The Obsession with Food

Food is more popular than ever. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm caught in my own little "blogosphere" (I've been wanting to use that word for like a week), but all of a sudden everybody seems to know what molecular gastronomy is and who Grant Achatz is, wants to open a fine dining restaurant and are thinking of going to culinary school. Millions of people tune in to watch Top Chef, the Food Network is quickly becoming a cable powerhouse. More and more food and haute cuisine is becoming publicly accessible. Though you can't eat through the tube, you can certainly learn quite a bit (if you watch the right programs) about modern cuisine.

You disagree with me? I see you there. One of you obnoxious "foodies" who think that Food Network is trash in the same way that hipsters don't think the Arcade Fire is obscure enough anymore. Well whereas I would tell the hipsters to shove it, I do somewhat agree that Food Network is largely garbage. A muted palette of pastels and bright colors to lure in "housewives" with promises of convenient and delicious meals. Friendly, accessible faces who play both mother and teacher as they slowly guide you through their contrived meals of "a classic! BUUUT .. with a twist!" Okay that was very much a Bourdain sentence, but my point is there are good food shows out there on TV. Good Eats, though quirky and often over-the top is really educational. I'm surprised how much stuff I know in the kitchen because I learned it watching that program. Tyler's Ultimate is probably the most legitimate cooking show there is, followed by Jacque Pepin's Fast Food My Way (that's on PBS kids). And you could pretty much learn most of what's up and hot in the food world by watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations episodes in America. He almost certainly goes to visit some of the best chefs in each city he goes to.

So there, you can sift through the muck and find gems here and there. If it ever gets to the point where someone actually cares how I became a chef I will proudly say that I was part of a generation of people who was influenced and could learn quite a bit from food television. And that I learned oh-so-much from the internet. The wide expanse that is the webernets has been the scariest deep end I've looked in to for a while. The sheer number of food blogs, food news sites, and my discovery of just how many people LOVE food is nuts. I mean just look to your right on this site, that' just a grain of sand of that exists in the veritable desert of food-related sites, blogs and news out there. I've learned so much about my fellow cooks in the past few months just because I set up a Google Reader page, and it's kinda scary.

Scary? Why? I had this same realization with ultimate. When I went to College Nationals (still probably the most fun weekend of my life) and saw 20 college teams play their hearts out there, I realized how many great players there were. I mean there were your superstars like Will Neff, Stephen Presley, Mac Taylor, but for every star player there was a supporting cast of 25 players who were essential to the machine, and very skilled players in their own rights. I've been playing for 3 years, and I've practiced and trained really, really hard this year. But what do I have to show for that work? Ultimate is growing at an incredible rate, there are probably more than a 100,000 players in the USA. It is attracting great athletes from other sports, and really talented players. Where do I fit in?

Well regardless of my future with ultimate, I think I fit in just fine. I have limitations, mainly athletic ones, but I consider myself to be a smart and effective player. I think the fact I recognize my weaknesses makes me stronger. This was further confirmed in my mind as the club season came around. I didn't try out very seriously for any Open teams, but I played well against both Machine and Beachfront and have no regrets. I went to tournaments with various teams and played very well. So how does this super-awesome tangent tie back to food?

Well naturally everything in life worth having is incredibly difficult to attain. So many people love ultimate, so many more people love food and cooking. It's going to be damn competitive out there. I'm suddenly not the only guy who dropped his fancy education to pursue a life in the kitchen, not by a long shot. There are plenty of smart guys, so many talented cooks who are just so damn creative, and many of them started as kids, when I still considered McDonald's haute cuisine. I am scared, a little nervous right now. But I was the same way with ultimate. I thought, how am I ever going to compete with these guys? Well I kept my head down, focused on my team and worked my ass off for a year, and now I'm definitely in the same part of the atmosphere. I think it will be much the same with cooking, but a long path that will stretch over my lifetime.

Right now I'm at the bottom. There are millions on top of me. They are more skilled, more knowledgeable, many of them more talented. I have no idea what kind of talent I have towards food. Like so many other Asians, I was good at music, but unlike so many others Asians (at least the Juilliard ones) I fucking hated it. It will take a lot of things on my part to reach the top, to open a restaurant that is worthy of acclaim. I'm going to have to sacrifice a lot. Spending hours in the kitchen, oftentimes working for nothing, halving cherry tomatoes for hours (oh that actually happened this weekend). A lot of hard work, studying food trends, keeping what chefs are hot on my radar, learning from them. And creativity. The most elusive quality of all.

Creativity and inspiration are nothing you can achieve by sweat and tears alone. They either grace you or they don't. It helps to surround yourself with creative people, brilliant people in your field whom you can collect ideas from. But if you can't take all that compiled information, all the artistic touches and combine them into something your own, something original, than it's really not worth anything. You're just a copy cat then, do something original damn you! A lot of people are making their careers on doing simple food, just doing something common, uncommonly well. But the shooting stars of this period are the ones doing new things. Look how many molecular gastronomy restaurants top the World's 50 Best Restaurants. Look at this guy, Daniel Humm, an early 30s chef who just got 4 stars from the NY Times. Toes the line between traditional and groundbreaking, flirts with molecular gastronomy. In his early 30s, four stars! How can I compete with that?


The only answer I can give, and it's a unsubstantial one, is passion. Some say passion fades as it does with lovers, but I think me and cooking are in it for the long haul. I legitimately like working in the kitchen, even when it's for free and I am slaving at something terrible (halving cherry tomatoes). When I get paid for it? When I know what I'm doing? When I get to work the hot line, when I get to be in charge? Oh man, this gig only gets better as I go along. So there it is, that's all I can hope for. I believe the passion will never fade, so I will almost always have the fuel to sacrifice to put in hard work .. but as for that creative spark? That originality, that wall-shattering, ground-breaking quality that can garner everyone's attention, that only a few people truly have? Well ... I guess we'll just have to see about that.

EP #6