I was honoured to attend this year’s Chefs to the Field event. Hosted by TerraNova Schoolyard Project in Richmond, and Organic Friends of the Future, it was a great success! The organizers (our own Chef Ian being the host), 50+ volunteers (who put in tireless hours prior & during) & the chefs were a little concerned in the morning of August 19th when it started to rain during the setup.  However, Mother Nature “had our back”, and by the 11:00 public opening the clouds had parted, and we had a beautiful day from then on.

Thirteen professional culinary groups assisted in the fundraising effort by donating, preparing & presenting onsite food samples, which were sold to the public for $3 each. These ranged from NWCAV’s comfort food of Vegetarian “Pulled Pork” sandwiches (which proved to be very popular with the crowd), to C Restaurant’s House Smoked White Salmon with Pickled Organic Beets on House-made Crackers.  The quality of food from all participants was extremely high, both visually & taste-wise, and maintained the organic, local, sustainable & healthy guidelines.  Chefs, students & assistants came from the following organizations to brave the elements (and the makeshift kitchens) to “feed the people”:

Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver (Vegetarian “Pulled Pork”
Sandwich w/ Slaw)

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I’m amazed how loosely the media uses the word chef.  The Food Network show Top Chef showed a dozen young “chefs” blind-tasting 30 ingredients or so, and the winner of the competition was only able to identify 4…most, in shame, less than 3.  Chefs indeed!  Culinary schools claim they train people to become chefs.  Well that is bogus…unless, of course, a chef is someone that can identify only 4 ingredients in a blind test, is young and sexy, has swagger, possibly a tattoo or two, knows how to climb over people, loves attention, is not camera-shy, and can sous-vide foie gras.  In Spain, the media has coined their young handsome wild-haired gastro-experimental chefs as the “next genius generation”; interestingly, they all refer to their childhood memories in the kitchen with mom and grandma as the beginning of it all.  Chefs are now talked and written about like Hollywood stars; and the ones with greatest style – not necessarily content – get the most attention, however superficial it may be.   

I teach people to become cooks – professional cooks.  In fact, that is the only concept I devote my life to:  learning how to cook.  It takes much more than damn good cookin’ to become a chef, and it can only be learned through many years in the industry, and that’s a whole different story.  But becoming a cook is, to my mind, far more genuine, far more about the food, far more about defining yourself now, forever.  What fascinates me about the great chefs of the past such as Antonin Careme and Fernand Point is not so much what they accomplished as chefs, but how they defined themselves as cooks.  What I would give to have been there when Careme was a teenager learning his craft.  I’m sure I’d walk away with the secret of how a passionate boy so quickly and so deeply learned his art. He simply cooked!

It’s too bad cooks get very little attention.  In fact, the media portrays them as either getting dumped on or rising meteorically, artificially, to superstardom, but nothing in-between.  All our visiting chefs, the one’s we respect and invite to our school to talk to our students, emphasize slowing things down, not to be in any hurry to become a chef.  Good, logical advice.  Hope the tv producers, journalists, food critics, and even the public, one day give hard-working cooks the quality attention they deserve.  There’s nothing wrong with the word “cook”, but I’m sure if we had a one syllable word for it in French, instead of cuisinier (four syllables), cooks’ professional and personal lives might improve dramatically overnight.

 I’ll come back to this one, I promise. 

Cheers (especially to the cooks & dishwashers out there), 

Tony Minichiello, Chef Instructor

Hello Foodies!

We know you’ve been waiting with great anticipation for more information on our new Foodie Club. Well we have been working diligently to put together a schedule and are excited to report that this new series will start on September 29! 

There will be 6 classes, running on Wednesday evenings throughout October, plus the first class which will be Saturday September 29. Join us & the talented industry chefs to expand your culinary repertoire. As usual, these classes are all hands-on, so you will get to create & enjoy the dishes each evening. Here’s the line-up:

September 29 (Saturday 10am-1:30pm)– Chef Brian Misko, of House of Q, presents another fabulous BBQ class (I know many of you were disappointed the last time he was here, when his first two classes in June sold out in only a few days!).  You will prepare:

• Grilled Raddicchio.  Cedar Planked Fish with Citrus Salsa.  Grilled Seasonal Vegetables.  Stuffed Pork Chop.  BBQ’d Stuffed Onion

Read on for the other classes…

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Last night I was taken out to dinner at CinCin, a high-end Italian restaurant in Vancouver, by an NWCAV Professional Culinary graduate who just completed his practicum in the restaurant’s excellent kitchen, and is now returning back to Chicago.  We were accompanied by his mom, who I had met on a couple of other occasions at the school.  We had an amazing meal, Chef Mark and Pastry Chef Thierry just kept the food coming, the wine poured, and we talked about food, the industry, sports, and even politics (I’m a huge fan of baseball, football, and US politics, for some reason).  We also talked about family and personal growth. 

