Why do chefs


Need to be *beep* You treat anyway with that disrespect in any other occupation and you'd be in big trouble.

Perfection should not be sacrificed for human dignity.

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Perhaps because people that gravitate toward a career in the kitchen are loners with few people skills, whose limited vocabulary, lack of formal education, and frustrations with their lack of power propels them to berate and dominate others around them to gain a false sense of control, otherwise known as overcompensation? Maybe. Unfortunately, I don't think this behavior is exclusive only to chefs...

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[deleted]

Keep your panties on, Dorothy. Nobody said the job was easy. However, just because a job is difficult doesn't mean it takes a smart person to do it. In fact, it's generally the opposite, isn't it? Most folks slaving away in their own sweat are doing so because they lack the education to make money any other way. Sure, some do it because they love it and that's grand. But most sweathogs do it because it's their only option. And, like it or not, many chefs fall into that category. They began working in a kitchen to get around the drug screen and background check and decided "Hey, I can do this."

Unfortunately, they picked up their people skills from similar vagabonds and ex-cons, so they don't have the faintest clue how to treat people, which is why they storm around the kitchen like a petty tyrant. Chef's prepare food. That's all they do. People have been cooking and eating since time began. Sure, there's some artistry involved for those who want to admire it on a granular level, but there's some artistry involved in cleaning a toilet too and you don't see the maid ordering people around like a two-bit Napoleon. The OP is right to recognize that many chefs seem have personality issues. I doubt that you're a chef, but based on your presumptious and clumsy reply, you'd be a perfect candidate.

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[deleted]

Yes, we were talking about the American-made money Burnt with American-made Bradley Cooper and a plethora of other American actors. So, yes, maybe Luxembourgian chefs are all Ivy league graduates from two-parent households. However, those fine, well-adjusted Euro chefs were not the ones depicted in the movie Burnt, you wanker.

By all means, please, please, please put me on your ignore list. Obviously, some prayers DO get answered.

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[deleted]

And you're the biggest whino I've ever read. Back to your basement, Guido.

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Wow, Joshi, the poster was only surmising what he/she thought would lead a person to be a real jerk or take other's bad behavior without a fight. The assumption was reasonable even if not accurate. But you just started with name callings and insulting. Even if you were right, your attitude just unmerited your rebuttal. Your are an ass!
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As an ex-chef I can tell you that is a great argument to make if you want people to know that you have no clue what you’re talking about.

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I'm a cook. I've worked in kitchens since I was 17 years old. I started out at the bottom, and got treated like *beep* WHEN I didn't do my job right. Since then, I've gone to college, and come out with a degree in Information Technology. And you know what, I still work in a kitchen. The stress, the pressure, the controlled chaos, the strive for constant perfection and consistency. That's what drives me. Sitting in an office all day fixing computers? I'd never get that excitement. I get to go to work, put myself and my body through hell for 14 hours, and then go home knowing that I did my job well, and that everyone who ate my food went home happy. When people are paying upwards of $90 for three courses, there is no room for error. When you're in the high end price range, and especially at the Michelin level. There is no room for error at all. If you screw up, you'll know about it. A Chef does not have time to quietly pull you aside, and say hey, don't do it again. They'll call you out, yell out the issue, and tell you to not do it again.

You have no idea what we do. I would welcome you into the kitchen I work in, and I can almost guarantee that after your 9th straight hour with out to much as a toilet or meal break, you'd be begging to sent home. Whereas myself and my colleagues? We're just getting started.

I got into this industry to pay my way through my schooling. I stayed in it because I developed a passion for it. And before you ask, if someone *beep* up my section, you can bet your left nut I'm going to let them know about it. This isn't your kitchen at home, this isn't a holiday house. This is a business, where mistakes cost money.

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Name one celebrity chef that came up through the ranks who is an idiot. I dont want a list of people you dont like, I want the idiots. And be prepared to back it up. Good luck. LOL

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So, you are saying it is okay and acceptable that these chefs behave like this in a working environment, like it is also portraited in reality TV shows?

I work in high-tech sectors where you work with people that are smart, experienced, fast paced...etc, and no matter who you are, you are expected to RESPECT people. Everything is TEAMWORK. If you constantly SHOUT at people, you are fired -- because everyone is replaceable.

It is such a sad thing that these movies and TV shows are showing these again and again as if the behavior is okay. It is NOT okay! There is nothing constructive in shouting at people. This is inefficient problem-solving approach.

