our chef 333

Culinary shows such as Top Chef attract millions of viewers. Audiences eagerly tune in weekly to watch famous chefs in impeccable attire offer their advice or criticism of a variety of dishes. The success of these shows can be long-lasting. The Netflix the documentary series Chef’s Table has been running since 2015. It features virtuoso chefs from around the world who would appear to have no end of stories and elaborate recipes. Today, chefs seem to have achieved a rock-star status that their yesteryear peers could barely have imagined. However, the road to such professional admiration has been long and arduous. Dirt, heat, charcoal and alcoholism From the opening of the first restaurants around 1860 until the first half of the 20th century, becoming a chef was not an attractive profession. The first reason was that they worked in dark and toxic environments. Indeed, kitchens were often located in basements, and the steam that filled them seemed to come from the mouths of hell. These places had virtually no ventilation, no light and were always overheated. Poultry feathers littered the filthy floor, which was also dripping with animal blood and dirty dishwater. In addition, the use of coal for cooking in these confined spaces regularly caused the premature death of many of the people who worked there. Inhaling large quantities of toxic carbon dioxide fumes for several hours a day led to kidney failure, lung disease and other illnesses that significantly reduced life expectancy. As the famous chef Antonin Carême (1783-1833), who died quite young, said: “It’s the charcoal that kills us but what does it matter?”