For most people there is an imaginary world of chefs and the food industry. There is this image of the crazy chef with a handlebar moustache, eyebrows all over the place, sitting in a dark empty kitchen late at night. He is sipping a glass of expensive Chateau Lafitte. He puts down the glass and runs his onion and garlic scented fingers around the rim, plotting the demise of his competition. In a thick French accent, he mutters to himself: “I have to be ze best! Ze meilleur! Zat chef Gaston muzt go down!”
Does he throw in a few cockroaches? Maybe a rat or two in that Gaston’s restaurant… Laxatives? Why does everyone love his special Bearnaise? He must steal the recipe. He will don an inconspicuous trench coat and some eyeglasses… he will have lunch there and slip into the kitchen dressed like a dishwasher. He must know the secret recipe! There can only be one great chef and it damn well be him!
This is pretty much as far from the truth as possible. Sure it happens — pirating of staff, stealing of recipes — but most true gastronomes, chefs and foodies alike, well… we love each other.
If you follow Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain and Jose Andres on Twitter you’ll understand what I mean. Every morning I wake up to a bunch of jokes, even some rather dirty ones, about these chefs fooling around both in and out of the kitchen. It could be Bourdain making fun of Ripert’s mad sunburn from the Cayman Islands Cookoff or Andres making fun of Bourdain that he blushed way too many times with Ferran Adria. Even most food journalists re-tweet each other’s tweets and support each other.
Not too long ago, I was asked: “What do you love most about what you do?” The answer is always the same. I love what I do because everyone I meet who works in the food and beverage industry are just as passionate as I am. In the field of food journalism, I find that because we’re always sitting down together to share a meal, washed down with some wine, friendships are born.
Last Thursday, I was invited to a Les Toques Blanches Chef’s Table dinner at I’m Angus Steakhouse. Werner Berger, the man behind Santis and Werdenberg, is always a kind and gracious host. That evening was Scandinavian food. Strangely, it is a cuisine I truly enjoy. Call me crazy but I love pickled herring and all that cold fishy stuff with potatoes. I also adore berries and their fresh natural approach to cuisine. Food is rather local and well I’m not surprised that all eyes in the culinary world turn to Copenhagen since the Noma was crowned “Best Restaurant in the World” by San Pellegrino. A tasting menu was prepared by Swedish chef Jonas Lundgren, who was a silver medalist in the 2009 Bocuse d’Or competition.
The evening started with a selection of herring, which I personally truly enjoyed. We then had mussel soup “Naturelle,” which for me was the highlight of the meal. I love mussels and the richness of the soup was so comforting. It felt like melted frothy butter and the mussels were small but plump and flavorful. The Ventisquiero Sauvignon Blanc went extremely well with these dishes.
Next was a halibut with scallops in soya brown butter. The fish was so nicely cooked! It had a very crisp, wafer-like side and the rest was moist and tender. The main was a braised lamb shoulder, which was nice and clean tasting. The lamb was there but not the gaminess it can have. As we hit the Lingonberry dessert, the table was already in raucous laughter and I had four various glasses of wine plus one shot of treacherous aquavit in front of me.
I still remember the first LTB dinner I attended. I was in awe, making a mental note of all the famous cheffies laughing away. You get to listen to their funny antics and chismis that go from drunken adventures across the French countryside in search of a warm meal to playing with sous-vide machines to chef Jay Gamboa stealing my food styling ideas. As I looked all around me, technically they’re all competitors, all running the same rat race, but these people at the table have red cheeks from either laughter or wine-sharing stories, tips and ideas born out of true camaraderie. And when I think of my press dinners and the upcoming formation of the Bulalo Band and the Giniling Girls comprised of singing and dancing food editors and writers from competing publications (ladies, you know who you are!), I have but one conclusion to make: it is the food that binds.