Yes, and no. I have never studied in a "real" chef school. I didn't put a mortgage loan on my parents house to study in one of the best culinary institutions in France. But I spent my entire life watching old women's and men's hands carefully, how to knead a dough. How to make a stock from scratch, how to butcher a chicken. How to treat your vegatable garden and how to salt a plate of food considered to be just perfect. I worked in restaurants, canteens, farms and even in a chocolate factory. I make catering. I teach people how to cook from scratch. I am cooking every single day.

I heard it so many times in my life: "he/she is only a chef". Well, go and work in a kitchen for one day, and repeat the same sentence with still emphasizing the word "only". Cooking is a complex task. Chefs have a huge responsibility and not only for guest's satisfaction. Chefs are connection points between agriculture and gastronomy, between nature and human. If chefs do the right things, the world is a better place. At least that is what I believe in, and work for as a "chef".

Taste is everything

I want to believe, that...

...It will only taste good if it had a good life. It will only taste good if it grew naturally, without chemicals. It will only taste good if farmers got paid well and live a quality life. It will only taste good if it does not harm the ecosystem and nature on any way. It will only taste good if it is in season. It will only taste good if you eat it fresh without a long transportation. Our food will only taste good if it is fair, organic, good quality, local, seasonal and treated well with love and care.

This is not part of the universal chef education when it should be. Because these are the basics for good taste. The way we prepare a dish is the next step after all of these.

Everyone is a chef

You do not have to be a professional chef to cook responsibly. We are all cooks of our own kitchen, home, family and friends. And besides the ingredients, we can use our identity, characteristics, ideology as spices to make a good, clean and fair food without remorse.

Cooking is not only a question of the chef and its fame, neither the numbers of starts. Cooking is not only about perfection and techniques, but also about respecting the work of others. Respecting nature, farmers, farm animals and all kinds of ingredients. Cooking creates community, therefore culture. Cooking makes us who we are, every single day. Gastronomy is about a past full with traditions, about a sustainable present, and about an equally livable future for everyone and everything. I am very lucky I can work with food every day. I am proud to be a chef and all of you should be.