One must start somewhere and I am starting here - en media res.
My name is J. I am a chef. I have been cooking professionally for more than 22 years. I accepted the title of chef in 1996. I have a degree in English and Classical literature. I have gathered stories throughout my career that are educational, sensational, depressing, elevating, disgusting, touching and damned unbelievable. This is my first effort in Blogging. I am writing this for professionals and civilians alike - for information and insight - and to assemble structure and sense to what has been happening in our industry and to me over the last 25+ years.
I've had a few literary concepts going in mind for several years, maybe ten years - one of which is a coffee table book dedicated to "Velvet Elvis" paintings. Two outlines for works relating to the culinary field rest comfortably in expandable files, safe in my desk. A series of published articles, contribution to several books and the composition of course curriculum for many cooking classes precede the efforts before you. FEEDING FRENZY - in many ways is a follow up and crystalizing of earlier work and the pre-publication test-bed for much more. In the course of a twenty two year culinary career, I have benefitted from the knowledge of from gracious mentors, the generously shared absurdity of many, mountains of minutiae and a lot of "free comedy". The field of culinary arts (more on that later) contains so much oral tradition and knowledge, one of my objectives here is to share that which is not written down and provide a window into something a little more real than TV's version of what we do every day.
Seemingly everyone has a blog about something and much of what I read is simply inane fantasy poop-spam-spoop-spap-pap. So here is your Bill of Rights - the readers’ Bill of Rights. Everything you will read here is non-fiction. If I make assumptions about the minds of others, you will be informed. Everything else, EVERYTHING, is verifiably true. Occasionally, names may be changed to protect the guilty - but sources will be given whenever required or relavent.
An editor of mine ten years ago, told that my writing reads like I sound when I am speaking. My editor, I take to mean, asserts that my writing includes parenthetical statements, serial sentences, dramatic pauses and convoluted sentences that are still grammatically sound. I use the dramatic pause and the turnabout to bring you closer. So, may I hope that you will follow along, scratch deeply below the surface, look closely and draw some blood with me.
Game on.
