Inside The Pressure Cooker

**Make sure to listen through to the end for a special announcement!!!***The Clash said it best... "Should I stay or should I go now?If I go, there will be troubleAnd if I stay it will be double"Thats pretty much the internal fight you will be having when you hit these crossroads. The only right answer is the one that you choose that makes sense for you. Other people's opinions should not have any influence on your decision... its yours to make and own, no one else.Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comCheck out my other projectsChef Made Home - For the home cookRoasted Bean Freak - For all things coffee!

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Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.com

Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Find ITPC hereInstagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelley (I'm rarely on twitter now)Patreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.com

Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

So I'm not going to post Show Notes on here anymore. I'm not sure they have been beneficial to you, the listener. If you disagree please let me know and I will bring them back. Otherwise here are some links you can follow me at:Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

For the longest time the chef in a restaurant was a guy in the back that was hidden from the public eye. Then the food network came along and the chef became a celebrity. Now for some reason the chef is a public enemy because we suddenly created a toxic work environment?I don't think so. Thats pretty fucked up to be honest. On behalf of the Chef's out there getting beat up over this... please stop. Chefs are very much driven by our passion to make people happy. What set me off in the past was dealing with people that treated the restaurant as nothing more than an ATM. This is my, our, life. If you want to trash on what I live for then I'm going to rip you up. PERIODSo if you don't care and you just need a paycheck or the tips for the day then go work somewhere that has no soul. You will fit in like you were family.Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

What is a chef? What makes a chef? What is the dichotomy of the rebel blended with the structured life that is required to succeed.Do you really give AF? or are you one of the zombies that just don't want to get yelled at? I urge you to find something you truly care about and get after it. Stop wasting time not caring about what you do, its draining your soul. Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

I'll be straight up with you in this episode. Culinary school is not for everyone, and even if it is the right school may not be near you.DFW Culinary Schools:Collin County Culinary ProgramDallas College Culinary Pastry HospitalityEpisode with Chef Patrick Stark who is currently a Chef Instructor at the Dallas College Culinary Program.Chef Patrick StarkChef Stark also offers programs on his own for those that can cook but need to fine tune their culinary math.Culinary Math Murder MysteryTikTok @culinarymmmysterFacebook @starkravingedutainmentFind Inside The Pressure Cooker HereInstagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean Freak

Experience the journey of Chef Josh Morris and his unconventional path to success as he teaches us to elevate those around us and appreciate life's blessings."Being a chef is about elevating everybody around you. Right. Because they've got to execute your dream, your visions. So the idea is to elevate everybody around you."Josh Morris is a chef from Gainesville, Texas who has been cooking for 20 years. He has an obsessive personality and has been influenced by his wife and Anthony Bourdain to pursue a career in the culinary arts.Josh Morris was always passionate about cooking, but lacked formal direction. Unfazed by the lack of formal training and with a strong puppy-love for the industry, he took it upon himself to learn and grow in the kitchen. He took on restaurant roles and quickly found himself in leadership positions, learning valuable lessons about delegating tasks and elevating those around him. When he had children, though, he found himself having to take things more seriously, as he had to provide for them. He was gifted with children, and subsequently had to adjust his priorities, his decision making process, and even become a student of books. Ultimately, this is how Josh Morris learned about delegating tasks in the kitchen.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How Do You Delegate Responsibilities as a Chef?2. What Are the Challenges of Being an Underprivileged Chef?3. What Are the Pros and Cons of Going to Culinary School?Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Other episodes you'll enjoy:Josh Morris: Balancing a chefs drive with family lifeCheck Out my Other Projects:Chef Made HomeRoasted Bean FreakTranscript:Welcome back, everyone. We're here with Chef Josh Morris. Man, I almost lost it again. There Josh Morris. And we're doing compare. Contrast. Not even that. I'm going to kind of edit that out. All right, let's start this over. All right, everybody, welcome back. We're here with Josh Morris, and we're going to be talking paths. The path I took versus the path he took. Very different paths, but pretty much ended up in the same spot at one point. So not really a but we did. So, Morris, tell me kind of your path a little bit now. The other part to this, though, is we're not going to touch base for everybody listening on his entire kind of history. If you want to know more about Morris, go ahead and take a look at season one, episode one, and there's a full interview with him then kind of a little bit more detailed about who he is, the life of his apparent and chef and all that fun stuff. Morris, your path?Speaker B 00:05:16Yeah.Speaker A 00:05:17I mean, what got you into it then?Speaker B 00:05:21I grew up in Gainesville, Texas. It's a really small town just south of the Oklahoma border. Didn't have a lot of money growing up. Our meals consisted of ground beef, potatoes, cream of mushroom soup for pretty much every meal. There was no interest in food in my entire family, except my great aunt owned a diner on the town square.Speaker A 00:05:56Right on.Speaker B 00:05:57And at one point or another, everybody in my family worked there. But it wasn't like any interest in the restaurant business. It was just a way to make money.Speaker A 00:06:07Sure.Speaker B 00:06:08I even worked there a couple of times. I remember being like, nine or ten years old and standing on a milk crate so that I could reach the plates in the bottom of the three bay.Speaker A 00:06:19Yes.Speaker B 00:06:23That was pretty much the extent of it. We ate a lot of canned vegetables, but both at the grandparents had gardens, so we'd have tomatoes and peppers and onions in the summer. And I was the kind of kid that I didn't hate anything. Most kids like having a don't like broccoli or asparagus or something like that, and I just loved food all the time. It didn't really matter what it was. And I liked going out to restaurants, even though we didn't do it very often. I think because we didn't do it very often, it was much more of an experience. And I can remember as a kid being really excited to go out and meet with my parents, and my kids are most definitely not like that. We're going out to eat again. Why? I've always been a creative person as a kid. I would draw a lot. I got into music fairly early. I was a writer for a while, so I've always had that creative bug. But actually getting into the restaurant business was it was just for money. It didn't really hold any other appeal other than a nice steady paycheck at first. And then as a cook in a town that's kind of, like, known to be a drug town, got to fall into the pitfalls of that lifestyle. Like, a lot of drinking, a lot of drugs, a lot of hard partying, and your ambitions kind of fade when you're living like that. I mean, it's just like the whole point is to get fucked up. I lived that way for, I don't know, from the time I was 17 till I was, like, 20 or 21. When I turned 21, I got into a relationship with a girl that had two small kids. And I didn't get into that with any intention of becoming, like, a father figure, but that's ultimately what happened. It was a very fucked up relationship, to say the least, but she ended up being a really bad person, and she left us. She left me and the kids. So I became a single father for a while, and I was working two cook jobs at the time and taking care of kids by myself. So it was kind of a hard row for a while. But the bug, I guess, was always there for creating stuff. But I worked in restaurants where there was zero creativity. It was all about volume. Right. It wasn't until I started dating my wife now that the idea of becoming a chef really sat in. And the two people that I cannot overstate their influence on my career are my wife, who allowed me to pursue more dreams of becoming a chef, and bourdain. I think a lot of chefs of our generation can chop bourdain quite a bit. So for the first ten years, I say I've been cooking for 20 years. For the first ten years, I cooked things in a microwave. The only skill I really picked up there was how to be fast, how to be efficient, and how to cook a steak with your fingers, which is a great skill to have.Speaker A 00:10:08There's one good takeaway.Speaker B 00:10:10Yeah, for sure.Speaker A 00:10:16Obviously, your wife was I'm assuming she was in the industry when you met her then.Speaker B 00:10:22Yeah, we actually knew each other at that first restaurant. We worked together, but we didn't date for the first ten years that we knew each other.Speaker A 00:10:30Okay.Speaker B 00:10:31Our path just kind of crossed back together later on in life, and things turned out okay after all that bullshit.Speaker A 00:10:42That I went through, what got you into cooking? What is it about her that got you into it? Was she just kind of did you cook at home and were more creative? And she's like, man, you need to drive this further?Speaker B 00:10:58It was certainly that. Yeah, because when I was a single dad and I had two jobs, I would have $50 to last three people groceries for two weeks.Speaker A 00:11:11Fucking impressive. Yeah.Speaker B 00:11:14I did what I had to do, but there's not a lot of creativity to be had when you have to live off the bare minimum. But once I had her second income, and we got a house, and she was a really great cook. And I was just, like, sitting in the kitchen and watch it because I was so impressed by the things that she knew. And she just learned this stuff from watching cooking shows. So I started watching cooking shows, and of course, Bourdain was the big one, even though he didn't cook that much on that show, he resonated with me because he was a rider, too. He was definitely rebellious, but he had this real empathy for other people and certain romanticism about a cook's life.Speaker A 00:12:04Not just a cook's life, but just the food and cultures and just so many things that were so unappreciated in the world. He definitely took us all to places that people were lack of a better term were kind of scared to go.Speaker B 00:12:22Yes. And it was through that kind of channel where I've always been poor and I've never had the chance to travel, or even when I started thinking about becoming a chef, I didn't have the opportunity to go stage in fancy kitchens or anything like that. I really didn't understand the means of how to even go about doing any of those things.Speaker A 00:12:51That makes sense. I mean, yeah, when you're getting into it, like, it takes time to really understand and then comprehend. I know this seemed like the same word, but it's almost two different words because you kind of understand what cooking is and where you're going, and then there's that next level when you're talking about going and stagging at places, and it's like, wait, what? Then there's the concept of people like, I have to do this. And you're like, no, you don't have to. Right. But it definitely helps with experience for those resume builders out there. It is.Speaker B 00:13:39But I've always kind of had an obsessive personality. Like, whatever I'm into, I'm 100% fully into it. So when I started thinking about food and becoming a chef, I would have dinner parties at my house, trying new things. I would get books from the library, just, like, stacks and stacks of them. And I think because of Bourdain, like, the travel shows, I really started to lean into flavors and cultures that I wasn't familiar with. So big, bold flavors really appealed to me at first. Korean food, Caribbean, African, all these ingredients and flavors that I didn't understand. And when I finally did become a soup chef and had input on a menu, even though it didn't really fit with where I was, those were the things that I would push. And that w

