Why I chef.

I had been a passionate home cook for several years when, while still at university, I was lucky to experience a classic case of a KP-to-chef development. I started working part-time washing dishes in a local restaurant/bakery. I got promoted to a chef role when, due to staff shortage, I was able to help out doing food service and they saw my skills and willingness to learn and help. I was working two to three shifts a week whilst still doing my course. The hours were good, and I enjoyed earning some money doing something that I love, improving my skills, and getting my first insights into the restaurant world.

As my university degree was drawing to a close, I found myself completely lost about what I wanted to do next. I still loved all the cooking and baking I was doing in my life, and so I decided to send in my CV to one of my favourite restaurants in the city I lived in. It was a spontaneous move stemming out of the procrastination to write my dissertation, and I was sure that I was not going to hear any more about it. That same night I received a reply from the head chef inviting me for a trial shift. A few days later I staggered out of the restaurant, absolutely dumbstruck by the fact that I had just been offered a full-time chef position in a Michelin guide restaurant.

After a tough first couple of weeks where I was constantly nervous and took every comment of criticism as a proof that I was not meant to be there, I started to get more comfortable; I enjoyed the connection and comradeship with the team which is inevitable when you spend up to fifty hours each week in a small, sometimes swelteringly hot kitchen together, working away to get the prep done, battling your way through inexhaustible checks, and tiredly scrubbing the kitchen each and every night. I enjoyed the heightened adrenaline and focus I experienced during a busy service, allowing me to see what my body and mind is capable of under pressure. I enjoyed sweating away throughout the day, feeling physically exhausted by the end of it, and the soreness I would feel in my arms, hands, legs, and feet at the end of the week, knowing each night - no matter how bad the shift might have gone - I had achieved something that day. The feeling waking up on the Sunday after a long week, sore and tired perhaps, but utterly and completely satisfied and proud of what I had achieved, is hard to beat.

I enjoyed seeing my skills improve and finding myself become a more confident and capable chef; I learned new techniques and dishes and was able to apply them in my cooking; I became faster, more consistent, I was able to adapt and learn more quickly, take responsibility and make decisions, I was entrusted to train up new staff and taught to take on more sections. I also enjoyed seeing my physical strength develop, being able to lift heavier things, and I took particular pride in the little bit off hard skin that had developed on my right index finger where it is in constant contact with my knife whenever I'm chopping, slicing, and dicing.

I enjoy the connection with other hospitality staff, even beyond the restaurant you work at. There is an immediate warmth when you find another chef in the wild or as a customer in another restaurant. You may notice the extra emphasis of appreciation when a customer comes up to thank the kitchen team, where you can tell: they, too, are in hospitality. They get it.

I take a lot of pride in being a chef, and being a female chef on top of that. When people ask me what I do, I get a lot of satisfaction from the “I’m a chef” line, and the usual impressed nods I get as a response. Being a chef has been credited with a cult status in recent decades, thanks to various stories and popular chef personas depicted in books, cooking shows, chef documentaries and TV series. People recognise the hard work, craft, and passion that goes into the job, and perhaps appreciate the straightforwardness and tangibility of the role. No cryptic job title, no arduous description trying to explain what you do day to day, or what the purpose of the position is. You’re a chef. You cook. You feed people. And ideally, you do it well.

And fundamentally, that is what I love about it all. I cook. I work with food and make food. I learn to cook different dishes, cuisines, techniques, and stories which I then get to share with fellow cooks, customers, friends and family. It can be challenging, but really, it’s fun, exciting, nostalgic perhaps, eye-opening and inspiring. Admittedly, it is not the most lucrative career, the hours can make your social life more difficult, and it is physically demanding. I am well aware of this, and who knows, I may well hang up my apron for good in a couple of years. But I also know that there are few things I take as much pride in as I do in cheffing. The past year of cheffing full-time has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life and I am sure that the job still holds many more great experiences for me.

And so for now, I chef.