Anthony Bourdain, Marco Pierre White, Michael Ruhlman (as Moderator), The Role of a Chef, 2008

It's good to be here It's good to be around cooks I love cooks I learned to cook and that changed everything in my life and it's not just because it gave me a set of knowledge Writing about it changed the way I think about the world um like people tells you today as we all know as culinary people um we are destroying the earth massively, we are creating huge dead zones in the ocean due to fertilizers, pollution and waste runoff we are growing horrible monocultures of corn, we all know the phrase "don't eat where you eat", we are doing it here on a large scale and we just discovered that we have to take this seriously, the people who first told us this, The people who first made us pay attention were

chef

s, they gave us information , they showed us where to look.

Now I'm going out to talk about what it means to be a

chef

, what it means to be a cook and what it means to be a chef. two iconic chefs

marco

pierre

white

everyone here knows the seminal book

white

heat has never been recreated there was never anything like it before in 1990 while another chef i know was i think he was selling paperbacks in the snow on 95th street broadway To feed his drug addiction, Marco Pieroway had created a vision of the chef that was true to chefs, he showed how passionate and committed a chef could be through those beautiful black and white photographs seven years later, not nine years later , nine years after he cleaned up his act another writer came along another book editor Tony Bourdain and wrote another book about the life of the cook that people accepted is because chefs have something to tell us that is bigger than just the food chefs have something to tell us about the way we should live and that's why I love writing about chefs, so I'm very happy to introduce these two wonderful, foul-mouthed, excellent chefs on this stage to talk about what it means today to be a chef and to be a cooking perhaps most importantly tony

bourdain

and

marco

pure white can you go in the middle?

I think I'm going to stay yes, I'm going to stay yes because I'm going to direct this too um first of all I want to hear from you thank you thank you chef for being here are you not a chef anymore? Tell us what you think it means to be a cook and what it means to be a chef. I think that, first of all, if you are going to be a chef, you have to dedicate your life to your profession it is not something you play with when I was a child I entered the world sorry I said it again when I was a child I entered the world of gastronomy yes , there was no such thing as a famous chef, right, the chefs were acclaimed, the kids came from a certain background, they came from a world that tended to be working class, you entered that world that was the end of your coffee world, right , you join that, you join these two worlds, some people say and you entered that world and you had your uniform your chef he shouted he shouted and you responded you did what he said the first thing they taught you was discipline yes chef to each order you never counted the hours you never looked at your money you were there to learn your craft you were there for the right reason to learn your job to better yourself as a person and that's all I did but you transformed the way people thought about cooks and chefs.

I am a great believer in life. You fight for what you believe in and I wanted to be a great chef and I had certain privileges in my life, those doors that opened had two three Michelin stars on them and those great men gave me opportunities, whether it was Alberto Pierre Kaufman or Montblanc, the rest of them and I got that Breaking Harvey's in 1990 and I met two people, one was a photographer named Bob Carlitzclark who was a great photographer and the other was a man named Ellen Crompton Bat who invented restaurant public relations, so I was in the right time with the right look preparing the right food in the right place people were bored with classicism they wanted something more Bob and I created the book White Heat together Allen promoted it Allen promoted me as an individual and so, for the first time , people made it a vision of the world of cooking those black and white images that Bob created when you think they were in the 80s that book is almost 20 years old and it is still in print today and today I go and sign books and I am amazed at the people arrive with white heat is outdated in many ways, but what it does is inspire through the images that Bob created, it makes people dream and that's all you can give a chef is a dream and it's up to him If you want, follow that dream you will never be able to teach someone to cook you can show them methods you can show them technique but great chefs teach themselves what is then the difference between the chef and the cook you distinguish between the two your position in the kitchen a cook tends Whether you are a child, you are an apprentice, a communist or a party chef, once you reach that higher level you become a chef, what about chefs today who run several restaurants, that is their choice?