Chad Kelley, a former teddy bear-turned-grillmaster, navigates the high-stakes, high-pressure culinary world as he strives to build his own beer-centric restaurant, learning the hard way how to balance intensity and professionalism."I found something here. There's something. And I was like, I should probably follow this up with a more bachelor's based degree, because I also found that I was very good at not just the cooking side of things, but the financial side of things as well. As most people are a lot of chefs out there are great chefs, great cooks. But when it comes to managing numbers and all that stuff, they know fucking nothing." - Chad KelleyChad Kelley is a chef from Southern California who has worked in seafood restaurants in Dallas, San Francisco, and Indianapolis. He has worked his way up from line cook to executive sous chef and has experience in both the cooking and financial sides of the business.Chad Kelley was born and raised in Southern California but didn't take school seriously, instead preferring to work and have fun. When his cousin suggested culinary school, Chad realized it was something he could excel in and found himself in San Francisco at the California Culinary Academy. After bouncing around to different jobs in the kitchen, Chad found himself back in Southern California where he worked for a real housewives of the OC restaurant. He then moved to Indianapolis and later Dallas, where he became the youngest executive chef in the company. While in Dallas, Chad took charge and didn't take any nonsense from his cooks, and eventually he opened a beer centric restaurant with 100 taps, proving his success in the culinary world.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. How did Chad go from a high school student working at In-N-Out Burger to becoming a successful chef?2. What is it like to work in a high-volume kitchen and how to handle the high pressure?3. How did Chad transition from working in the kitchen to becoming the executive chef of a beer-centric restaurant?Check Out my Other Projects:Chef Made Home @InstagramRoasted Bean Freak @FacebookOther episodes you'll enjoy:Ariel Guivi, Part 1: What is a Chef?Patrick Stark: The Untouchable EgosJosh Morris: Balancing a chefs drive with family lifeMore Links for YouInstagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.TransciptAnd welcome back to season two. And so today we're going to be talking really more about my background, my history, and how I how I grew. Originally, I was going to break this up into the interview where we are going to be looking at both Morris and I kind of at the same time as we grew, where our backgrounds, where we came from, and how we ended up at the same restaurant. But the more I kind of listened and started looking at these things, it was like, man, it doesn't make sense. So we're going to go ahead and drop these episodes separately just to make sure we can do each its own justice without just editing the shit out of it and turning it into something it's not. You guys listen to this because it's more raw, and creating something super edited is not something that I want to do or something I think you want to listen to.Speaker B 00:01:15All right, welcome back. We're here with Josh Morris and today's session, if you will, episodes. Morris is going to grill me.Speaker C 00:01:32It's not really a grilling. We'll compare and contrast our paths as chefs, I think.Speaker B 00:01:40Okay, that works. Compare and contrast. Yeah. The different perspectives. I mean, we kind of talked a little bit about that last week, where it was definitely much more old school in a lot of ways. It served me well for a long time. It got me into plenty of trouble as well, especially as my career progressed. And there were more and more bitches coming into the kitchen. When I say that, I'm not talking about the females. They were much stronger. I will tell you. We're 100% I would rather have an all female kitchen than some of the all male kitchens I've had is less drama. I mean, they were there to fucking work, and they were kicked ass. Some of the guys are just fucking little dramatic assholes. They were my bitches. They were the dramatic bitches. So I need to clear that up before I got in fucking trouble on that one. So the Morris, take it away.Speaker C 00:02:45Well, we've known each other for six years or so, maybe seven, somewhere in there.Speaker B 00:02:54Okay, sounds about right.Speaker C 00:02:57I know that you grew up in Southern California, and I know that you worked in Dallas at mostly seafood restaurants. Everything else about your career is a fucking mystery to me, and I know you personally, so let's dive into that a little bit. Where did you come from and how did you get here?Speaker B 00:03:18Where did I come from? I came from the shadows. Yeah. Having my voice a little jacked up, that worked pretty well there. So I came from Southern California. Born and raised southern California. Orange county. And no, I didn't surf. No, I didn't skateboard. I did spend plenty of time on the beach. I would frequently ditch high school and go hang out at the beach. And that's something that was possible there, because in high schools, a lot of high schools back then were open campuses. You can drive on, drive off whenever you want. So it was good and bad. And I was working for in and out at the time, and I was enjoying working a whole lot more than I was enjoying going to school. School was always busy work for me.Speaker C 00:04:25Did your family is it like a foodie kind of a family?Speaker B 00:04:31No. My grandmother was in charge of the catering at her church. My mom and my aunt at one point did some catering. Very small scale kind of thing. But at no point were anybody in my family were they really involved in cooking.Speaker C 00:04:59Okay.Speaker B 00:05:01But anyway, after high school, I was still working in and out. I just didn't give a shit. I was having fun time. Everybody else was doing their own thing. And my cousin, who he's been on the show, Jeff, mentioned going to culinary school. And then at that point, something just snapped. Like, that light bulb. It didn't come on all the way, but the dimmer hit switch. Someone hit the dimmer switch, and all of a sudden, it was like, hey, there's something there. And it was just like, okay. And I started exploring it, and the more I dug into it, the more it was like, this is kind of cool. And this was late ninety s I want to say 97, right? Is probably when I started digging into it. And I looked at several schools, whether it's the CIA there was a school in Arizona. I don't remember what it was called. And then I ended up going to California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. It was downtown. And this was before it was bought by La cordon Blue. That was cool. Living in downtown San Francisco for a little over a year was pretty badass, man. Sorry, I was just hearing noises. I'm like, what is that? Living downtown San Francisco, going to school in this old building. It was just French and austrian chefs and a couple of germans thrown in there just for fun. And it was just it was the time of my life. I mean, I absolutely hated school in every traditional form because I learned quickly, and I apply what I learn quickly, right? And I could not figure out for the fucking life of me what I was learning in high school. Had zero application on what I was doing in my everyday life.Speaker C 00:07:13Yeah.Speaker B 00:07:18It was just like, what the fuck is the point of this? But when I got into a culinary school and it was intense, it was just an intense and large volume of knowledge just being fucking shoved down your throat. And it was like, either retain it and move on and do well, or you don't. You fail and you go back and do it again. And so there's a lot of pressure to stay with your class, and so every week to two weeks, you go to your new class. And so it wasn't like a college curriculum where you have, hey, today at 03:00, we're doing French, and then whatever. You didn't bounce around. Like, there was two sessions at the campus. There's the morning and then the evening sessions. And you just rotated some semesters, it was the morning. Some there were at nights. But for eight, 9 hours a day, that's all you did. You took one lunch break or dinner break, and then that's it. And you just did nothing but execute or learn the theories. And I just fucking loved it. I took it all in, and I was like, this is it for me. And I found it was one of those I excelled. And I'm like, okay, this is cool. I can do this. So that's kind of where I ended up after school.Speaker C 00:08:50All right, what about first jobs in kitchens that were not in and out?Speaker B 00:09:02Probably. So I did bounce around. I worked at a couple of places in San Francisco just very short term, doing some stage kind of things. Nothing of any importance or note, but it was just there to kind of get some experience. And then Northern Arizona I ended up going to nau Northern Arizona University after culinary school because I'm like, okay, I found something here. There's something. And I was like, I should probably follow this up with a more bachelor's based degree, because I also found that I was very good at not just the cooking side of things, but the financial side of things as well. As most people are a lot of chefs out there are great chefs, great cooks. But when it comes to managing numbers and all that stuff, they know fucking nothing. And that's unfortunate because that's a huge part of the business. Sometimes it's too much. But hey, if there's no money in the bank, you can't buy shit. You can't fucking operate anyway. And I was like, okay, I'm going to go there. And nau kind of w

