Getting older does a few things for you. As an old chef/cook who has worked in kitchens for over four decades, I am lucky to have very good health and no back-aches. I appreciate my good health and realize that it is one of the best wishes I can give and so I wish you good health for this oncoming New Year.
Naturally when I talked good health that also means good mental health; in our industry we see an un-proportional amount of mental issues. I have spoken about this before in my blogs and have acknowledged my mental illness, PTSD; although my disorder did not come from the kitchens but from my days in the Vietnam War, fifty years ago this year. As we, at HTN, are involved with the R U OK? group I join the cry to encourage you to ask your mates at work if they are OK? It is a very good thing to do.
Another thing I have noticed through my many years in and around the industry is just how well accepted multiculturalism is by we cooks, chefs and workers in the Hospitality Industry. I think that is because we work with people from all over the world. We have come to accept the different cooking styles and flavor combinations and techniques that make us global in our attitude to food; it is also that global attitude our customers have come to expect with foods of the world.
The way we serve multi-ethnic foods has made us so well known in the world. For example, just look at the international success of Maeve O’Meara’s Food Safari and all the different ethnic cuisines featured in that fantastic TV series. It is truly a melting pot of cuisines which we love as much as our customers do.
But then, you work with people from around the world and just think how well we work with each other regardless of our origins. If we can mix and work so well in the kitchens and on the floor, why can’t we extend that behavior, that philosophy, into our society?
Along with wishing you good health for the New Year, I wish you and everyone Peace.
By Peter Howard