You're making a living, we were talking about this before and you said there were three options you had when you decided you were going to move, but that's when you're at that three star level if you're a cook. and you don't have a three star reputation to defend, you can do whatever you want. I think when you have three stars you have a duty to your team, to the establishment, to your customers, if I go to a three star restaurant tonight for dinner, I hope the man whose name is above the door who won the three stars is behind the stove, so if that chef is not in that restaurant, there is something dishonest about that, well, he is living a lie in many ways when I was a cook and worked. 90 hours a week, six days a week I would leave the house in the morning and kiss my kids goodbye.

I would come home at night and kiss them goodnight in their beds. You know, you can only do that for so long. long before it starts to affect you you think they have given me so much I have realized my dream as a cook so one day I was fishing and I thought maybe it was time to retire from the kitchen to retire from the stove and I looked at my options my first option was maintain my position and my status within my industry and not kiss my children goodbye in the morning and a good night kiss when they are in their beds my second option was to live a long lie give up my life Pretend that I cook when I don't cook to question my integrity and everything I worked for.

My third option was to be honest. Mention Michelin. Make an appointment. Give them a date and tell them not to include you in your next guide. You will retire from the kitchen. That's what I did the next day. I was unemployed without status, but for the first time in my life it allowed me to discover myself as a person because the energies I had were entering me as a person and I didn't like my food. I became a happier child. yes I did I wish I had lived a lie no Tony what is a good chef I would like I would like to go back a little bit to describe you know here I was in a kitchen in 1990 I guess when the white heat came out and you know it's easy to argue and we often cater to those of us who were really affected by the white heat and who never ate it at uh at mirabell or at harvey's or any of the uh marco's restaurants, the effect of the book wasn't just those amazing black and white photographs , you know, which were very important for us to analyze the situation in the United States because here, for the first time, there was a chef who looked like us, it wasn't some chubby French guy with a mustache, you know, it was someone who looked a little like us, it was the fact that those photographs were next to these in these beautiful impeccably crafted dishes and recipes that to us sounded and the best we could reproduce them in our own raw way, they were delicious, um, but I think it is what it is useful for people here in the industry to see, I mean, or I guess it's that you know, try to imagine this framework.

I was right if I'm wrong you're the youngest chef to get three Michelin stars the first British chef to get three Michelin stars England we're talking 19 early 90s this was huge and yet he was at the peak of his success and fame . and you know everyone wanted a piece, you know he had the salmon epiphany, you know he has a salmon on the hook and he decides, you know what, I'm going to come back and tell them they can get their stars back and I'm going to go out and do other things as best I can understand that it involves shooting a lot of animals and eating them, but you also made a very early transition that a lot of chefs are making now.

What does chef mean then it just means presumably a cook presumably the one who manages the chef you are the boss meaning you are a cook who can somehow get other cooks to show up on time and do whatever is necessary to execute your recipes? or whatever recipe you've chosen to make in your restaurant, maybe you know after Marco that we've seen the definition start to change, the chef is becoming more and more, the successful chef is becoming more of a CEO than a cook. who works and Marco is saying that they are no longer cooks that these people are living a lie well it's a bet I guess I'll ask the question is that it's a bad thing I mean do we really think it's good?

If you are 52 years old and standing in the kitchen preparing every order for your customers or even standing in your kitchen at 52 years old, is this a reasonable expectation? Do you think your clients should expect that from you? Can you expect that from yourself? It could be a noble car. 52. No free weekend for you talk about kissing your children at night. Nevermind forget. We all know the restaurant business is deadly. Clearly, the playing field has changed. I'm saying you know I was talking to someone I respect a lot earlier and they told me you know I understand that when I go to Jean Georges restaurants, John George is not going to cook my dinner for me, but when I go to the flagship and spend that amount of money, I hope they're there, is it a reasonable expectation or not, I think that's how you as a chef, you know as a successful chef, you manage those expectations.