Connect With Me:Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comRate & Review The Show!Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Other episodes you'll enjoy:Ariel Guivi, Part 1: What is a Chef?Patrick Stark: The Untouchable EgosJosh Morris: Balancing a chefs drive with family lifeTranscript:Hey, and welcome back to Inside the Pressure Cooker. My name is Chef Chad Kelly, and I know it's been a couple of weeks since we put anything out there. We've actually been in the process of working on some new formatting. And the reason for this is we've had some really great guests on, we've had some really great shows and but unfortunately, we're only able to kind of hit the surface level of topics without having a show run hour and a half plus, which nobody really has the time for. So what we're going to be doing is we're going to be revisiting some previous guests and we're going to be doing more of a host co host kind of situation where we're going to be over the period of several weeks producing episodes that will allow us to do a little bit of a deeper dive into the topic. Thank you for listening. Welcome back. Enjoy the show.Speaker B 00:01:06All right, Josh. So kind of a new format, right, where it's not necessarily chef interviews, so to speak. It's more chef topics, current events, and kind of compare and contrasting to talking various, you know, your perspective versus my perspective. Right. I've got I'm much more of the old school chef mentality. The chef bringing, you know, even in culinary school, when I was going to culinary school, I had the threat of 64 ounce ladles being thrown at me if I put my foot on the counter when I was chopping. I'm not even kidding. This was like the second week of school and being yelled at by big Austrian guys and French guys, that was just kind of my upbringing. So obviously a lot of that has been ingrained in me and who I am. That's just kind of what I understand the industry to be. It's a very different world now. You grew up in this industry with kind of a different perspective and growing up. So the whole thing about this is going to be kind of talking the different perspectives. Right. All right. So topic at hand, art versus suspended suspension. Sustenance.Speaker C 00:02:39There you go.Speaker B 00:02:39Right? It's just more fun to say it my way. Suspects. It's like saying Warshire.Speaker C 00:02:48Worcester.Speaker B 00:02:49Yeah. Warchester Shire. I know. They're all wrong, and I don't care. It's just fun. So art versus Sussex. Where do we want to go with this? Kick this off.Speaker C 00:03:04It was just kind of a title to give. It kind of a broad scope because there's no telling where this conversation might go. No idea. Started was recently I saw the menu. Have you seen the menu yet?Speaker B 00:03:20I have not.Speaker C 00:03:21All right, well, it was marketed as, like, a horror movie when they were showing the previews. Right? Yeah. They really kind of geared it towards, like, it was going to be a horror movie. And that movie, it is hilarious. It is insanely funny. But the reason it's so funny is because it pokes so much fun at fine dining while also empathizing with the people that work there. Okay, so a lot of the guests I know you haven't seen the movie, but they have a very short guest list. There's only twelve guests, and you kind of want them to die. You kind of want bad things to happen to them just because there's, like, rich assholes who don't really give a shit about food. They're just there for the exclusivity of this. And while I was talking about this movie with some friends at work, this other thing came up where you might remember this, too. About a year ago, a little over a year ago, there was a chef in Italy, I think it was a Michelin starred restaurant, who served a citrus foam in a mold of his own mouth, and he didn't serve it with utensils. He told the diet to lick the foam out of the plaster molds. And it kind of spiraled into this conversation about, like, where does food end and art began and vice versa.Speaker B 00:04:57Well, and at what point is that art? And what point of that is just kind of a fuck you to the guest.Speaker C 00:05:02Yeah.Speaker B 00:05:08Because cooking itself is an art. It's a beautiful art. It's a combination of art and science. Right?Speaker C 00:05:16Yeah.Speaker B 00:05:17You really have to have a foot in both worlds unless you're in the pastry, and at that point, you're just man almost all science and doing lines of fucking all purpose flour in the back. They're a whole nother breed. Yeah. So if you're a pastry person, you want to get on the show, defend yourself. Hit me up. God. Lost Chuck. There. No, but I mean, it's all an art, right? But it's all about the guest. But at a certain point, the guest starts to weigh on you as a chef, where you're just kind of that, you know what? Fine. I'm going to do this. But it's just despite you, it's like, oh, yeah, you want to see how far we can go with it here? Fine. Fuck you. Oh, now you want to bitch about it? But then there's also was that chef so egotistical that he thought that was a good idea, too.Speaker C 00:06:33Yeah.Speaker B 00:06:34Which one is it?Speaker C 00:06:36I don't know, because it does seem kind of like a fuck you to the guest. If you're thinking about it just from a food perspective, that's pretty disgusting. But if you're thinking about food as art and you want to push art into a more progressive area, you're going to have to make some people uncomfortable. You're going to have to ruffle some feathers. Was that the best way to go about it? Probably not.Speaker B 00:07:09It got them attention.Speaker C 00:07:10Yeah.Speaker B 00:07:11Who knows? Maybe that was the only point of it. I mean, in today's world where people become so fucking desensitized to so many things because of the Internet and all this social media crap, that I mean, you actually need to have something pretty significant to shock people into reality.Speaker C 00:07:35Yeah. So a fan of punk rock, that guy, like, literally spit in people's faces to make a statement. But I don't know, it comes off kind of pretentious at the same time, too. None of it's like a justification or is he right or is he wrong? No, it was a strange thing to see, and it kind of got me thinking about that. Plus, watching the menu is like, how much justification of quote unquote art is there? I know you haven't seen the movie, but there is a scene where a cook shoots themselves in the dining room and the diners are like, oh, it's just part of the theater. I mean, they're literally saying, like, a chef could literally get away with murder as long as it's on the menu. I thought that was a very funny but thought provoking thing.Speaker B 00:08:41God. And it's also so fucking sad at the same time.Speaker C 00:08:45Yeah.Speaker B 00:08:46Because at that point, everything that I'm hearing so far and the reason I haven't watched it is, honestly, I've been avoiding all those shows because I can't stand the sensationalized versions of what's going on in The Kitchen and The Bear. I watched a few episodes and it was good. I got it. But then I was like, you know what? I lived that life for the last 20 years. I don't need to fucking watch it.Speaker C 00:09:20Yeah, I watched the first episode of The Bear Ride after I had gotten home from work.Speaker B 00:09:27Why would you do that?Speaker C 00:09:28It was like I was right back at work. It was perfect.Speaker B 00:09:32No, absolutely. I mean, I had been out of the industry for a year, and man, it brought back all the feelings, all the emotions, and I was just like, oh, God, Mike, I don't want to go through this again. And not in a bad way, right. But I was just like, no, I've lived it. I don't understand it. This is a whole another show is talking about that and people's reactions to it. Because when we start talking art versus sustenance, now we're also talking the types of restaurants because you're going to have your restaurant, which is I mean, it's just fuel, right? Food is fuel. And then you're going to have restaurants that kind of are in that middle world between fine dining and fuel, where they're putting a little more give a shit into the food. It's a little bit more plating. But they probably don't have the fine dining budget. They didn't have the fine dining clientele. And so there's adjustments. They've got to make sure they want to be creative and artistic. But it's all within that realm of what is feasible for that time and what's the guest can accept. Because at the end of the day, it still has to be good, right?Speaker C 00:11:15Yeah.Speaker B 00:11:21I've never lived in that world of the art. Food is art and not food. I've always poked fun at the tweezer chefs, and I know I do that at their expense, but it's a different world. I've just never been a part of it. And I understand parts of it for them, but it's never made sense to me because it goes against a lot of what I've known about food. Yeah, you're taking too damn if you need tweezers, you are taking too long to get that plate out. I've done way too much volume cooking to be like, okay, hold on. I need tweezers to put the garnish on.Speaker C 00:12:08Yeah. Two different places where they kind of utilize tweezers a lot more. And it was a very weird feeling once you get into the groove of it. And, like, this is something that they do, so they want you to do it, too. Yeah, it's fine. But coming from a background where you didn't even own a set of tweezers, it was strange.Speaker B 00:12:31But you get to like it, honestly. And I get it. Tweezers are just variations on chopsticks. And chopsticks were probably the earliest known forms of cooking utensils. I mean, chopsticks weren't eating uten

