"René Redzepi is beginning to understand what his employees already knew: the business model that allows the world's top restaurants to thrive has never been sustainable." Stating this is a young cook, who stepped away from fine dining kitchens due to a psychosomatic illness.
The story
Geneviève Yam's story resembles that of many young people, seduced and disappointed by the magic of fine dining. The first-person account is in the pages of Bon Appetit, where the now former cook reflects on her life experiences. "In the kitchen, I was driven by a sense of urgency to accomplish the tasks diligently listed on my preparation list, rushing to finish the line each day before service. And the stakes were high: each and every element had to be executed smoothly and to perfection, in fear of serving a poorly garnished macaron or a runny cream to a food critic or a customer paying hundreds of dollars for the meal."
Geneviève Yam- photo from the website of the former chef, now writer
"It was intoxicating but also exhausting; every day I would ride the roller coaster of service, hoping not to fall behind when the orders arrived. As a young professional, I thought I was living my dream. Dinner cost the customer $450, and cooks like me spent seventy hours a week cleaning herbs, drying purees, slowly cooking jus to release magic. Every day I had the chance to learn something new from the chefs I admired, and every day I felt lucky because I worked in such prestigious establishments. For all this, I was paid $15 an hour (the equivalent of about 14 euros, ed.)."
The decision to move on came before the pandemic shock, in late 2019, after a fibromyalgia diagnosis, a painful psychosomatic condition. "As desperately as I tried to continue working in the kitchen, it was becoming glaringly obvious that it simply wasn't feasible. Even for people who are perfectly healthy, top restaurants can be extraordinarily hard places to work at. The long hours and high pressure were too much for my nerves. The doctor told me that no medicine would ease my pain if I continued to live in such a stressful condition. I interpreted his words between the lines: my body was killing itself, all over tiny details, like finishing a parfait with just the right amount of foam, which did not have any meaning."
@Geneviève Yam
Today, however, Geneviève notes with relief, those exploitative factories, no matter how glitzy, are going out of style. "As a customer and former restaurant worker, I no longer wish to visit the restaurants I used to so enthusiastically put on the pedestal. The Noma's of the world are closing, and that is a good thing. Because if restaurants cannot find a business model where they pay and treat their staff fairly, they simply must not exist."
Cover photo for representational purposes - @Adobe Stock
Source: bonappetit.com
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