Keller St. Thomas of Napa, uh, who, who. everything I think I saw as a practical guy a while ago, I think we're all loosening our grip on this unreasonable notion that we, I think we all somehow hoped that Thomas Keller or hoped that Thomas Keller would die behind the stove. and I think that's a cruel and snobbish assumption and I was a little relieved to read in the washington post which I think is where he talks about himself now as a CEO with an obligation to the people who helped him get to where he was as a worker. .

Chef to find their thing to establish their own businesses under this umbrella organization and grow. I don't know if I find anything wrong with that, you know, especially since you know I haven't worked in nine years. So what's your response to Tony about Jean George Thomas Keller, people that everyone respects if you look at the great restaurants in France, Georges Blanc, Michelle Gerard Friday, they didn't exactly cook behind the stove, they fried the meat, but their presence was there. in the kitchen? They were behind their pass, they greeted their customers, they were real restaurateur chefs, it's disappearing and charging high prices, I think it's wrong, I think you have a duty to be there, so, for example, when I was a child, Álvaro was behind the pass at 50 years old. old man appeared to do the pass left after lunch appeared in the evening through the pass left after the last check did not physically cook behind the stove but was behind the stove was behind his pass knew exactly what happened is a good period, i'm interested in what joel robuchon does next, i mean, i don't care if it's a workshop in tokyo or new york or las vegas, i'm interested in what joe robuchon as a spiritual entity that has the allegiance of many talented people emerging in your organization.

I'm interested in what he does. I guess he wanted to get rid of three stars, he retired and then went on to do what he's doing now. which tends to be a one star concept, that's what he does, but even though Joel had three stars, he never left his kitchen, he never left his business, he was there for his punters, okay, he charged accordingly, but he knew everything that would come out if he didn't do it. touch it with your eyes he touched it with his hands his palate his presence makes a big difference the chef's presence in a kitchen is huge it's like looking at the best football club in the world manchester united if alex ferguson wasn't on the touchline every day when they play, would they get the money they get?

No, wouldn't they? His presence on that sideline, driving the troops to make decisions, earns them trophies and the chef's presence is exactly the same in the kitchen. Maintain discipline, but do you want to continue eating that food? You want to eat a three Michelin star meal 14 courses will take you four and a half hours is when you think that if you look at the modern three stars, they control their customers by forcing these 12 courses 15 they call 16 course menus down their throats it's very easy to put a skull on a plate multiplied by four for a table of four very easy if you look at the old world, most people went off the a la carte menu, that's whenYou had to cook when you have a table of six with six different main courses, they dictate to you, you don't dictate to them every time you go to a three star restaurant, today they force you to follow this path of the tasting menu, which one? ?

It's boring secondly you have always been interrupted I want to eat a small scallop no I don't want a plate of scallops I would like two plates I want to get stuck in a fair question then and I don't like lukewarm food I mean how? Do you keep a small skull aside? I don't understand. Alright. Fair question. A three-star restaurant where they tell you how to eat your food for four and a half hours or the cats are a delicatessen. Where are you eating well? First of all, no. you want to eat in the chapel of rest because that's what it is, it's like dining in the chapel of rest and they force you to feel privileged to be there, forget it if you look at the fantastic French restaurants of the 50s 60s 70s 80s as maxims of Paris I know today Grande Gerard's restaurant Bakusi's restaurant are true three-star restaurants I was a child who was inspired by the great three-star restaurants I love all their romance the only thing that has no date within our industry It's romance.

You enter these new modern temples of gastronomy. They are pretty boring in my opinion. I don't understand 15 courses of what, but that's me. What are we receiving? Yes, but. We're all tired of bags of food, you know we've eaten everywhere, we've eaten at a lot of really great places, but you know, eating 15 cousins ​​I'm over it, unless it's sushi, the last great meal of 15 dishes I ate was at a sushi place in Tokyo and I ate, I think 20 dishes in 20 minutes, I understand them all and it was the most amazing dining experience I've had in a long time, but I mean, I went to a restaurant for two years. ago and they gave me two options 18 or 24 courses, that is my choice.