In a post-COVID world, Eric Hasse, a seasoned chef and cook, navigates the hostile kitchen culture and questions the concept of meritocracy as he battles with an exodus of restaurant workers, rising meat prices, and a new generation of distracted cooks."The way you move up in kitchens is you've got to do your job and the job of the guy in front of you. Eventually the job of the guy in front of you, you keep that job, and then you start shaving off your line cook duties, right? You're doing the job, and then one day it's like, oh, hey, by the way, you're a sous now, or you're a lead." - Eric HasseEric Hasse is a professional chef with experience running kitchens and being an executive chef on four different occasions. He is an advocate for the meritocracy of the restaurant industry and believes in the importance of hard work, dedication and a good attitude.Eric Hasse was discussing the state of the restaurant industry post-COVID with a chef in Malta. He shared his experience with a harsh kitchen culture in the past, where one had to work hard and outwork those in front of them to move up. He speaks of how restaurants are now expecting more coddling of their staff, yet the expectations remain the same. He compares a professional kitchen to the military and how it requires discipline and resilience in order to succeed.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. What is the unique bond shared by wine, cooks, and chefs?2. What is the state of restaurants post-COVID?3. What is the difference between the old and new kitchen culture?Resources:Eric Hasse on InstagramChef Eric's Links Sweet Mama Hot Sauce on InstagramSweet Mama Hot Sauce: Order HereOfficial Patriot Gear -10% OFF with code CHEFHASSEOfficial Patriot Gear on InstagramChef Life ClothingOther episodes you'll enjoy:Ariel Guivi, Part 1: What is a Chef?Patrick Stark: The Untouchable EgosJosh Morris: Balancing a chefs drive with family lifeConnect with me: Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me!Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Transcript:[00:00:03]Over the last 20 years working in restaurants, I met a lot of really interesting people. Bourdain called us pirates and misfits, and he couldn't be more right. We really were. I say were. We are a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, and we get to play with food all day, and we get to make a living doing that, and it's pretty damn awesome.[00:00:27]This is what inside the Pressure Cooker is all about. It's about making some new friends and sharing some stories with some old friends. And listen, we all know that life inside a kitchen is not for everyone. We've seen plenty of people come and go that thought they could hack it and they couldn't. It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos, but it's pretty damn controlled.[00:00:58]And then just the constant pressure and the stupid hours you put in, not to mention it can be a very thankless job. Before you know it, it's all in your blood, and it's the only thing you know and you need more. It's an addiction. This is the bond that all wine, cooks and chefs share. It's becoming the heartbeat of the kitchen, as cliche as that fucking sounds.[00:01:22]But it's in our blood, which means it's fucking pulsing through our veins, and it's what we live for. A quick interruption before we jump on to the rest of this, two things. First, there's a link in the show notes that well, it's not really a link. It's my email. Please.[00:01:42]I want to hear some feedback from you all. What do you love? What do you not love? This is how I learn. And the second part I've set up a patreon account for this podcast.[00:01:52]The link is also in the show notes below. Please, if you're able to, we would love any contribution you're able to support us with. We all have costs that we need to try to cover with this show, and any sport would be greatly, greatly appreciated.[00:02:10]Right. Where is that? That sounds so familiar.[00:02:17]Are we Googling this right now? No. I mean, if you want to. I'm just writing it down to look it up, man. So where do you think the state of the restaurants, like, post COVID restaurants are just in?[00:02:46]It's a mess. It's a mess everywhere.[00:02:53]I was actually talking with the gentleman chef in Malta this last week, too, and he pretty much said the same thing, and it was very interesting to have a conversation with him, talking both kind of people as well as product, and he's on the other side of the world, and it's the exact same story. I think we're on the upswing. Minus the mandates are gone. That's a whole different topic for me. Like, those mandates were bullshit to begin with, and the whole shipping things back and forth and, like, supply chain crisis and all that bullshit.[00:03:43]Like, I feel like we're being led to a place where it's purposely less meat driven.[00:03:59]Like prices are going up. I remember paying fucking $8 a pound for wings and then going down from like eight to six to fucking three. And like $3.69 for a pound of wings was like, incredible. I was like, oh, shit. I guess they're going back on the menu.[00:04:18]But like, the porter houses and the tomahawks that we sell, we make no money off that shit.[00:04:29]You're not making money off that $140, you know what I mean? We make what change compared to the pork shank we put out this weekend and sold that out as a special. And it was literally $5 to put on the plate and he sold it 32, 36, 40. You know what I mean? You make your money with that.[00:04:57]Yeah. And you're not too worried if one comes back either because he fucked it up. He can't well, they're all ready to go, dude, I can't cook it anymore. Well, something happens. But yeah, I always hated those really high end things that I was just like, man, don't fuck that up.[00:05:20]Yeah, we got a new guy on Broiler and he's pretty much there with his temperatures, but he's under more than he is over. I've yet to see him go over. We can always bring it up attempt, but he can't bring it down. Yeah, I'll take under any day of the week. Yeah, exactly.[00:05:49]With staffing and all this, we're kind of talking. So there is that great. We'll just call it exodus for the restaurant industry, mainly because everybody's living paycheck to paycheck and then all of a sudden there is no paycheck, even though there's stimulus and other money coming. Like, for a lot of people, it just wasn't enough. So other people just found other jobs.[00:06:15]Whether they thought it was temporary or permanent, nobody knows. Who even knows what they do? But things are opening up and fewer and fewer people are coming back. Now, some people are saying it's the culture. I understand concept of that, but I'm still going to call bullshit on that because the culture is what it is.[00:06:36]The kitchen culture or the outside of the kitchen culture? No, the kitchen culture. Oh, yeah, kitchen culture now is fucked. Well, before, yeah, it was a harsh environment. It's always been a harsh environment.[00:06:49]Right? Me and you are probably more of the old school chef's mentality. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I was trained by Germans and French and Austrian guys and what they grew up with as well was you want to talk about hostile fuck? I mean, they were probably shoveling coal as their intern, right? Yeah.[00:07:11]I've gotten plates of fucking plates of perfect risotto fucking thrown at my feet, just knocked out of the window, saying, like, give me something I can fucking sell. Like I can't make it any better. Than this. What the fuck are you looking for? I'm looking for this guy to fucking put up the fish at the same time, and now this risotto is cold, so fuck it.[00:07:29]Make another one. There was no caring about your feelings. That just wasn't a thing. Yeah, just put your head down. Fucking do your best.[00:07:39]Now it's on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, hrs. Get involved. Mean, he made me cry. That's his fucking job, dude. It's his job.[00:07:50]Fucking shut up and cook. That's it. Yeah. To me in the kitchen. Yes, it was a harsh environment, and we all had expectations of ourselves, but there was expectations of the team, right?[00:08:06]And so I expected myself to perform at a better level than I was at, because that was me just pushing me. How am I getting better today? Right? And just never being complacent. That's exactly what I did.[00:08:19]And it's the total opposite now. Now it's like, I got to get home, because fucking Housewives of whoever gives the Fuck is on. It's not a thing, dude. I'm sorry. I've seasoned tickets to the Giants.[00:08:31]I don't fucking care, dude. You work in Sundays. Like, welcome to the club, dude. This is what it is. So I want to know how a line cook has seasoned tickets to the Giants.[00:08:42]Oh, my God.[00:08:46]It's like a running joke in the restaurant because he's, like, friends with another guy that worked there. And our chef Keith was going away on his honeymoon. They needed, like, extra hands, and they got this guy Brian to come in, and he was dog shit. His fucking work ethic sucked. The way he talked about his mom and his sister was just, like, crazy.[00:09:05]Like, this bitch, this content. I'm like, oh, my God, dude, you live with these people. This is your family. This is how you talk about them. Then you come here and you bitch to us, and it's like, I can't wait until November is here, because I'm not doing this, and I'm not doing that.[00:09:20]Who the fuck do you think you are, dude? You're 30 years old. You don't know shit about shit. Like, you think we're here to pick up your slack? That's just not how it works, dude.[00:09:28]Eric doesn't help with the fl

