The Reach of A Chef (2/5)
by Michael Ruhlman
I’ve heard about Ruhlman many times from trusted sources so I was rather disappointed about this book which is so full of name dropping I was drowning.
I get it: chefs have it hard. Chefs are tough. But if I hear one more time about how chefs must "be unusually driven just to stay alive", I’m going to use this book as fuel to cook marshmallow! The whole behind-the-kitchen stories was interesting when Bourdain came out of the closet. It was touching to read how tough Achatz had it. But I think I’ve had enough of the life story of celebrity chefs. In my view, chefs are part creative artists but eventually, they have to turn raw ingredients into something edible. Preferably edible and beautiful and unusual.
Chefs nowadays move so far away from the kitchen into bookstores and TV studios it’s unsavoury. They’re out there to create brand and image so that they can swindle star-struck people who want a piece of the action in their own kitchens. Or people like me who like to read about food. The book starts with Ruhlman’s reminiscence of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, by the way). He became famous when he entered the CIA to do a reporting. He discovered his vocation there and has been writing about chefs ever since. Further in the book, he moves on to discuss the different varieties of chefs: the edgy one like Achatz, the revered one like Keller, the fame-grabbing ones like Lagasse and (Rachel) Ray and so on.
The topics are quite interesting but they circumvent the most obvious aim of these celebrity chefs’ hard work: to make money. The book is infuriating because Ruhlman continues emphasizing on how chefs are the most creative, hardworking, genius, dedicated professionals on earth to mask the crude message that they’re all out there for the money. After a few repetitions, the message gets as limp as overdressed lettuce. Nauseating to swallow, too.
It’s my mistake to start with the latest in the series and I haven’t read the first one, The Making of a Chef which catapulted him into fame. Maybe if I read this one first, I’d have a different view. I’ll search for that book in the library.
For more, please see the review at NYT.