I just flew on a seven hour flight. I'm exhausted so I choose all 18 courses like an idiot. Now I'm sitting there for three and a half hours. Then I thought what am I eating, I forgot and now I am convinced that I have had more than 18 dishes and I said excuse me which course I am in in the D major and he told me that the chef puts in a few extra dishes I said can I figure it out? He said but you haven't eaten pudding yet why do they want four puddings they just want to go home so that's what this style of eating is like do you think it's finished? watch while the public demands it they can have it it's not something you're interested in I'm not interested in that you know I'm not you know who gets into this deal worse than anyone the pastry chef because they have to stay up very late you all have excellent empanada chefs , you know, and all these restaurants we're talking about are amazing, you know world-famous pastry chefs and you know you're reaching for plate 18 halfway through your fourth or fifth plate of meat and you're thinking you're counting plates you're thinking that I'm not going to pass on the cheese and I hope they send all the desserts at once because you know somehow that the fact that I'm not eating won't be noticed, but no one eats it, that's all, you take the obligatory bite and That's it, so what's up?

I mean, where, where, what are we, what are we doing wrong, it's cooking by numbers, isn't it? That's exactly what I do, I paint by numbers. don't cook by numbers and it really confuses me, I mean they show you the menu, they should leave it there for you to look at, you can check it off as you go down, but it's your fault man, nothing to do with me. they wanted to be like you and they wanted to do those nice things and they got a little bit maybe they just got a little too ambitious and but it's about control it's about controlling the punter it's taking them down a path it's one dimensional I should point out By the way, I had a truly extraordinary meal in your tree house in the craziest establishment, the most deliciously crazy establishment, it's basically a pub in the middle of where is it?

It's in the middle of Hamburg, in the middle of Hampshire, wherever it is. apparently marco needed a place to drag, he shoots a lot of animals and needed a place to drag them where they would presumably be cooked and i would watch them come into this place, it's like a country pub, the ceiling is about half our height. bend over, there's a guy behind the stick making pints and the menu is your typical dead animal country menu with bread pudding, bread sauce and traditional British accompaniments done impeccably of course, but the really cool thing is that on the menu there are all these really wonderful classic dishes that only in an alternate universe would belong in this pub in hampshire maxime's dishes and these ascofie era dishes and some of the greatest hits of his career that aren't available basically anywhere else in the world and completely wonderful and and no one is standing there saying you know and the next dish is let me spray the air and then but the bottom line is it's about feeding people it's about eating it's about getting stuck in do I want a waiter to tell me how to eat my food?

I think I need it. He gave me three small pieces of lamb and told me which one to eat first. He told me they were different. They were not different. Believe me. I need to ask you something about the chef's new

role

. that's happened recently, I don't know if you know, but some chefs have TV shows, do you know what the

role

of the chef is and the media and TV shows? Is this television business a worthy goal for young chefs? You started doing shows, you've been doing shows for years, is that a worthy goal for young chefs?

Yeah, no, it's an unworthy business and if someone who goes into the wrestling business hopes to get a TV show, you know, they're walking into a dark place. The route, I mean, I mean the general route to television, you know, went straight to fellatio, I think, but I think, I think neither of us, when we first got into the restaurant business, envisioned a career in television and I'm going. I guess while there may be some people who have gotten into the restaurant business hoping to parlay it into a television career later, it's a pretty bad path to follow, all I can say is that I think the biggest question Important thing is, first of all, I think if you answer briefly, I think if you're going into the business expecting to appear on television or if that's your goal.