I knew that the evening represented a “thank you” gesture for what the Academy did for this young man, who came to our school with the purpose to take himself to a higher level.  I was reminded how lucky I am to simply be in a position to get involved, to influence -  and it’s something I never take for granted.  On several occasions we are reminded of our influence in the students’ lives – a perk that comes with teaching.  But at one point, and this happened when I looked at the graduate not as a culinary student, but as someone finding himself, receiving genuine support and encouragement from his mom (I was in his shoes 20 some years ago, and today walk in his mom’s shoes), I realized that the evening was a celebration of a young man’s personal achievement, what he accomplished during his time in Vancouver.  As much thanks as he feels he may owe his mother or I, his mom as a parent and I as a teacher owe him thanks for his personal accomplishment.  One thing I will never take for granted is the intense personal journey students put themselves through committing to this field in its entry stages.  It involves daily gut-checks, daily growth, daily commitment, and an emotional roller-coaster ride.  

So to all those graduates that I have ever taught that might be reading this blog and got somewhere with their culinary education, here’s to you!    

Tony Minichiello, Chef Instructor

Somewhere in the culinary term, usually around the halfway point, when I’m relatively comfortable that the students have properly acclimated to my humor and views, I mention the M word – “mangacake”.  The word – literally translated as “cake eater” – has existential connotations, coined by American Italians to refer to individuals or groups that “eat to live” – and do so quite poorly, without care, love, effort, or joy.  Mangacakes are those that use “no time” as an excuse to feed themselves poorly.  Mangacakes are always looking for the quick and easy way out, eat in front of a TV while watching re-runs of Friends or Seinfeld.  Mangacakes come in every form, as many of them from advantageous socio-economic-educational brackets as from disadvantageous.  Those that “live to eat” truly understand that food is pretty much everything, that food is love, it is defining.   

Scorsese and Coppola made it quite evident in their mafia movies that food comes before business.  Students that become professional cooks & become long-term successful chefs know this at heart.  Food has to be everything; otherwise no sane human being would put themselves through the physically and emotionally challenging journey of cooking for a living for the rest of your life.  There is no room whatsoever for mangacakes in this industry, though some do try.   

Personally, I am convinced that it is the mangacakes that make this world a worse place to be in.  Show me people who do not cook or eat well, purposely, and I’ll show you people that are disconnected with themselves and the world around them.  I do not judge people by their sex, race, creed, politics (left or right), religion, etc.;  but I cannot help judge people by whether they are mangacakes or not.  It’s not that I don’t trust the mangacakes, but I wouldn’t want to go down the well with their rope. 

So if you want to become a chef, remember, no mangacakes allowed. 

Cheers, 

Tony Minichiello, Chef Instructor 

p.s. FYI…That’s pronounced “manjucake” – if you said mangacake (like mango with an a), then you might be a mangacake!

To be honest, I cannot remember why 20 years ago I made the plunge to become a professional chef.  Today I like to think it was because I chose an expressive medium which my personality had an affinity for to devote my energies towards social change.  Yes, social change.  Well, that’s somewhat presumptuous.  Most probably, after graduating from university and wondering what I’d do with my life, and based on personal, even childhood experiences around food, I decided to follow my passion.  Yes, that sounds more likely…follow my passion.  I never expressed it that way even then, especially when I was interviewed for entrance at my culinary school in Montreal – that was the last thing the interviewers wanted to here.  Right now, when students do apply at our school and submit their one page hand-written essay, or are interviewed by myself or Chef Christophe, the # 1 reason for making the plunge is indeed following their passion.  And they say it with pride, with emotion, with a smile, as if they’ve been dying to say those very words to someone, anyone.  Quite powerful.  And once in a while, a potential student freely expresses their secret long-term intention to do something with this “food and cooking thing” that can make a difference in people’s lives, whether through educating kids, personal chef-ing, working on a farm, or getting involved in sustainability and the socio-political-cultural-local aspect of food.  And they express this altruistic, ultra-noble desire with zeal, intelligence, and a freedom beyond what my days permitted.   