"Experience the flavor of Chef Eric's kitchen, where the heat is as 'Hot as F*ck' and the passion is real.""I go into every day just wanting to be better. So much of what I see now is it's, like, too focused on the show. It's a marketing scheme compared to as opposed to the actual caring about the cooking. Sure, it can look good, but does it fucking taste good?" - Chef EricChef Eric has been cooking since he was a child, when his mother taught him to make a meatloaf. When his son was born, Eric decided to switch to cooking as a career and has been doing so for 17 years. On the East Coast he has worked for various restaurants, including DBGB, but has seen many restaurants close due to COVID. He finds that many restaurants focus on the show rather than the taste of the food and is inspired to do better each day.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. The unique bond shared by line cooks, and chefs.2. The challenges of running and surviving a restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic.3. The creative and entrepreneurial success story of a chef who created his own hot sauce.Resources:Eric Hasse on InstagramChef Eric's Links Sweet Mama Hot Sauce on InstagramSweet Mama Hot Sauce: Order HereOfficial Patriot Gear -10% OFF with code CHEFHASSEOfficial Patriot Gear on InstagramChef Life ClothingOther episodes you'll enjoy:Ariel Guivi, Part 1: What is a Chef?Patrick Stark: The Untouchable EgosJosh Morris: Balancing a chefs drive with family lifeConnect with me: Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me! Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Transcipt:[00:00:03]Over the last 20 years working in restaurants, I met a lot of really interesting people. Bourdain called us pirates and misfits, and he couldn't be more right. We really were. I say were. We are a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, and we get to play with food all day, and we get to make a living in that, and it's pretty damn awesome.[00:00:27]This is what inside the Pressure Cooker is all about. It's about making some new friends and sharing some stories with some old friends. And listen, we all know that life inside a kitchen is not for everyone. We've seen plenty of people come and go that thought they could hack it and they couldn't. It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos.[00:00:56]But it's pretty damn controlled. And then just the constant pressure and the stupid hours you put in, not to mention it can be a very thankless job. Before you know it, it's all in your blood. And it's the only thing you know and you need more. It's an addiction.[00:01:13]This is the bond that all wine, cooks and chefs share. It's becoming the heartbeat of the kitchen, as cliche as that fucking sounds. But it's in our blood, which means it's fucking pulsing through our veins. And it's what we live for. A quick interruption before we jump on.[00:01:31]To the rest of this, two things. First, there's a link in the show notes that well, it's not really a link, it's my email. Please. I want to hear some feedback from you all. What do you love?[00:01:45]What do you not love? This is how I learn. And the second part I've set up a patreon account for this podcast. The link is also in the show notes below. Please, if you're able to we would love any contribution you're able to support us with.[00:02:01]We all have costs that we need. To try to cover with this show, and any sport would be greatly, greatly appreciated.[00:02:10]Chef Eric, 32nd elevator pitch. Who are you? I am Chef Ericos father. I'm a chef and I am a patriot. And that's pretty much it.[00:02:25]All right. How old are your kids? 1610 and two. You're covering the gamut there? Yeah.[00:02:35]Papa was a rolling stone.[00:02:41]So tell me then, how long have you been cooking? What got you into it? I've been doing this forever, man. We moved to Massachusetts when I was, like, eight, I think. And we took over my family's taxi company.[00:02:57]And mom was working and stepfather was working. And it was a phone call on, like, a phone on the wall that you had to, like, answer and be home for. And this is what you do. And you make a meatloaf, and I'd get the whole thing. She'd read me a recipe.[00:03:14]You're writing this down. You're writing this down. And I would do it and I enjoyed it. And the more that that went on, I kind of fell in love with it.[00:03:28]That's fine.[00:03:33]When did you realize it was going to be a career? Jesus.[00:03:41]I kind of switched permanently to it being a career. About 17 years ago, I was going to go to the army. We found out that my ex was pregnant with my oldest son, and things just kind of shifted gears. I always tried to stay out of the cooking business because I thought if I did it every day, it would ruin it for me.[00:04:08]I wouldn't get as much enjoyment out of it. There's truth there, you know? And like, I grew up in a house like, my father owned three delis. He worked himself to death. He was a shit bag, whatever.[00:04:20]He wasn't around. And it was what it was. And I thought if I worked in the industry, it would just make it all tainted. But it actually became quite the opposite.[00:04:38]I can understand that. It's almost one of those, like, he didn't want to follow in his footsteps. Yeah, 100%.[00:04:47]Okay, so right now you're cooking your soup and you're in Farmingdale, New York. You've been out in the East Coast the entire time. Yeah, new York. I work in the city for Danielle Bald.[00:05:10]A few restaurants here on the island. I was in Boston for a little bit, and then last November, I came back to Long Island. Okay. Dug in back here. Now.[00:05:25]Were you at barbalude? No. Is it DBG. Bees. Oh, nice.[00:05:32]I like that blue. Our commissary was you opened the front door to the commissary and it was the back of the iconic CBG. Bees. Like punk rock. Yeah.[00:05:45]A few trips I made to New York, actually there, I think, twice.[00:05:52]I like the feel to it. It's a different animal now, though. The city. It's become just disgusting. Oh, the city.[00:06:01]The city has just become disgusting. Yeah. This whole COVID thing just ruined so many restaurants. There like Michelin Star restaurants are shutting down. It just became abysmal.[00:06:11]That was like, the tough time in Boston. Like, I left there to come down here because at the end of COVID with all the restrictions and everything, nobody could offer the pay, nobody could offer the hours and everything. Rent moratoriums were up, and it was just got insane. Yeah. I don't know how restaurants I mean, it was impossible for so many places to survive and pay people because restaurants aren't exactly known to have, like, large vaults of cash just hanging around waiting for this stuff to happen.[00:06:45]Especially in New York or the East Coast, where just the rents are fucking ridiculous as it is. Even with the moratorium, at a certain point, it's like, hey, everybody's got to be able to pay something here. Yeah, I got a little obscene. What's the one restaurant you were sad to see go? I don't know.[00:07:08]There was a few there was a couple nice little, like a couple of quiet joints in Boston that were just it was like a good place to go get, like, a bowl of ramen or some nice sushi or something like that. And they were closing left and right. Little, like, no name, hole in the wall places that would go to after work. You know what I mean? Yeah, those places where I mean, they were kind of the definition of restaurants that were survived paycheck to paycheck kind of thing.[00:07:34]Yeah, exactly. Yeah. They were probably floating checks for a while. Yeah, that's unfortunate because all those places are usually pretty legit. And it was the smallest places and the best food we could leave.[00:07:49]I was, like, working in Brookline. It's a place called the Public House for, like, a great set of owners. This guy David loved food, loved everything. We did, like, a barbecue Sunday. We'd have people coming in just for that on Sundays.[00:08:03]And then you get to end the shift and go out and hang out with the guys and go get a fucking bowl of noodles and just wind down from a crazy week. And then all of a sudden, that shit wasn't there anymore. What did you guys do after that? Then it was just like, hop on the green line to the red line and go back to Dorchester and hang out. That's unfortunate.[00:08:23]Yeah, it was pretty shitty. So tell me about a time when you're cooking and you just kind of question everything, where you're just like, man, am I really in the right spot? Is this my career? Should I be looking for something else? I think that's happened a couple of times.[00:08:38]The first time was like, when I started in Delhi's, and I just got tired of it. Like, the hours, the bullshit, it became a lot. And then when I went to work for Danielle valud, it was a whole different animal. It was like, I have to inspect this guy's, like, parsley schiff and odd right now. Is this what I want to do?[00:08:56]I don't want to be the chef with the pair of tweezers and the fancy little shit on the plate. That's just not me. I'm never going to be a tweezer chef. I'm a fucking bull in a china shop. I come in, and if you're in my way, I'm mowing you down.[00:09:14]I have a very strong point of view on walking into a kitchen and like to see these cooks that just, like, have this I don't give a shit attitude. Like, oh, don't worry. It's not my job. Somebody else will do it. If I did that in any of the restaurants that I worked at, like, the places I work, like, none of those chefs picked up a broom or a mop.[00:09:32]You're lucky if you're going to get him out of the office, let alone mop up after you. And

When Kaitlynn Wood, a five foot one restaurant worker and survivor of sexual abuse, strives to create a professional and safe work environment, she must confront her own PTSD and the hostile environment of an industry that has been historically enabling of predators."We need to set a standard. We need to start today, and we need to make it a priority to not accept that kind of behavior. Period. End of story. Clock out and get the fuck out of my kitchen."Kaitlynn Wood is an experienced restaurant professional who has worked in the industry for over 20 years. She is passionate about creating a safe and respectful work environment for all, and is an advocate for seeking mental health support.Kaitlynn Wood shares her experiences of working in restaurants over the last 20 years, which she explains is full of a diverse group of people who create an interesting and chaotic environment. She encourages people to seek mental health help if they are struggling, as she did, and to practice compassion and humility. She also talks about her experience with sexual harassment in the workplace, how she reacted and how it can be difficult for victims to speak up. Despite the challenges, she emphasizes the importance of setting a standard of respect and creating a culture of acceptance.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. "The Bond That All Line Cooks and Chefs Share: What Is It, and How Does It Affect Success in the Kitchen?"2. "The Impact of Mental Health on Kitchen Performance: How Can Therapy Help?"3. "Tackling Sexual Harassment in the Kitchen: How Can We Create a Culture of Respect?"Other episodes you'll enjoy:Jeff PlattMario OrozcoSuki OtsukiConnect with me: Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @ChadKelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerWebsite: https://insidethepressurecooker.comFeedback: Email me! Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.Transcript:[00:00:03]Over the last 20 years working in restaurants, I met a lot of really interesting people. Bourdain called us pirates and misfits, and he couldn't be more right. We really were. I say were. We are a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, and we get to play with food all day, and we get to make a living doing doing that, and it's pretty damn awesome.[00:00:27]This is what inside the Pressure Cooker is all about. It's about making some new friends and sharing some stories with some old friends. And listen, we all know that life inside a kitchen is not for everyone. We've seen plenty of people come and go that thought they could hack it and they couldn't. It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos, but it's pretty damn controlled.[00:00:58]And then just the constant pressure and the stupid hours you put in, not to mention it can be a very thankless job. Before you know it, it's all in your blood, and it's the only thing you know and you need more. It's an addiction. This is the bond that all wine, cooks and chefs share. It's becoming the heartbeat of the kitchen, as cliche as that fucking sounds.[00:01:22]But it's in our blood, which means it's fucking pulsing through our veins, and it's what we live for. A quick interruption before we jump on to the rest of this, two things. First, there's a link in the show notes that well, it's not really a link. It's my email. Please.[00:01:42]I want to hear some feedback from you all. What do you love? What do you not love? This is how I learn. And the second part I've set up a patreon account for this podcast.[00:01:52]The link is also in the show notes below. Please, if you're able to, we would love any contribution you're able to support us with. We all have costs that we need to try to cover with this show, and any sport would be greatly, greatly appreciated.[00:02:10]Well, this is one of the topics I really like to talk about, which is therapy. So there's a manager where my husband works, and she runs off a lot of employees, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Okay? But from my experience, I've been through a lot of shit, so I've been in her shoes. I know a lot about how she's feeling and what she's thinking, but I've been through therapy, and that's how I was able to change and stop being a raging bitch in the kitchen.[00:02:57]So I encourage anyone to go to therapy. If you have some stuff you haven't dealt with, if you find that you're an asshole at work and you want to stop being an asshole, if you just want to learn how to communicate better, go to therapy. We do not take care of our mental health enough. We're under so much pressure. We work long hours.[00:03:26]We're tired. We get burnt out, and we still got to do it anyway. That's going to make for some short tempers.[00:03:36]I've broken up a few fights before they started in kitchens. Yeah. No, I remember. But just because before I left because they were tired. Yeah.[00:03:47]When I finally left, I had zero views, man. It did not take anything to really set me off, but I knew it, and I was just like, this is I just look back in the mirror afterwards. I'm like, what the fuck is wrong with me? Why did I just lose it like that? So anybody listening, please go to therapy.[00:04:11]It will help you, and it will not hurt you. I promise. Yes. And I love how therapy and seeking mental health is so much more embraced right now than it has been in the past. Where I'm Gen X and my generation, therapy was considered not was is considered a weakness.[00:04:45]It's like, why do you need therapy? Just fucking figure it out.[00:04:52]Quit bitching and just get back to work. You'll be better later. Go grind the walk in. You know what? Take a mob with you.[00:05:02]I've been that guy, too. I've been the person that said that, because at that time, though, I didn't have any mental issues, at least not that I know of.[00:05:16]But now, after experiencing, I mean, just a complete mental and physical collapse yeah, I get it. We're not as strong as we think we are. No. And you never know what someone else is going through. I love that road because it's such a taboo subject.[00:05:43]Yeah, I love that line, you never know what someone else is going through.[00:05:52]What was the first time I saw it? I don't really remember, but I saw it on a shirt recently. It was actually for a veteran support group kind of thing. And it's just like, hey, you don't know what kind of shit I've been through, so leave me alone kind of thing.[00:06:13]But yeah, and it's just practice compassion.[00:06:20]And practice some humility, too.[00:06:28]Like, we're not all that in a bag of dicks. None of us are.[00:06:35]I like to think I am.[00:06:45]I love this industry because it really turns everything on its head.[00:06:51]Like, you can have a young kid teaching an older person, and our industry is usually a second choice for a lot of people. Yeah, we're fucking pirates. Which means it found us. We didn't find it. There was nothing else available.[00:07:14]And it was like, Well, I got to do something.[00:07:18]There it is. Go get a job in a restaurant. Yeah. I had an assistant when I was the catering coordinator at a big hospital, and I was teaching my assistant, who was, I don't know, probably in her 50s. He was close to retirement age, and I was teaching her how to cook.[00:07:50]How do you do this? How do you do that? What is this called? And she had progressed so much by the time I got promoted that it was just awesome to see. But she is also really old school, so I actually learned some very useful things from her.[00:08:14]And I just think that is such a great thing about our industry, because we always have something to learn. Yeah, we're always learning. Especially those that are really taken off with this industry and recognizing it's for them. And they want to grow, and they recognize that they can learn from everybody. Because at that point, you know, the smart ones, you can tell the cokes that are going to be good.[00:08:47]How I could tell cooks that were going to be worth a shit later on is just how humble they were, but also how they were always watching other people and willing to take in feedback whether they agreed with it or not. But also just being able to see other people and adapt to what they were doing and apply it to their own knowledge and then in execution. So there's a lot to be said there with that. Yes. So I'm five foot one, aka almost a dwarf.[00:09:29]Three inches, by the way. Three inches for being legally a dwarf. So the thing that I always have to have is a pair of tongues because I can't reach shit. Especially not the top shelf of a dunge rack. Are you kidding me?[00:09:45]There ain't no way. So even when I was in culinary school, I learned how to use tongs and ladles to get stuff to where I could reach it. And I showed a whole bunch of people how to make their lives easier just with a pair of tongs. They work smarter, not harder. Yes, exactly.[00:10:10]And like, I'm not going to wait on some taller person to get something down from here. Are you kidding? I'd have five and six caterings that had to be out between eleven and 12:00. And I'm only one person with two legs and two arms. No excuses.[00:10:28]Yeah, no excuses. You had to figure it out for sure. It makes me laugh every time I hear people talk about it and they say, you got to figure it out, and I automatically just go back to FIFO. Yes. Figure it the fuck out.[00:10:46]Yeah, I really like that one.[00:10:51]It's not about rotations. It's just fucking figure it out, man. Nobody's going to be holding your hand through everything.[00:11:00]Things are going to happen. Yeah. Things are going to happen. Mistakes are going to happen. It's okay.[00:11:07]Right? Don't try to sweep it under the rug. Don't hide anything. Learn from it. Move on.[00:11:12]Be a better person from it. Yes. R