I think the most important question is whether you have any responsibility. As a former chef or current chef, once you are lucky enough to know if people are dumb enough to give you a TV show, do you have any responsibility to the citizens of the world? I tend to do reality TV, but what I try to do is put as much reality into the show as possible. I try to give people an idea of ​​the world I come from. It's a vehicle to inspire people to want to cook. cooking I love the way you try to put words in my mouth you are a journalist but I think you have to try and my job is to try to inspire people to want to cook have an adventure with food to improve their quality of life I think that's it the really important thing you mentioned you mentioned that a couple of times inspiring inspiration I think it's very important because I can't teach anyone how to cook, people teach themselves how to cook, it's something that comes from within them, since I always I have said that great chefs have three things in common: the first thing they have in common is that they accept the respect that mother nature is the true artist, they are the cooks, secondly, everything they do becomes an extension of them as a person and thirdly they give you a view of the world that they came from, the world that inspired them and they show it on their plate and that's what great chefs really do and if I sit down and talk to them many cooks, they told me their story and I listened to their philosophy and then I ate their food.

It's so crazy that many cooks simply cook for the wrong reason. They enter the industry to be stars, to be celebrities, to appear on television. My advice would be to anyone who wants to be a chef as a profession. It's coming in, keeping your head down, doing your job, learning your craft, like Fernando said, perfection is a lot of little things done well and that's what it is, and when I take the people around me, all I try to do is do is give them a great understanding, all I try to do is inspire them to bring something of themselves and if we think back, my favorite cook was my mother and all the great cooks, if you look at their palettes, many of them They go back to your childhood and what you have to do. is to give to people, you have to inspire them, you have to make them take advantage of all the romance of gastronomy because food is very romantic, it is very special, but you are talking to a young chef who works in a luxury restaurant in the city of NY. and they work 90 hours a week and they're spinning their wheels all day, they're just, you know, they're kind of stuck.

First of all, when I started, that's exactly what I did. Was it number one for me? I became incredibly disciplined, incredibly patient, incredibly fast at what I did because the faster you work, the more you learn. Plus, when you're doing all those hours, you don't question it when you're doing all those hours. jobs you are learning knife skills you are absorbing your environment the people around you share their knowledge you learn more with your eyes than anything else tony you are known for your perfectionism in the kitchen right no um I think I think for for the cook you're talking about , who is stirring potatoes in a basement in a busy restaurant, almost everyone you see on TV is a complete stranger, uh, it doesn't really have any relation to them, you know, they're in the real world. where they're going to learn, like I said, from the people around them, in a real world situation, by watching someone on TV at this point in the game, which means they're already in business, they're already turning potatoes. a TV chef has no reality to them, they're not stupid, they get it, you know, okay, hey, Wolfgang Puck used to be a really important big chef, but the guy on TV now has no bearing on my life. and there's no relevance to my life other than you know, hey, maybe when I'm 50 it would be a good job for me, the best you could hope for, the best role model you could have on American food television, I think it's julia girl you know she changed the world uh you know when I talk about a responsibility you have some responsibility as a note I said former chef on television you know if you are on television as an entertainer you have no responsibility to anyone other than presumably being reasonably entertaining, but I think so you're a former chef, I owe it to the people you work with, I think you shouldn't be completely stupid and I think that's what you know, I think that's why You know, looking back, how and the further we get in food television, Julia looks better, she changed the world, her cookbook was on every refrigerator, uh, always, she didn't endorse anything, you know, she could have been for Martha Stewart of her time she easily had a gigantic multimedia empire , you know, she didn't, the recipes still work and you watched, you watched that show and you thought, well, you know, maybe that's okay, I don't know how to do that, but she can do it. and it's a little bit of extra work, but she made me want to do it, she raised expectations, she, like Marco said, inspires people and changed the whole game for cooks across the board and also made and also along the way, already You know, he made television. people cooking is a viable concern, so what's your point?

My point is you know, put it as ideal and someone who says you don't really know, all you have to do is open a can of cheese and a box of crackers. and okay, I don't think it's okay, okay, I think I think there is some good, there is some good for the world, uh, food television and there is, uh, there is food television that is clearly bad for the world, These are stupid things, lie, look every time your presenter says. man, that's really good and it's clearly, uh, bad food, television, uh, whenever someone tells you that what is clearly shit, it's okay to feed your kids let alone yourself, then then it's Bad food, TV, you know, like any other TV, I guess.

