. He also took other odd jobs that other people were not willing to take. But having been exposed to the kitchens of many ocean liners, he was able to hone his cooking skills.

When he was 20, he came back to the Philippines. Again, he became the designated chef at home. His exceptional home cooking soon became a family favorite. And through sheer word of mouth from his family and relatives, he was invited by the restaurant La Tasca to be interviewed. Since he never had extensive professional experience as a chef, he comically recounts how he would secretly sneak into the toilet for a few seconds just to refer to the book The Joy of Cooking (which he calls his bible) whenever a certain dish or ingredient was being asked of him. But somehow, he pulled it off. At the tender age of 21, he became executive chef of La Tasca restaurant, one of the top restaurants in Manila at the time. And in this job, he thrived. Soon, because of his amazing culinary skills, he made a name for himself. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, he is one of the biggest chefs in town – literally and figuratively! Apart from Teak and Filo’s, he’s also a consultant for Club Noah in Palawan and Splendido in Tagaytay. He is also one of the chefs most in demand by prominent figures in Philippine society.

While Ed would never recommend his path to success to anyone, he believes that following the so-called "recipe of life" is not the only way to success. He believes that you can be successful as long as you follow what you like to do – and that what you like doing offers something valuable to people.

"It’s not all about the number of culinary schools one has gone to or the level of education you have attained. Experience and passion for cooking is what makes a good chef. As you know by now, I don’t like to follow rules or standards. That’s the story of my life. But that helped me in becoming a chef because I love to create new things. And I think that’s the bottom line, really. Love your craft, be creative – and try your best to make people happy. I don’t believe in recipes, but if there ever was a recipe for life, that’s it."

After talking to chef Ed, I felt like an idiot who just went through a Complete Guide on life. Indeed, while school is important, one must never dismiss a person just because he or she didn’t finish school. Sadly, that’s how society is built. When we look through resumes, our first priority is look for an Ateneo, UP, or La Salle graduate. Why? Because by choosing those guys, we think there’s less risk for a wrong hire. But if you look at history, some of the most inspiring life stories are those of people who didn’t graduate and didn’t follow the so-called formula for success. Most of these people didn’t follow a recipe – they just concocted their own dish – and the whole world noticed.

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Thanks for your letters! You may e-mail me at rodhnepo@yahoo.com