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This debate of whether culinary schools offer you the best advantages to becoming a chef will always exist.  At one time Paul Bocuse said it was not necessary to go to school, and today he owns a prestigious, high tuition private culinary school.  The New York Times had an article some months ago with two chefs duking it out between the formal training route vs. finding a chef to take you under his wing (they never mentioned “her”, which perhaps explains the high testosterone nature of the article).     

Schools do not create chefs (let’s make that clear); many years of moving up through the levels of industry experience do.  Industry chefs, on the other hand, do not have the time or patience to properly train inexperienced employees.  Thus much depends on the individual.  If he/she is an aggressive learner, knows how to intellectually absorb material, is disciplined enough to practice the skills and techniques in their own time, either at home or volunteering while in school, is open-minded, is committed to giving the most of themselves to their culinary education, then I suggest you find a school that is likewise aggressive, compatible to your needs, challenging enough to get you ready for the challenges of the “real world”, and go for it.  Read the rest of this entry »

My phone at work just won’t stop ringing with anxious chefs/managers asking me for students.  I am tempted to screen all my calls (though there are some chefs out there I’ll always make time for, don’t worry) for I hate having to give them negative news. 

Vancouver, get ready for a crisis – a severe shortage of professional cooks.  I’m basing this on the simple fact that I have received at least 5 times more requests than last year, and not just for one position to be filled, but often 3 or more.  With all the new restaurants opening recently and not slowing down, with 2010 Games hype and all . . . well, you do the math.

Some strategy will be necessary to either 1) encourage more young local people to enter this profession and make their education more affordable, i.e.,  grants and scholarships (NWCAV has contributed over $20,000 in scholarships this year alone to local young people);  and 2) modify the working conditions and wages within the industry.  At the moment I see very little effort to address both of the above challenges.  Governements and restaurateurs better smell the coffee before this issue reaches a boiling point – if it hasn’t already.  

Attracting young local talent needs to be priority one, and they need to earn enough to have a decent life in an increasingly expensive city while working in this field.   Australian wages for cooks are way better than ours, but then again the average Australian pays more for their meal.  

We’ve had this sweep-under-the-carpet, semi-denial attitude for quite some time now.  A grab-the-bull-by-the-horns approach will be necessary.  Unfortunately, I still sense denial from owners, chefs, and government.

Cheers,

Tony Minichiello

Chef Instructor 

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I’ve come to a conclusion:  you are what you cut.  I am so convinced of this maxim that the knife is, in my opinion, the instrument that determines whether any serious cooking will occur.  Those that love their knife, hone it every time they have ingredients before them on a cutting board, have it professionally sharpened at least once a year, keep it clean and visible at all times, are proud of their investment in this piece of fine crafted metal, love the feel of it in their hand, especially when it beautifully slices and dices through onions, ginger, garlic, and carrots, they are likely to be devoted, passionate cooks, spending much more time than most in their kitchens, and better quality time at the dinner table.  But those that have dull knifes, don’t use it with any confidence, hate the thought of cutting the onions, garlic, ginger, and carrots, thus not motivated to get started because all cooking begins with preliminary cuts, keep their dull knife in a drawer, out of sight, as it only reminds them of a tedious chore, and they are always on the look-out for quick and easy solutions, they are likely to spend uninspired time in their kitchen and less than satisfactory time at the dinner table.  I’m always encouraged by the incredible quality of the knives the Foodies bring to our classes and how determined they are to learn to them well.  I wish my professional students were just as determined, consistent, and persistent, as they too often try to learn bigger fish without knowing mastering the very basics of pre-cooking/plating techniques.  Read the rest of this entry »

There are still a couple of spots left in this class – call now to register…

Chef Barbara Finley is back with a two-day camp for the young cooks that introduces them to basic culinary knowledge and skills, kitchen and food safety and tasty food using fresh, seasonal ingredients.

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Had amazing food this past week at a latino nuevo restaurant not more than a week old called Cobre in Gastown (http://cobrerestaurant.com/).  The chefs are not classically trained in Latin cuisine yet definitely knew what he was doing, as the dishes not only hit wondeful flavour notes, but were technically well executed.  The menu offers many latino favorites, many with its own twist and modernizations.  I was impressed. I expected chefs with names like Manuel, Raoul, or Maria back there, not Stuart or Tyson. Which brings me to a re-definition of fusion.

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