You always have the option to change the channel, so again and again, to be honest, I imagine you would agree with Tony on those points. I think you have to inspire, but that's what you can do through a television: inspire people. You can't teach people how to cook, the first thing you do is inspire them to buy the right products and then by what you do with them you inspire them and give them the confidence to want to try it, and that's what it's all about. a strange way to hold their hands, come on, try it, because cooking is really confidence as a child.

I remember Al beru when I first went to La Garrosh. He was the only English guy in the kitchen. He was 19 in 1981 and I was the communist at the fountain with a boy named Claude and Albert called me at theservice after service to his office I'm sorry, Marco said, he said you can cook as good as anyone, he says don't be afraid. the stove was absolutely right I was intimidated by a three star stove it changed my life I came back the next day and attacked the stove you have to attack the stove you have to have that inner confidence and that belief that you can do it and if you mess up who cares It matters because by messing things up you acquire great knowledge, try again, as I always say, I think this is the most important thing I would say to a young chef, cooking is a philosophy, it is not a recipe unless you are pastry and then you turns into chemistry, does this mean you're done?

I thought you'd have enough of me. I want to ask one more thing, hey chef, what are you doing now? Who are you now? What are you doing? Yeah, I'm just Marco, I'm myself, it's a 24 hour job, I mean, really trust me, okay, we should open it up to questions or be ready for questions. Would you like some questions quickly because there are probably some quick people who would especially like the last question? We are very lucky that Mark appears white here. I'm Donna Pernomo from Yono's restaurant in Albany, New York, and I just wanted to say to Tony, "For two different reasons, your segments, one on Beirut and one on Indonesia, are our favorites and just a few comments from you about filming those um wow, one was really, you know, one of the happiest experiences of my life and the other one was uh uh heartbreaking um, the reason it was so powerful was because it was honest, we weren't getting we weren't hearing from anyone. more, this was a real show about what really happened and some of you experienced it.

The best thing about doing the show is that I can do things, I mean, I can do things that I can live my dreams sometimes those dreams end, you know. , turning into nightmares, you know, certainly, you know, I was heartbroken in Beirut seeing this wonderful place hit 20 years ago, I can see places like Indonesia that are indescribably beautiful, um, uh You know I can hang out with my. heroes uh you know shoot Bambi um but you know, I think you know it when you see it, you know I have the perfect job, I mean the best job in the world.

I go anywhere I want and I'll pretty much do whatever I want as long as I'm doing television, but I guess every once in a while you stumble into a real world where you know you understand the rules that most people in the world live by, which is that bad people can come at night and take you away that bombs can fall from the sky and kill you that there isn't enough food that um you know dinner could last four and a half hours and have 24 courses like that okay, we have another question up here um hello My question is for Marco.

He was wondering if he could tell me an example of a chef who is now working in the classic Michelin sense that he referred to as opposed to the more progressive multi-digestion courses that he sees. Is there anyone doing that now in France? in in europe i'm from west palm beach florida anyone you're looking for an example for marco of a french chef working now in a multi start operation doing a multi course degree test oh so uh oh how old school the guys that are about there doing it right wouldn't necessarily be old school, but who does it in who cooks and runs his restaurant the way he admires versus what he said he has a problem, yeah, yeah, I can hear you, I'm sorry.

It's just that if you watch someone like Ellen passar in Paris, he's behind his stove, he's an almost 60-year-old man, that's a great example. If you watch someone like, um, he's behind his stove doing it every day, I'm not saying be in the sauce section he is behind the road he runs his restaurant boyer michelle gerald is still there making it bakus who is 77 years old he is still in his restaurant every day it is a way of life for them and they are the chefs I really admire and they have earned their three stars they have stayed loyal to what they worked hard for and they still work hard to retain it because it is a way of life for them it is an extension of them as a person i want to eat at ellen's restaurant at home well, He has so many of them, but he is never there, just another restaurant, isn't that heartless?

