How Celebrity Chefs are Ruining the Culinary Industry
Susan Sampson, Food Editor for "The Star" (a magazine published in Toronto, Canada) has become well known for her controversial news articles pertaining to the downward spiral of knowledge in the field of culinary arts. In her article Recipes for Dummies, she discusses on how many people are inexperienced and are actually afraid of cooking. This lack of knowledge can be problematic in numerous ways. For example, side effects of this ignorance are; poorly cooked meals at home, the dumbing down of creativity and knowledge, the development of a fear in cooking, (generally) negatively influencing the culinary field as a whole, and actually has a lot to do with obesity as well.
According to Susan, the evolution of cookbooks and their now user friendly approach to cooking is playing a big role in how consumers are reacting to the culinary world. Many consumers begin testing the waters with simple recipes, watching the food network, and then try fiddling around with some techniques. However, when they decide they have had enough of the simple steps they want to try and walk on their own two feet and try some trickier recipes. All of a sudden, they hit a brick wall head on. They see confusing words like julienne and saut, and this scares them away. No longer are they looking at simple words like "cut in to matchstick strips" or "cook in a little bit of oil, stirring occasionally". They are afraid to try new things, they miss the safety of their comfortable bed of ignorance and simplicity. This new found cooking phobia also keeps the consumer from experimenting. Many people consider cooking to be an exact science, and that is true to a certain extent.
One thing that many young/beginning chefs have in common is their love for experimenting, trying out new flavors and textures. However, because the consumer cannot understand this "passion" they do not get to experience the true fun that is supposed to be involved in cooking. So never again will they try to make a Quiche Lorraine, a vegetable medley with a tempura style batter, or a Sole Francese. Instead it will be Hot Dogs, Mac and Cheese, Sheppard's Pie, or McDonalds. "Back in the fifties and sixties," Susan observes "we as Americans did not have this problem of not being able to cook". However due to the innovation brought about by fast food service and microwave TV dinners, convenience has taken its place over taste and hard work. Since there is normally no one home to cook dinner these days, many people will just go out to eat. This is where the obesity factor comes in as well. By going out to eat you get large portions of what is usually extremely unhealthy food and since many families are working all the time they have to go out because cooking dinner is just too hard and too time consuming.
This affects the culinary field in many ways; one of the main ways is what many people consider to be good and or wholesome food. To many consumers, a good meal comes in a fry box with a yellow letter M on it. So now when people see in one hand; a baked chicken stuffed with spinach, cheese, mushrooms, onions, celery, and numerous other herbs (a true work of craftsmanship) and in the other hand a Big-Mac they would rather pass on the chicken and take stake in the two all beef patties doused in special sauce all topped with a sesame seed bun. This is deplorable, cooking is an art, a true honed skill. And like with everything else Americans want to be able to pick up a knife and a spatula and have immediate results. Because of this many concepts developed in the culinary field are changing to suit the average consumer, not the trained professional. Throughout the article Susan mentions how writers of recipes always have to change their writing style and their wording to match what the general populous will understand and comprehend. For example, a few things writers add to recipes include;
It explains when to stir, whether it should be done frequently or constantly, and what size bowl or pan to do it in.
It explains when to use a mixer, but it also says what type (hand or stand), the speed and the time.
It frequently measures by weight and volume.
It doesn't say "until done." It give times and visual clues: until browned, tender, with char marks, top springs back, flakes with fork, thermometer reads _____ ...
One might ask, "How is this changing the Culinary Arts field"? Understandably it makes sense that "innovations" that is making things simpler and easy to read like this could only improve the field. However, many people forget it is called Culinary Arts because it is an Art. It takes a lot more than a simplified recipe to turn someone in to a chef. However, now that more and more people are catching on to the fad of simplistic cookery it is influencing how chefs create their dishes and menus to compliment the tastes the general population.
The article unfortunately does not address another concern that is affecting true Culinarians worldwide, Celebrity Chefs. Through the production of shows like "30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray", the Food Network has gathered a huge audience of stay at home moms and interested teens everywhere. And this has helped our industry in numerous ways. Many people are now aspiring to be chefs and many accomplished chefs are able to make millions of dollars by selling themselves to become hosts to one of 28 shows run on the Food Network. But what many of the chefs do not realize is that they are selling more than themselves, they are selling their beliefs in the Culinary Art. For all the good the Food Network has done for our industry they have done equal or worse damage to the industry as well. These chefs try to make cooking a fun and enjoyable career and the audience perceives it that way. Thus influencing many of its viewers to actually go in to the field, quite possibly to school first, extremely unprepared. It isn't an easy life being a chef, 80 hour weeks; barely any time to spend with friends or family, working holidays and weekends, it definitely is not as easy as making a 30 minute meal then going home. However this is the kind of mentality many young chefs have today is that they can be lazy and procrastinate but still succeed in the end.
It seems that there is not much hope in training humanity the proper way to blanch green beans or to render bacon or shallow fry potato cakes. Through this article I have noticed that this is an inevitable downward curve that many other Arts seem to follow. For example, Modern art is the downfall from pieces from the renaissance and maybe culinary arts is to follow the same suit. However, it is entirely possible that we are already there. Could where we are right now be the bottom of the endless pit where culinary arts no longer have any creativity or originality? Is this where every plate Sheppard's Pie all across the nation tastes exactly the same with no variation or personal touch? It's a depressive idea that something as pertinent as cooking had reached its apex 60 years ago and since has been spiraling downward. However, classic techniques and processes are still being taught to a select few who desire something more than two all beef patties and it is through them that classical cooking will live on.