I thought that I would take this opportunity to talk a little bit about my decision to quit cooking, and begin a career in history/politics. Although I have told several people about in person, for those who don't know, I will write this blog.
About a year ago, I came to the conclusion that cooking professionally was not for me. AT ALL.
This was a very hard decision to come to. I wanted to be a chef since I was 12, and veering from that path was not easy at all. I would imagine that it's hard for any person to do something for years, only to discover that it wasn't the right decision. I also spent a fortune on a culinary degree, which I am in the process of paying off. However after much long, hard thinking I knew what the right choice would be.
For those of you who have never worked in a professional kitchen before (this is especially important to those that want to be chefs), let me give you a little warning.... This is NOT an easy profession. You will work 12-14 (or more) hours a day, get paid slightly more than minimum wage starting off, work weekends and holidays, get screamed at, work in 90 degree (or hotter) kitchens, and wear your body out.
Choosing this profession requires a lot of commitment. Unless you love cooking more than anything else, this isn't for you. Trust me, I found out the hard way.
That is not to say that I still don't enjoy cooking, to a point. I like to learn more about food, and enjoy cooking at home sometimes, especially around the holidays. I currently work in a dining room, and enjoy it. I do have tremendous respect of this industry as a whole, and how far it has advanced in the last decade or so.
What got to me to quit? I will explain...
For one, I have a very active mind. Cooking, especially in a large and busy restaurant is largely repetitive labor. This may sound like an oversimplification, but it's true. To me, this is mental torture, because I feel like a robot just going through motions. I realize that you can't be a complete idiot and run a kitchen, but I
feel that a kitchen doesn't embrace a person of my character. It's not even a question of what I know, it's more of my desire to constantly learn.
Not only that, but the social atmosphere of the profession. People that work in kitchens generally speaking, are not intellectually driven. (Trust me, I'm trying to say this in the nicest way possible.) I feel that I just don't fit in to that sort of environment. I read about politics, economics, and history almost religiously, and I have trouble relating to people that just want to talk about food, bathroom humor, and (lousy) movie quotes.
I was also disgusted by the level of drug use that I have witnessed in the industry. If you Google this in 2 seconds, you will find that Foodservice is at the top of the list for drug use. It doesn't surprise me... the work wears people down, and they look for something to ease the pain. You have to work a long, hard shift, you need something to get you through it. I personally, would rather just do something else for a living than destroy myself with powerful substances. Part of this is personal too... I lost an uncle to cocaine, sadly.
I was largely disillusioned by the way kitchens are run, and the people are treated. Every barrel has its bad apples, but there were a lot of bad apples here.
I still, to this day, have a lot of respect for the chefs that respected me and treated me like a member of a team. (You know who you are.) You were a positive influence, and I hope that you have long and successful careers.
The rest can burn in hell. Many of these "leaders" did nothing, except insult, talk down to, and otherwise antagonize me while I worked for them. I asked them how to do something.. I got insulted and told that I should already know it. One of these people (again, I won't mention names) in fact, bragged to me about how much I could learn from him, yet refused to show me how to do things. (or gave me condescending attitude in the rare instances that he actually did.) He also told me how I wasted my money on school, and how privileged I was to work for someone as great as him. This did WHAT, for me? I'm still trying to figure it out years later.
Those people are not gods, (contrary to what some of them seem to believe.) and I sincerely think that my life would be better off today had some of them never entered it. Difficult to prove, but most likely the case.
I realize that this is a very hard, and demanding profession. Thing is though, you can choose whether or not to do it. If you're miserable to the point of being a malcontent... isn't it up to you to ask if you should make a change to better your own life? We're all adults in charge of our own lives at this point. (At least that's how I see it.)
I think that this is somewhat self explanatory, but the hours and general lifestyle were another reason. I think that would like to have a family someday, and this profession isn't well suited for that. I'm also not into the "non-stop party" lifestyle which many in this field live.
On the subject of culinary school...
At the risk of being blunt, its a complete waste of money. (Anyone that is thinking about going, listen up.)
Yes, I will admit that a bit of this is sour grapes on my part, because I don't cook anymore. But it's not entirely unjustified either.
Pretty much anything that you learn in school, you learn in the real world kitchens. EASILY. The difference is that you GET PAID, rather than pay an arm and a leg to learn it. A friend and I didn't actually learn how to break down a chicken, until we worked in a certain restaurant together. We didn't learn in school, because we did it a handful of times, and that was it. The knowledge wasn't retained. Working in this restaurant meant that we did it over and over, which meant that we truly learned it. And again: We got paid to work in the restaurant, but we paid to be in school.
Schools spew all sorts of propaganda about how you need them. You don't, it's bullshit.... self aggrandizing propaganda. You come out of school making as much as anyone would without a degree. (In spite of what they tell you, plus you have a huge debt to pay off.)
Thomas Keller, considered by many to be the best chef in America, never went through a day of school. I have worked for several that quit school, some that didn't go at all, yet they could still run a kitchen, and cook wonderful food. They worked in nice restaurants, and earned recognition. Culinary schools (and from what I see/hear, colleges in general) are more about pushing people through a program, with a very lax assessment as to how much they learned. They're not "non profit" was they claim. This is why so many gradates change careers after school. Chef David Chang once said that he thinks that over half of culinary school grads will have changed careers after 5 years of graduating... From what I have seen, he's not far off.
I do give lots of credit to my teachers at my school that do sincerely care about what their students learn, and strive to better then industry. I wish you all well, and hope that one day these schools will change for the better.
One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't work more in the real world before going to school. I think that perhaps if I had, this would have been avoided. In some ways, cooking was good life experience for me. I think I learned how to multitask better, how to think more on the fly, and to use critical thinking in a bind to solve problems. I just regret school on the grounds that now I have a debt to pay, and a degree that I'm not doing much with.
If you are really serious about cooking, work in a restaurant for a few years, and see where you go. If you become miserable, time for a change....
So what got me into history and politics?
During the end of my cooking career, I became very curious as to what was going on in the outside world. I felt completely shut off from everything else, slaving over a counter and stove for most of the day. Ironic in a way, because I didn't care about politics at all, till about 2 years ago or so. I have always had a thing for history, as most people who know me well are aware of. However, it was only recently that I got into politics.
I think it's important to know what goes on in the outside world. Events that occur around the world affect everyone. If a hurricane destroys all the oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico, the price of gasoline skyrockets. This means that the price of everything else does too. THAT is a serious problem.
I suppose being an American, and not being too into sports is somewhat of an anomaly. I acknowledge that what athletes do is very impressive, and takes talent, hard work, and dedication. Yet in the grander scheme of things, I think events like what I stated above are far more important than what guy threw a pigskin ball to what guy, or how far a guy ran with the ball.
I started reading about economics for the same reasons as politics. I think people should have some basic understanding of how the economy works, and why things are the way they are.
I would like to return to school soon to study history, politics, and maybe economics.. Of these three interests, I am the most into history A friend of mine and I are thinking about writing a political book real soon, discussing the reasons we believe what we do. In the meantime, I will keep writing on here.
Thank you all for reading! Check back soon for more blogs!
-STK
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