When you walk into a great three-star restaurant run by a great three-star chef and his wife, you know they are in the house, you feel his presence. I didn't hear the first part of the question, you said what three star restaurant or chef is 25 or 30 years old and not someone who is 70. Well, first of all, there is no three star chef who is 25 and 30. I had 33 and I'm still the youngest, hello, Wayne Edwards, of the food people. I would like to ask Marco. Who does he admire? Who's cooking at the moment, especially in the UK? If I'm looking to go to dinner in Michigan.

Tonight in the UK I would mainly go to see the man I can't sit down to see my old friend Raymond Blong. He's still there in his business behind his stove, inspiring his troops 30 years later. In many ways, he is the last of the old world. I have a question. I'm Norman Van Aiken and I've been cooking since 1971. By the way, Charlie Trotter gave me white heat in 1990 and I immediately admired the book. The world has changed since you. and I started in the kitchens and my question is this, what do you think of these guys on TV who yell and throw and decide that the lesson for chefs is to get up in their face and throw at them and you know, light their apron on fire? on fire what do you think about that we're talking about gordon ramsay talking about someone he does a pale imitation of you I love this man you're a funny guy the world has changed since 71 78 when I got into kitchens how do I think if you're a chef and you get into television you have a duty to your industry you have been given a stage to express yourself and show off and the last thing you should do in my opinion is belittle the people you are there to inspire that is anything but chef, you were famous for making people do cry people I was going to add to that that Gordon Ramsay was made to cry, it was his choice.

Oh, do we have another question here? I saw someone raise their hand. Okay, hello, my name is Brian. I'm a chef and I'm from New York. I now live in Boston. The greatest respect to you three, chefs, as authors and also as cooks. One question I have is basically where you guys didn't find the kitchen going now. talking talking talking about food where have you been is it your day old school going to new school uh chemicals everything everything there uh why don't we move? What do we all answer to the question? I mean for me, what I'm noticing among my chef friends. and what I want more and more, I'm becoming more and more what I want, I just want to get straight to the good stuff, okay, I want proper sauce.

I never want to feel bad about wiping the bottom of my plate with a crust of bread, um. At this point in my life, I know what is good. I think and want that and I wanted to spend more and more. I want to do without nonsense and artistic vision. That doesn't mean I'm not amazed. I mean going per se, for example, and seeing that level of technique and that kind of vision all together in one environment, it's not a wonderful thing, but more and more I want really good high proof sushi, um, and I want to eat it or if they give me my tasting menu I want it on a counter I don't want to wear a tie I don't want to behave well with my waiter I just want to be fed in a casual situation I don't want I want to feel comfortable uh that's that's that's becoming more and more More important to me, what are you?

What are you looking for? Personally, I believe that the most important aspect of any restaurant is the environment in which you sit down to dine. I can go to a restaurant tonight and if I don't like that environment, no matter how good the food they give me is, I don't want to eat it, I don't want to be there, so I'm very sensitive. my environment and what I want is a plate every night of something that is very well cooked and delicious if I want a steak I want a great steak cooked medium rare the way I like it within the environment I want to sit in if I want a piece of fish it I want bone-in cooked deliciously a little olive oil a little lemon a little crystal of salt salad on the side that's me a great plate of pasta a good risotto

michael

simple things like Tony said it's a good rule in writing Too The best rule for writing is to eliminate the boring parts and that's how you would like to cook simple food.

I love that America is embracing fat. That we are adopting pork belly. It's a great sign. It's a hope. firm, so I think we have nothing but good times ahead, uh, in our food world, let me ask you a question, the next big ingredient, what do you think? or spectrum of ingredients. I guess cartilage. I think you know we were fat. So last week I think we're moving into skin and cartilage. I'll do it as our, you know, the future Chinese is fluent in Chinese and I think that's a good sign, is that you? Boston guy's follow-up question.

