An essay by Khushbu Shah.
(There was an old essay titled "In Defense of Fine Dining by Will Guidara of Eleven Madison Park in 2016 in Lucky Peach Magazine - remember that? - but it seems to have been completely scrubbed from the internet. Quite a mystery, or not.)
On the opposite end of this spectrum is Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express, with an all- or mostly-female kitchen staff that isn’t required to be professionally trained.
There are several interviews where she speaks about kitchen philosophies, but this excerpt from one such last year is topical:
“The global fine dining industry is currently dominated by men who seem to have taken on the roles of Van Gogh-like tormented artists whom the world seems to be worshipping. This leaves little space for women who may have a different personality and perspective. This is also a straight-jacket in some ways, unless you use different ingredients like ants and live snails, it almost excludes anyone who wants to cook honest food without gimmicks and drama. There should be space for both styles of cooking,” Khan says."
There are many different opinions - here is just one response
“The brigade system gets framed as inherently harmful because of its rigidity.”
There is academic research about the problems with the brigade system. Any simplification defending the system and blaming “a few” bad actors seems a bit delusional at this point in time, when bad actors have gotten away with all of it repeatedly over decades, even when everything they are doing is public knowledge.
Yes, but the original article sounds like that every fine dining restaurant automatically has a violence problem just because they are fine dining. I also disagree her premise that fine dining restaurants exists more or less so that some chefs can be seen as “gods”. There are issues with restaurant kitchens and their potentially tox environment but that isn’t focused just on fine dining. I also find the argument odd that fine dining should get rid of because it is expensive and many people can’t afford it - so do we get rid of cars, travel, art, concerts etc because many people can’t afford it - overall I didn’t find the original article well written or convincing
Zippo posted this in NorCal news. This is a different model for fine dining.
To change or break the French brigade system will take some doing given it’s an institutional model now.
Unions have been mentioned but I doubt any restauranteur would go for it. Remember the stink for healthcare and then putting the fee on the dining bill? I think they’d fight to the death before letting a union in. That’s what you’re up against.
Re the brigade system, from the other thread.
That article on Masala y Maiz made me excited about their food, and hungry right after I ate dinner!
This was powerful from their 2021 Instagram post declining their nomination to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list:
“We have seen institutions like The World’s 50 Best uphold and promote a deeply abusive, sexist & broken restaurant culture. We cannot advocate for the change we urgently need in our industry while continuing to reward & promote restaurants & organizations that thrive on the exploitation of restaurant workers.”
I don’t agree with everything in the article and she’s not the most skilled writer, but those are not grounds to dismiss the entirety of the discussion.
I have in general, not specific to this article but it is also apparent in this one, a problem that many current discussions are mixing too many things together around restaurants and thereby dilute the necessary discussion and subsequent action around toxic environment in a number of restaurant kitchen.
And yet, not having the discussion at all is guaranteed not to solve anything.
The toxic environments, abuses, etc. aren’t new, and haven’t suddenly been exposed for the first time.
So maybe some extreme viewpoints can help generate enough interest in the discussion that’s needed to effect actual change.
You think getting rid of “fine dining” (whatever hell that means) will solve that?
What’s your idea?
The status quo?
The so-called "abuses’ in restaurant kitchens (be in “fine dining” kitchens, or otherwise) is simply a reflection of humanity and human nature itself.
Hazing, in the form of physical or mental abuse, or both, is extant in all nooks and crannies of society. From grade school kickball games, to high school locker rooms, to college sororities and frats, to factory workers to wall street bankers.
It just is.
Stamping out fine dining thinking that will be a salve to human “abuses” is both shortsighted and naive.
And as an aside, the worst of physical abuses occur not in fine dining kitchens, per se, but in your corner (so-called) mom-and-pop restaurant.
Again, this isn’t a food hospitality issue – be it fine dining, low dining, or somewhere in-between – it is humanity issue.
If you want to eradicate human abuses, begin with humans.
In other words, it’s not a problem in need of a solution. Because the solution is essentially worse than the problem.
