Vocabulary

Published 6 June, 2007 - 20:24 Tags: assholes | reflection.

Coffee, generally, is served hot. I forgot that important point for a moment and slugged back a big gulp of fresh latte. Bad move.

Anyway, I was just listening to the radio where someone was making a point about how the professional music industry isn’t really in danger of extinction the way people say because someone sitting in their bedroom isn’t the same as a professional musician. What a concept.

Not every asshole with a stove is a chef. I am sick to death of the misuse of the word chef. I was looking at a resume today where someone had listed their position at one job as “chef.” If you look to the details, he was really the vegetable guy, or entremetier. At another place, he listed chef and was a commis, which is basically an apprentice. Not everyone who puts a pan on a stove is a chef. Rachel Ray is not a chef. Ditto Nigella Lawson. Neither, even, was Julia Child. A chef is a professional who runs a professional kitchen. The word is more like “Captain” than “engineer.” In German and French, and to a lesser extent Italian, the word simply means “boss.”

Having a white coat does not a chef make.

Lenn (not verified) 7 June, 2007 - 13:51

I’ve seen a lot of people misusing the word “chef” as well.

How do you define chef?

Someone I know went to culinary school, but is an author/editor. Is she a chef? I say no because she hasn’t run a restaurant kitchen. She says that because she went to culinary school, she’s a chef.

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JoeFish 7 June, 2007 - 16:36

Lenn,

That would mean because I went to Rowan I’m an engineer. (FYI, I’m not an engineer.) No, I used to be a cook, and now I’m a stagehand. I even ran a catering business and refuse(d) to call myself chef. Your friend is an author/editor, not a chef.

The chef is like the captain of a ship; in military parlance, it is a duty position. Of course, if the captain or chef leaves his kitchen, he is still a chef, because he is known to be worthy of the title. Check out this musing: The Badass As Ubermensch.

Thanks for reading.

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Aaron (not verified) 9 June, 2007 - 01:04

What irks me even more is parents of people in culinary school who say, “my son/daughter is in culinary school to learn to be a chef.” No dude. Your son/daughter is in culinary school to be able to put it on their resume and get a job that pays 7 bucks an hour.

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shuna fish lydon (not verified) 9 June, 2007 - 13:46

as they say in Harlem, “Talk about it!”

i love this post. thank you for it. and Aaron— I absolutely love putting a smile on my face and correcting these parents. Oh, it’s so much fun! heh.

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