Does he think you're spoiled because you've eaten all the 18 course meals, but yeah, but a lot of other people who haven't, when they go, really enjoy them? I enjoy a long multi-course meal. Still, I love the great service. I love the really elegant and easy service that makes me feel comfortable. So yeah, once a year or twice a year, I can do something like that for a long time if the kitchen really cares after your meal. Alright? I mean, it is. There's something wrong with food if you collapse into a bloated gas bag like a bloated farting gas bag, moaning in bed praying to God that you don't throw up your twelve hundred dollars worth of food, well, the problem is that you do.

You know why you feel like you wasted it. You're right? I'm spoiled and tired, but is there anything? Yes, I think it's okay. I think he's fundamentally wrong about that. It's selfish of the chef to do what he wants to impress you. You walk into a restaurant they want to impress. You, Mark, will appear white. They're going to do it, like I told you before, the most poisonous sauce in a kitchen is a chef's ego and I said, and when you told me that, it's very interesting and very good, you were famous too. Because I have an extraordinary ego, it's true that I never gave 18 dishes to anyone.

Hello, I'm Marcelo from the big island of Hawaii and my question is you three, what do you think of the new trend of clandestine meals at the moment, Tony knows a lot about that, have you? made programs in the sense that you've eaten a lot, you should probably take that, I think the more places for cooks to stretch out and the more places for people to eat, I think it's a good thing, I think it's a positive trend, no I know what it's going to be, I don't think it's the next big thing, I think it's a basically elitist construct, I think all the bad things people say about it are right, but overall, uh you know, I like them, I think it's a good place for cooks to do things in restaurants, or do things in an environment that, or do things that they can't do in a restaurant somewhere else, in particular, I think they're really valuable when you're talking about illegal ingredients when you're talking about of smuggled cheeses and stuff, so I think it's the best thing I've ever had these things in the underground of England like some kind of floating card game that you find in an apartment or in a warehouse or you know borderline parties and we're too conservative in England yes, hi, I'm Chris, I'm graduating from the CIA in two weeks and I wanted to ask you what your opinion was.

Obviously, I think in your time food is more about elevation. kitchen, while I'm starting out as a chef or sorry, starting out as a cook, which is a culture that makes things with nice crackers and Campbell's soup broth. What do you think is the responsibility of the young chef in terms of recovering fundamental culinary techniques? just for middle America and people in general, aside from convenience, I think it's vital, I think everyone should have an obligation, as a sentient human being, to be able to roast a chicken and be able to cut an onion. I think there is a basis, I think it is a worthwhile aspiration that every child, every human being, be taught how to feed themselves and perhaps some others, if possible, as best they can.

I mean, should we cook? Should we know how? cooking like humans, I think so, oh, I absolutely believe it, it is a fundamental act, it is a fundamental act of our humanity, if we ignore it, we ignore being human and connecting with other humans, cooking for and with and dining with family and friends. It's a In fact, it's one of the most important things we do and if we don't know how to do it, we're losing a lot, maybe I think this group has been sitting still for a long time, maybe as one more question, just one. more up here who was raising their hand my name is miles quinn i'm from new york city i work in bern den and i would like to know some advice for young cooks wait a minute you work at liberno what can i tell you no, no, It is a great restaurant for young chefs.

Arrive on time. That's the best, the best advice I've ever heard. The best I could give. Arrive on time every day. It says a lot about you. I think most chefs feel that I'm goingguess most chefs feel like I can, you know they can teach you how to cook, they can't teach you character, you know, you're the kind of person worth spending time on, you don't have to teach skills to be on time. . that you are a serious person, it sounds, I am a joker, but honestly, that's all, arrive on time frame, you said a lot of wonderful things about two and four young cooks, what are your last words, I tell this young man to continue allowing his mother to guide you ladies and gentlemen cook chefs food people thank you very much marco for being here thank you tony