No one needs to know "anything about how kitchen works" to make sensible comments. Otherwise, it is like saying abuse is okay just because "you dont understand our family".

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I am a cook and chefs are giant a-holes.
The stuff about overcompensation is true.
If you treated people anywhere near the way they are treated in the restaurant business in any other field , that *beep* wouldn't fly !
Also , all cooks i know are legitimate crazy people.Probably because of the 300 hours they have to put in.

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It is one of the most stressful jobs that a person can have. Chefs have to tackle a lot of more things in a month than most people in their lives.


You were doing well until you made this remark. Yes they are hard working but any stress involved is purely driven by narcissism.. if a chef messes up people just get a crappy meal, hardly tat stressful .. Try being an airline pilot or for the most stressful job on the planet an air traffic controller... when they mess up a lot of innocent people potentially die.

Any job done well in the service industry is generally driven by narcissism, ie. the desire for total strangers to appreciate and value what you are doing for them.. There is nothing wrong with that but it is hardly stressful in any real sense.

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" Chefs and cooks are one of the most hard-working people in the world, working close to 300 hours a month."

I agree with you. Except that the final product still turns out as crap a good percentage of the time. IMO some new techniques are needed, time saving techniques, that don't sacrifice the taste and quality of the food, but turn out a more consistently good result.

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Chefs are also the ones who get all the blame if anything goes wrong with a meal (and also get all the credit for a great meal). Just as an orchestra conductor gets all the blame/credit for an orchestra's performance. Lower-ranking staff members don't get the attention when they do something wrong. It's always a matter of "the buck stops here" for the guy at the top.

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So, here's an actual answer.

The brigade de cuisine (kitchen heirarchy system) was developed by this guy Escoffier. He was the one who basically created all the organization and more importantly discipline to the profession.

He started out in the military in the 1870s as an army chef. A few years later he opened his first restaurant, and he used all the stuff he learned from being in the military at war time to organize his staff so it could run at its most efficient.

Kitchens run like the military. In the military, you get yelled at, pushed, told to be perfect, and punished when you're not.

Bradley Cooper's character wasn't really even that bad. The only really *beep* thing he did was grab Helene's shirt. Other than that, he threw some *beep* The lecture he gave at the end of that first night wasn't even that bad. It was "BE BETTER." The truth is it was an accurate representation. The fact that his team didn't leave is totally accurate. You learn to let it roll off your back.




I never get afraid of things, I only get excited. -Tom Hiddleston

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Chefs' take themselves far too seriously in my opinion. A lot of the celebrity chefs swagger around as if they are the creators of the universe. The unsung heroes of the food industry are the school dinner ladies, give me oven chips and rice pudding over Jamie "fat cook" Oliver or any of Marcus Wareing's so called creations any day

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So if I started throwing chairs and desks around in an office and swore at everyone it would be ok if I compared myself to a chef?

Seriously they're cooking food they're no better than anyone else.

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Ummm....You clearly know NOTHING about the NFL & the Head Coaching jobs that it employs.... Kitchens/Chefs etc are HARDLY the only job/industry out there where yelling (at your team/subordinates, whoever) is the norm or accepted. Most of these message boards in this movie are entirely hogwash and most of the OP's seem to be little whining, constant feelings hurt, overly jealous, wish-they-coulds, LOSERS.

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Steve Jobs is an example of the same type of character in the IT/Tech industry and threw many hissy fits in the office.

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In real life they don't.
It's a very high pressure job and most decent chefs are perfectionists.
You can cook 100 meals in 3 and a half hours all have to be 100%.

But... generally the ones who list it and start shouting and swearing like Gordon Ramsey aren't really up to the task and burn out in a few years. Good chefs tend to talk fast, act fast and keep their cool.

The Gordon Ramsey types (ie 3 Michelin star chefs) are at the top of their game and very talented so can get away with that behaviour. Chefs will put up with it in order to learn in those kitchens.

As for being uneducated and loners? You couldn't be further from the truth. Good chefs need to be chemists, artists, organisers, mediators and have a good head for figures. As well as being committed.

It's a life not for everyone. It's hot, high pressure, long hours and poorly paid. But you don't do it for the money you do it for the food

Btw I've worked in Michelin stared restaurants. 12-15 hour days 6 days a week (1 day unpaid as I wanted to learn more) intense pressure. Terrible pay. Great social life.

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Btw yes you do get told your *beep* Have your food thrown out when it isn't perfect etc

But the customers are paying upwards of £100 plus wine to eat what you cook. When you get it right it's its own reward

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I hated Cooper's character for almost the entire movie. Then at the end - he became tolerable.

