Welcome

This blog, and its companion podcast, is dedicated to the explorations of many things revolving around the food service industry. I have been a professional pastry chef in Chicago for over 24 years and I intend to have discussions about many related topics from the changing face of the industry, the pitfalls of business ownership, food trends, what it is like being a minority in this line of work, culinary schools, competition, and just about anything else.

Why did I pick this name for my page? Well, when I was a kid, it was trendy to have, hanging on your wall, the giant fork and spoon. These decorations were wooden or metal and often found in the dinning room or kitchens, as a kid I tried to imagine how big you must be to be able to use them at the dinner table. As I grew up, these wall hangings began to fall out of favor, considered passe, but my love of food, and creating food art, began in the shadow of these relics.

The chef life is never dull and hardly ever simple. Everyone in the industry needs to balance the business with artistry to meet the ever changing demands of the clientele, and that isn't easy. When I began my journey in this industry there was no such thing as a "celebrity chef", no television channels dedicated to our work, and very little that accurately depicted what the day-to-day was like in a professional kitchen. Julia Child lit the torch that peered behind the curtain the separated the front of the house from the back of the house. She was the pioneer that demystified fine dinning and culinary excellence both at food outlets and at home. Anthony Bourdain wrote a best selling book "Kitchen Confidential" that peeled back the facade and took a hard look at the life of the chef will all that it can be, both accelerating and dangerous.

I have come to the conclusion that even with all the media exposure and the developed thirst for all things "celebrity", the Rachel Raye's, the Mario Batalli's, and Guy Fieri's, there is still a lack of respect for what it is we do, and a lack of understanding about what it takes to get into this line of work, stay in the industry, open a profitable business, and have any measure of success. I often find, that when talking to other professionals in other industries, I feel the need to illustrate what it is we do and why we chefs are not to have a nose turned skyward from anyone. Chefs all over the world run businesses, just like any other business, with it's demands of profitability, while using applied chemistry techniques to food stuffs, and mixing in artistry to please a wide audience.Trends change rapidly, similar to the fashion industry, and keeping up with the dietary and taste request of customers keeps chefs consistently training and retraining their skills.

Hopefully, my experiences, and those of my colleagues, will widen your perspective and understanding of this chef life we live. My goal has always been to open my own outlet in Chicago, as for now, I am delving deeper into teaching the next generation of people with great cooking skills, and perhaps some will take their skills on to high heights within the industry. Everything has its pluses and minuses and here's where I intend to share them with you.