Maybe. But the piece by Adam Roberts (whom I assume is “he” although your characterisation as “she” makes we wonder if you have insight into their pronouns or just made an assumption based on his having a husband) is not trying to reframe anything but to reflect back on an experience he already had declared stressful and unpleasant enough to prompt flight mid-meal. Here we can really importantly begin to ask what the cultures are that help prop up systems that are cruel, unpleasant, or exploitative. He sets up a rethink with this question in mind but does nothing in this piece to change the facts of the experience he found unpleasant in order to meet the “revelations”.
People have asked this question about him for years. Interesting that some of his collaborators in Lucky Peach also got sidelined for toxic behavior. Coincidence?
I’m not sure the physical or mental abuse is worse. My whole life works behind a computer, I like cooking a lot and tried cooking in a small restaurant for summer in 2022. Personally I didn’t get physical abuse, although someone in the same work place did get that. But the mental was tough, between the fatigue, the task to continually work hard to send out dishes at peak hour, the repetitiveness in the task, the forever coming and going cooks that need training, the strange work hours (while others are having fun), the fact that the incapable chef playing diva and forever yelling that you are no good. I lost interest in cooking for at least 2 years and only recently the interest comes back.
Note that I didn’t work at a high end place. In general many places are managed by people that are bad managers, or inexperienced in the field. Human defaults amplify under all types of stress, emotional, economical, shortages of staff and heat in the kitchen.
The clients satisfaction maybe is the only fuel to keep going those days, as the paid was low.
I don’t know if there are ways to solve it, and I feel robots are already slowly replacing humans.
Well I think RR did mental and physical abuse so he had all the bases covered.
My dil is a doctor who went through the usual grueling residency full of long hours and little sleep. I’m pretty sure if she or another resident had gotten frustrated or mad with a nurse or staff member and physically attacked them, she would have been kicked out of the program and probably had charges brought. So many of these chef stories seem to be linked to male ego and their own sense of self importance. And the posts I’ve seen about yeah he’s crazy but such a genius…eye rolls.
I don’t even want to watch the video of this psycho but I thought this comment was telling. As I said I think the brand “Noma” is probably kaput and wonder if Denmark is rethinking his knighthood or if charges will be brought. The narcissistic part is reminding me of someone else…
NYT comment-
“Yikes. The video “apology” speech he posted is bizarre and almost surreal.
I suggest everyone view it because until you do you will not grasp how demented and truly strange this man is.
There is almost zero acknowledgement that he’s done anything wrong or that there is any real problem. He talks and talks, mostly about what he thinks, feels and wants. At times, he acts like he’s just stepping away for no particular reason at all or as if this is something unfair that happened to “us.”
The man’s evidently an extreme narcissist and incapable of taking responsibility.”
Has anyone here actually eaten at Noma in any of its incarnations? Does anyone have tickets to the current pop-up and plan on filing a report about it?
Or are we all arguing about something none of us will ever experience except 2nd-hand at best?
Btw, he talks about his next project already in the video.
At one point I would ask if this guy is in fact a geek, or autistic, he couldn’t feel much human pain, only the projects. But digging deeper into his past maybe his tough upbringing can be one of the reason.
Thankfully I have not eaten their food. It’s a huge relief that I was never inclined to even consider it. But, mostly I am talking about what a toxic, exploitive monster their chef is and how he built an elitist empire through abuse, misery and torment. At this point the food could be made of angels and I wouldn’t care.
I was talking about all this with my foodie son and daughter in law and they immediately recounted a meal in Mexico City at Pujol that they said was almost inedible. Expensive Michelin starred but they said people were getting up and leaving. The world of fine dining has certainly become a huge industry and social media plays a big part.