In this podcast episode, Kaitlynn Wood, a headstrong 30-year-old female chef, struggles to survive and thrive in the chaotic and thankless world of the restaurant industry, where pirates, misfits, and White Collar pressures clash with her own grit and ambition."It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos, but it's pretty damn controlled."Kaitlynn Wood has spent the last few years working in restaurants, and has seen firsthand the 'pirate' and 'misfit' culture of the industry, as well as the transition to the 'white collar era'. She has seen people come and go who thought they could handle it, but it takes a special type of person to thrive in the chaotic, yet controlled environment with long hours and often thankless work. Kaitlynn is a 30 year old female chef who is currently disabled and a survivor of abuse. She has experienced the pirate era of yelling and being called every name in the book, as well as the more recent corporate era where she had to be careful not to swear or call her coworkers 'idiots'. Despite the pressure and the difficulties, she has found joy inIn this episode, you will learn the following:1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shift in the restaurant industry and creative approaches to food?2. What are the differences between the pirate era and the white collar era in the restaurant industry?3. How has the introduction of robots and AI into restaurants impacted the amount of creativity needed to succeed?Other episodes you'll enjoy:Suki Otsuki the Yoga ChefThe Lady Line Cook on Developing Her Leadership StyleConnect with me: Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerWebsite: https://insidethepressurecooker.comTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @InsidethepressurecookerFeedback: Email me @ Chad@insidethepressurecooker.comLoved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.[00:00:03]Over the last 20 years working in restaurants, I met a lot of really interesting people. Bourdain called us pirates and misfits, and he couldn't be more right. We really were. I say were. We are a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, and we get to play with food all day, and we get to make a living in that, and it's pretty damn awesome.[00:00:27]This is what inside the Pressure Cooker is all about. It's about making some new friends and. Sharing some stories with some old friends. And listen, we all know that life inside a kitchen is not for everyone. We've seen plenty of people come and go that thought they could hack it and they couldn't.[00:00:47]It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos, but it's pretty damn controlled. And then just the constant pressure and the stupid hours you put in, not to mention it can be a very thankless job. Before you know it, it's all in your blood, and it's the only thing you know and you need more. It's an addiction. This is the bond that all wine, cooks, and chefs share.[00:01:17]It's becoming the heartbeat of the kitchen, as cliche as that fucking sounds. But it's in our blood, which means it's fucking pulsing through our veins, and it's what we live for. A quick interruption before we jump on to the rest of this, two things. First, there's a link in the show Notes that well, it's not really a link. It's my email.[00:01:41]Please. I want to hear some feedback from you all. What do you love? What do you not love? This is how I learn.[00:01:48]And the second part I've set up a patreon account for this podcast. The link is also in the show notes below. Please, if you're able to we would love any contribution you're able to support us with. We all have costs that we need to try to cover with this show, and any sport would be greatly, greatly appreciated.[00:02:10]Let's kick off, then. Kaitlynn, give me your 32nd elevator pitch. Who are you? I am a 30 year old female chef. I am actually currently disabled.[00:02:26]I got sick in 2020, and I have not been able to return to work. I'm headstrong, I'm very strong willed, stubborn, hardworking. I don't know when to quit, and I am also a survivor of abuse, which has really shaped my life. Yeah, I can imagine. So let's talk a little bit.[00:02:53]You mentioned a little bit, kind of offline, that you're kind of a product of the pirate era and the white collar era. They kind of expand on that for me. Yeah. Okay. So Anthony Bourdain was the one that called his pirate.[00:03:09]So my chef instructors and my mentors obviously were older than me, so they were a product of the pirate era yelling at you, I got a knife thrown at me. One time for dropping a $30 piece of fish. I've had plates flung at me. I've been called every name in the book and I've given back as well as I've gotten too much to their chagrin. But for the last six years, I worked in corporate and corporate now as a whole kettle of fish.[00:03:39]I can't tell you how many times I got called into the office and they were just like, can't call them a fucking idiot. No matter what they're trying to do. You can't do that and like, yes, chef, that's great. You can't tell them to get the fuck out of your way. I'm like, what am I supposed to say then?[00:03:57]I said, Excuse me three times and they still won't get the fuck out of my way. I got shit to do. You can't say that. So how long did you last in the corporate world then? Six years, actually.[00:04:11]I was with Compass Group about a year after I graduated culinary school. I started out as a part timer, one of their US concepts, which is like a retail kitchen, basically. And you have contracts? We had a contract with a bank in Charlotte. Basically, they paid us to be there to feed their employees, but we still had to make a profit.[00:04:39]So Compass Group is actually like the number 7th employer in the world or something like that. They have a lot of different sectors, obviously. It sounds like it was more of a cooking was like a release for you to kind of get rid of that pressure and that tension and it just made you feel good. But cooking in the industry is very different. So how did you know, though, once you were cooking and you were professionally cooking, so to speak, that it's like, okay, I made the right decision.[00:05:12]Like, I'm in the right spot. How did you know? Did you know? I did. Okay, so my mom left us kids when I was six.[00:05:23]My brother was six months old and my sister was nine. Right. And we had to have dinner on the table by six. So I cooked a lot. And I absolutely loved it when people would eat my food and they would be happy.[00:05:40]After I was in the industry, through all the stress and the pressure, just seeing someone love my food is just the best. Just to see people happy. I 100% understand that. I really feel like we feed the soul. Oh, yes, absolutely.[00:06:02]Sometimes we're just providing fuel for people, but that feeds our soul. And sometimes we're cooking for other people's soul.[00:06:15]We've got Thanksgiving and Christmas where everybody kind of gets together. There's always something that's going on, but a lot of times all those traditional dishes that are out there, they're more there for nostalgia and to kind of feed your soul a little bit, because that reminds you of the nostalgia. It takes you back to someone's house or that memory so food is a very powerful element. It is. It's very connected to memory, especially smell.[00:06:48]Yeah, I remember reading something about that, where food, like food has got one of the strongest triggers for any memory because it involves essentially all the senses. Yeah. And being transported back to that time when you were happy or when you were with friends. So it can be a really great mood booster. And I feel like mental health and depression doesn't get talked about enough.[00:07:21]And like we've said, like you guys have said on the podcast before, is that drugs and alcohol is only going to drag down well, but behind every addiction is a problem with your mental health. Is that why it's stressy? Yes, it is why you stress eat, especially chocolate, because chocolate metabolizes into serotonin, which is to get happy drug. But all of your serotonin is made in your gut. It's all made in the gut.[00:07:55]So that's why it is learn something every day. I did not know that. This is why I like the science of food. It's very interesting. I'll start taking better care of my gut.[00:08:07]That's a whole other story there. Oh, yeah. That's the one thing that still has not recovered from my illnesses from 2020. Trust me, nobody wants to hear about that. Well, that's fantastic.[00:08:21]I mean, so it sounds like you've got I mean, you're obviously a product of your past. We all are, whether we really know it or not. But you definitely have seen a lot of adversity and challenges.[00:08:38]You definitely are not the type of person, just from talking to you, that's going to let that dominate you or let you play the victim by any means. Oh, hell no. I learned from an early age that when you get knocked down, you get back up. And that's what grit is. And you have to have grit.[00:09:00]That's a great word to be able to survive. And the restaurant industry, if you don't have grit, it will eat you alive and it will spit you back out. There was this one kid that I went to school with. He started his first job in a restaurant after we graduated, and he could only do one dish at a time. Now, that one dish was beautiful, but they gave him some feedback and he just kind of fell apart because we were competitive and cold.[00:09:38]Was the feedback something like, hurry the fuck up. Yeah. And he just kind of fell apart. And I was just shaking my head. Like, dude, he should be going to food styling, not commercial production.[00:09:53]Yes. Go somewhere where you can ju