I see in IMDb that Gordon Ramsey was a consulting Chef. That makes sense. But at the end of the movie credits I thought I saw Mario Batali's name.

What bothered me a lot was how Cooper would get so close to the food and breathe on it. Also, he kept touching his face and then the food. I also was not sure he used a different spoon every time he tasted something. I am going to feel a little uncomfortable next time I go to a fancy restaurant. You would think the consulting chefs would have picked up on that - unless the didn't see that it was wrong.

I give the movie a 4 out of 10.

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[deleted]

I also was not sure he used a different spoon every time he tasted something


A chef uses the same (silver) spoon to taste everything,but he will always use a (fresh) spoon to scoop it on to his original tasting spoon.The (fresh) spoon gets trown to dishes and the tasting spoon gets a rub on the old apron.


You don't want your bisque tasting like hollandaise sause after all.Unless you want it to taste like that but then you would use other means then contra-contaminating spoons.

Also any left over material(from the tasting mouth) can(/should) never reach what was tasted(the original dish) since it will spoil it terribly.Just spit in your food and leave it for a bit.Not a pleasant sight.

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There is this macho attitude with chefs and restaurants.

They were treated like crap as they worked to the top and they treat their inferiors the same once they get there.

It's that man again!!

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As a qualified Chef for over 30 years this film is quite mild in the attitude of Bradly Coopers character. The tantrums and outburst are nothing compared to what I have seen over the years from Head Chef’s & Sous Chefs.

Having grown up in a hotel and then starting my apprenticeship at 15 and then traveling the world once my apprenticeship had finished, including Paris (Not all it is cracked up to be), London, Germany, Italy and so on. I can assure you that his portrayal of a Head Chef is quite tame. I have seen knives thrown, fist fights, yelling and screaming and cold stock pot’s poured over commis chefs for making mistakes. That is the job, full of stress and perfection, every minute of every service, every day you are open. But it is also full of rewards, putting out the best food that you can possibly create for your customers to eat and then working in a brigade of likeminded people. One bad review can hurt your establishment for weeks, months and even years, so that is always in the back of your mind all the time. The days are gone when all you have to rely on are your regulars to keep you going.

Is it correct to work in that type of environment, that people shout and scream or even throw things at you, probably not? But that is why you do the hours upon hours of training and being taught by those that know. Over the years I have had some real barneys with Head Chef’s and others in the kitchen and have found that if you cannot leave it at the pass at the end of the night you will never last in the kitchen.

As for skill and education trust me to work in a kitchen you need all of those things, maybe not academically but practical knowledge is a must. Working with weights and measures, timings, stock control, GP, VAT, teaching, health and safety and so and so, much more than I can list hear and for anyone to say otherwise has know understanding of what it actually takes to run or even work in a kitchen.

Many things have changed over the years, hotels no longer own the restaurants, named chefs do or are in partnerships with other investors. Everything is geared towards getting a star or 2 in the guide, many young chefs want to be the next Jamie Oliver or whoever is the next big thing on the TV or in the paper and it can be very disappointed when then all they become are daily ‘Table d Hote’ menu chef’s and I am not saying that is a bad thing, being one myself and have loved doing it for many years. I admire those chef’s that create the next craze in cooking but that in its self brings a large amount of pressure.

Really anyone going into this trade will understand that with all the pressure, 90+ hour weeks, little holiday time, low pay, bad lifestyle and all the rest of the bulls**t that come with it, that is the life (not just a job) that you are signing up for. And certainly not some sycophant telling you “Oh you did that wrong you should and do better next time, the customer won’t really care that their meal is raw, dry or taste like an old sock”. You want “Well you *beep* that up!! Guess who’s on pot wash every night this week after service. Because trust me that is how you learn not to *beep* it up next time.

My pence worth anyway.

I did actually enjoy the film though for showing how many kitchens do work and what goes into working in one. Like in my younger years going to Billingsgate at 4 am to get the best you can buy for your tables. Thankfully I no longer work in London and use my local guys to deliver at a proper time of the day.

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I thought this post was going to be Why do chefs... like to destroy their restaurants?
Bradley Cooper in one scene throwing sh!t around the kitchen, then Reece utterly demolishing the tables and chairs, the whole room really. I laughed out loud at both those scenes, they were hilarious.
Do some eccentric top level chefs in real life love to destroy their restaurants in anger too?

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