When Steve Lawson, a degenerate misfit, falls in love with cooking despite his initial dreams of becoming a business marketer, he finds himself addicted to the camaraderie, self-accomplishment, and the pressure of working in the grueling, chaotic environment of a restaurant kitchen.After starting as a dishwasher in a cool new spot, he quickly moved up through the line and fell in love with the job. After a busy shift, he realized this was what he wanted to pursue for the rest of his life. During the holidays, he found that the clientele could be grumpy, but he and his fellow cooks and chef found time to enjoy each other's company and get through the shift together. Despite the pressure and long hours, Steve found that the camaraderie and constant challenge of improving his craft kept him coming back for more.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. Exploring the unique camaraderie between cooks, chefs, and those in the restaurant industry; 2. Understanding the journey of a chef, from dishwasher to sauté chef, and the passion that inspired the transition; and 3. Examining the difficulties of working during the holiday season, from the perspective of a chef in an open kitchen.Other episodes you'll enjoy:The Lady Line CookAustin MaynardAriel GuiviConnect with me: Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecookerTwitter: @chadkelleyPatreon: @insidethepressurecookerWebsite: https://insidethepressurecooker.comFeedback: Email Me!Loved this episode? Leave us a review and a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.[00:02:38]All right, Steve. Tell everybody. Who are you? Hi, I'm Steve Lawson. I've been cooking for about eight years.[00:02:46]I really enjoy it. And besides cooking, I just hang out with friends and just be me. Just be you. All right, so you've been cooking for eight years. What got you into cooking?[00:03:00]I worked in fast food first, and that was just a bullshit high school job. And then there's a cool new spot opening up in Denton, one of my buddies is going to be a buster up there. And he said they were hiring and paying pretty well, so I was like, I'm going to try that. I'll be a dishwasher. And cooking was never supposed to be my ideal job, but I ended up falling in love with it.[00:03:25]What was your ideal job then? Just working in an office, I guess. We're business, marketing. Marketing, okay. Yeah.[00:03:36]You went to school, right? You got a degree? Yeah, I did go to school. Okay. No degree.[00:03:40]Oh, no degree. What were you studying before that then? Business and marketing. Oh, business and marketing. So you just wanted to get into business and Marketing?[00:03:47]Yeah. Okay. I want to own my own business. I don't know what, but something. All right, and then you just kind of fell into cooking then, huh?[00:03:56]Yeah, I started dishwashing. Got a lot of prep thrown at me. Like, not a lot of prep, but a lot of bullshit prep, like cutting fries and making little sauces. Eventually moved up through the line up to sushi, and I really enjoyed it all. Nice.[00:04:16]How did you know us for you then? I mean, you were going to go to school for marketing. You're in business, you thought there was something there, otherwise you wouldn't have. And then you just kind of fell into cooking. Just literally fell into it.[00:04:31]How did you know? I guess after the first couple of years when I got on the line, I noticed a lot of people were like me, just like kind of degenerate. I've always kind of been a degenerate a little bit. And I was like, all these people are really cool. I can go out and have some drinks.[00:04:50]I was always with my friends, so that's why I enjoyed it. And then that made me love the job. Okay, so is that what you're going to it for every day then? It's like the camaraderie of it all. The camaraderie back then, but now I take it very seriously.[00:05:08]Well, we all kind of take it seriously. The camaraderie kind of gives you an almost an excuse and why you enjoy it, but even then there's that. It keeps me coming back. Yeah. All right.[00:05:26]Is there a specific moment that you can think of that you are just like, fuck, yeah, this is it. This is fuck the business, fuck the opening, all the other stuff I wanted to do. I'm cooking. I'm going to be a chef.[00:05:41]I guess my first busy night on flat Top or Saute. Slinging out a busy shift flawlessly is one of the best feelings in the world. And then I was like, this is for me. I think this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Nice.[00:05:59]Just getting your ass kicked one day and you're just like, this is it. I want more of it. Yeah, this is fun. I mean, just the self accomplishment. All right, and the fact that you can always get better at it.[00:06:13]Yes, absolutely. I love that. And it's so earlier, we kind of talked offline. I asked kind of what inspired you, and you said yourself to get better. You're always after that chase to get better.[00:06:32]How are you working on that right now? I just go into work every day and try and get better at what I'm doing. I'm working saute right now at the place I'm at, and I just try to make every dish better every time I go in. When you say better every time, translate that you're following a specific recipe, right? Oh, for sure, yes.[00:06:55]But just making sure it's consistently plated every time, garnished the right way and looking nice, and also efficiency and speed at it. Okay. Do you do anything at home or when you're not at work to kind of improve yourself with that? I've been trying to cook more at home, and I feel like cooking at home helps you be better at work. It's sometimes hard, though, just like for everyone else.[00:07:22]Sometimes you just don't want to cook. No, no. Yeah, I get it. Even here for me with my wife and all her friends are like, oh, you must cook all the time. I mean, I do now, but back up until a few years ago, no, I never cooked at home, and it was just like, Cobblers son has no shoes, so I get it.[00:07:46]When I was cooking full time too, I think I'd come home, my dinner would be like, a beer and an easy mac for sure. Or just, like, fast food or ramen or just like, sometimes no food at all. Yeah, because I would remember you cook all day, and you've got the adrenaline, everything's going. You finally leave, and then it would take me about half an hour or so, 40 minutes, and then all of a sudden, I'd be like, fuck, I'm hungry. I realized I hadn't actually eaten anything, and then that's when I'd pick up fast food and, yeah, the healthiest diet ever, for sure.[00:08:25]So what else inspires you? There's got to be something out there that you're just like, man, this is awesome. I love this. I mean, you're chasing a dream now. In a period of eight years, you've gone from dishwasher to a souf.[00:08:39]I mean, you're as a soup at a pretty high end hotel in Dallas. So, I mean, you're doing a lot of things right. What's pushing you more to I like it. It comes back to me being better and just, like, going to the next level of cooking. I've done the approachable fine dining.[00:09:00]Now I'm pushing for the fine dining. That way, I'm pretty well rounded in all aspects to be an actual soup chef. Approachable fine dining. That's the first time I've heard that term. Yeah, it's what my chef said it, and honestly, it made, like, perpetuity.[00:09:18]It's right there on the bubble of being fine dining, but it's not like I don't know, it's normal people. It's not pretentious. It's not pretentious. Yes, I got you. So, I mean, it's great food, presented well without the pretentiousness, but probably the fine dining price tag.[00:09:35]Exactly. It's still very expensive. Yeah. Okay, so let's talk shifts. This is probably at the hotel as well, the shift that no one speaks of.[00:09:46]Now there's probably plenty of brunt shifts that you can recall for sure, but what are some other nightmare shifts where you're just like, I just don't even want to revisit those anymore. Honestly, I worked every holiday last year, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Christmas Eve, New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Thanksgiving and Christmas shifts were like the saddest and roughest shifts I've ever had in my life. Just because it's all these lonely people coming out to eat because they don't have any family to go to or whatever. And also everyone I don't know, I feel like the worst people come out. Really?[00:10:27]Yeah, it was not fun. We also did over 500 coverage. God. So it was just busier than shit. And the clientele there is just they just weren't happy.[00:10:42]I get it. Obviously Christmas and I was by myself mentally. You're going to be not in the greatest of places for the most part. Everybody's used to spending some time with family. Exactly.[00:10:55]But did you have a lot of single diners or was it smaller groups? We had a lot of couples. We had a couple of single diners and we had a lot of families that seemed like they just did not enjoy each other's company. Kids. That's called the holidays, man.[00:11:13]Yeah, for sure. But I don't know, I grew up holidays being the whole family together and having a good time and not like it might have been a facade, but it was still fun. No family. It's always great to get back together with some family for a period of time. But my grandmother had the greatest quote, family is like seafood.[00:11:42]After about three days, they start to stink for sure. But yeah, even then, that was back when we all kind of lived in the same area where I grew up in California. Now we're kind of spread out a little bit, so usually there's more traveling that's involved. So if it's us staying at my in laws or if they're coming up to here, yeah, everything works out well, and then all of a sudden it's like, all right, time for you. Could I please go home?[00:12:11]Yeah, just you could tell it starts working on my wife's nerves and I'm like, oh man, something's going to hap

Chef Ariel Guivisdalsky is passionate about exploring the usage of local products within hospitality business in Malta, and he interviewed five people in different elements to write his thesis on this topic. Through his interviews, he found that the five star hotel and Michelin Star restaurant didn't focus on local products, but the middle range restaurant and the high end restaurant were more focused on using local products. This surprised Chef Ariel and reaffirmed his passion for the importance of buying and using local products.In this episode, you will learn the following:1. The addiction that all cooks and chefs share and how it drives them to thrive in what can feel like complete chaos.2. Exploring how the usage of local products within hospitality businesses in Malta can help increase food tourism.3. Revealing what surprised Chef Ariel Guivisdalsky when he interviewed five people in different elements of the food industry.Resources:Chef Ariel Guivi on InstagramMediterranean Culinary Academy on InstagramEmily A. Francis on InstagramThe book by Emily A. Francis can be found on Amazon and booksellers everywhere.The Taste of Joy: Mediterranean Wisdom for a Life Worth SavoringOther episodes you'll enjoy:Suki Otsuki: Finding Peace & Nourishing Your SoulThe Lady Line Cook: Learning LeadershipJeff Platt: Diplomas & EgosConnect with me: Instagram: @insidethepressurecookerYouTube: @insidethepressurecooker7872Website: https://insidethepressurecooker.comPatreon: Inside The Pressure CookerFeedback: Email Me! Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts or Follow Us on Spotify or your favorite podcasting platform.[00:00:01]Hey, and welcome back to Part Two with Chef Ardio. Over the last 20 years working in restaurants, I met a lot of really interesting people. Bourdain called us pirates and misfits, and he couldn't be more right. We really were. I say were.[00:00:19]We are a hodgepodge of cultures and backgrounds, and we get to play with food all day and we get to make a living doing that, and it's pretty damn awesome. This is what inside the Pressure Cooker is all about. It's about making some new friends and sharing some stories with some old friends. And listen, we all know that life inside a kitchen is not for everyone. We've seen plenty of people come and go that thought they could hack it and they couldn't.[00:00:49]It really does take a special someone not only to survive, but to really thrive in an environment of just what feels like complete fucking chaos. But it's pretty damn controlled. And then just the constant pressure and the stupid hours you put in, not to mention it can be a very thankless job. Before you know it, it's all in your blood and it's the only thing you know and you need more. It's an addiction.[00:01:14]This is the bond that all wine, cooks and chefs share. It's becoming the heartbeat of the kitchen, as cliche as that fucking sounds. But it's in our blood, which means it's fucking pulsing through our veins, and it's what we live for. This is Chad Kelly, and I've been slinging pants for over 25 years. And in that time, I've been fortunate enough to be a part of many successful kitchen teams, many of which I had the privilege of leading.[00:01:45]And during those final few years of my career, I found that my passion was not only just in cooking, but it was the people. And it was mentoring the next generation of chefs. A quick interruption before we jump on to the rest of this, two things. First, there's a link in the show Notes that well, it's not really a link, it's my email. Please, I want to hear some feedback from you all.[00:02:13]What do you love? What do you not love? This is how I learn. And the second part I've set up a patreon account for this podcast. The link is also in the show notes below.[00:02:25]Please, if you're able to, we would love any contribution you're able to support us with. We all have costs that we need to try to COVID with this show, and any sport would be greatly, greatly appreciated.[00:02:39]You're based in the States, right? Yeah, I'm in Dallas area. North Texas. I don't know how there, but the situation here of the industry in Malta and in Europe itself in general, it's a disaster, you know what I mean? This was just a brief snippet from our conversation when we started talking a.[00:03:04]Little bit about the impacts of COVID on Malta and where it's out today, but it can easily apply to the. Conversation that's about to happen. Hopefully you love the first part, but this one breaks down something that Chef Ariel is very passionate about, and hopefully. All chefs are passionate about. And it's really about our food supply.[00:03:29]And the concept of buying local seems pretty simple, right? But once again, it never really is. We all know that it's not as. Simple as it should be. So before we get too far into this as well so we're getting into your dissertation, your thesis here.[00:03:47]And why did you I mean, obviously you're very passionate about it, but what was this thesis for? Basically, since I was working and didn't in the sky, and it was mainly hold for six months, the season, during the summertime. And then I said, okay, let's study. Okay. I've been a head chef.[00:04:10]I am a head chef, but I don't have those beginning basic skills, or at least the theory behind that. Let's go and study. Let's do. And I check. And here they allow me to do a bachelor's degree.[00:04:29]So basically, it's a kind of university title, university degree, which is over three years. And then I said yes. Why not? So I was studying winter, fall, and I was working mainly during the summertime. So time was perfect.[00:04:57]So obviously then it took a bit longer than normal. It took me four years because in between what's covered inside and part of the degree was I spent four months in Institute Paul, because I spent four months intensive in Institute Pulpus.[00:05:22]But then we flew when COVID was here, COVID started and then back, and then what we do, and then again, so it takes a bit longer. The last thing that I needed, I needed to do the test is a dissertation of 15,000 words, because it's a degree. It's a bachelor's degree with honors.[00:05:50]So that's part of it. And unfortunately, I failed the first one, to be honest. And I needed to do another one.[00:05:59]It was meant to fail.[00:06:04]I started as part time job, full time study, and I end up full time study plus full time work, plus another part time work, plus everything. And it was really complicated. But yeah, was part of it was done. Graduate and everything is perfect. How did you choose this topic in the topics exploring the usage of local products within hospitality business in Malta?[00:06:35]So, as I said first, I failed my first test, which was based on ethical consumption. I truly consider myself an ethical consumer, which means that it's related to the local produce. But I do think twice before I buy any food related produce. For example, buying avocado, it's actually supporting not only the fact that avocado kills the soil, but it uses a lot of water, but it's also supporting the labor laws in countries where the avocado is grown. And some countries, we know that there are kids working in there, and it's a bit shady, let's call it.[00:07:28]So I don't buy that unless, for example, here we receive avocado from Spain, from the Canadian islands. Fair enough. Okay, no problem. So failing the ethical consumption, Texas doesn't matter. Why?[00:07:46]To be honest, I didn't really do many things.[00:07:52]I still wanted to stay on something similar with that. Sure, this makes sense. Then I said, okay, let's see. One of the main goals of the academy where I teach is that we use only local products in terms of fruit, vegetables and proteins. Obviously spices, there is a limit, how can you use?[00:08:14]But we try to use only local product in terms of that. So I said, if this is something I'm dealing with every day, let's focus on that. And then I decided to do that and try to understand why, if we as an academy can do that, are the restaurant doing it? Because I don't see it on the menus. Here in Malta, unfortunately, we live in an island in the middle of the Mediterranean, and 85% of the restaurants, they have seabass farmed and salmon in the menu.[00:08:52]And I can't understand why we have salmon in the menu. Sibas, I understand it's locally grown, farmed fed, it off, but it's local. At least it's from here. At least from here. But why salmon?[00:09:09]And the answer is because that's what people like. I said, but that's not what people like.[00:09:17]That's what you are offering. So that's what they choose. Why? If you offer something else?[00:09:26]Exactly. It is a complicated topic, and for me it was important because that's what I do. You know what I mean?[00:09:37]I don't buy my house, for example, unless my kids really, really want maybe once every, but usually I don't. So, yeah, I mean, when it comes to local versus the imported, how much of it is just business decision for. More of the tourist market? Because Malta is kind of heavy on the tourist market, right, where they're almost you go there and they're offering stuff that it's just tourist trap crap. Exactly.[00:10:13]But that's the thing. There is an increase, extremely increase in all Europe on the food tourism, people who want to buy local stuff. Then you arrive to Malta, and if a foodie arrives to Malta, it will be hard to find where to eat local food. And I'm not talking about traditional Maltese food, because that's there is traditional Maltese food. I'm talking about that you go to any restaurant, whatever middle range here you have high end, which are good, not hardly using local product, the middle range are bad.[00:11:01]And then you have the low GestIC kiosk in the street, whatever, which those are quite good because they sell traditional Maltese street food, which is fine, but in the middle, which is the no