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Cooks as slaves

carlos_371735

Hola! I would like to share with you guys this post. It's about the challenges to work as a cook and being overworked to the point of slavery. Like you, I love food and cooking and I'm trying to connect with other like minded people to hopefully make friendships and projects. I'm from Mexico, currently working in UK. All the best! https://chefcarlosmacias.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/cooks-as-slaves/

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Comments

brian_martin2001

The one problem i have with this analogy is this: you chose to become a cook. There it's Nothing stopping you from leaving. Sure, you need to make a living, but there are plenty of other career options you can choose from. You can also choose to find a new restaurant to work in. While i have never worked in a professional kitchen, many of my close friends and business associates have Ann's there are a good many restaurants whose kitchens are not this way. Yes, you're always in a rush; yes, things are always hectic; yes, temperatures can run high due to the stress, but again, you selected becoming a cook. This was a conscious decision on your part. No came into your home, kidnapped you, put you in chains, put a gun to your head, or pumped you so full of drugs that you were no longer you, and forced you to cook.

Samuel_68313

This is true, and cooks as slaves is a bit extreme. But it is far far far more common than you or most people realise. Bullying and abuse is so common in the kitchen. And chefs are trapped into their job a lot of the time, as there is basically no other career you can move to (obviously you can go into training, but if you've got bills to pay that isn't normally an option for most people).

I don't think most people realise how the industry is and how it treats people. Everyone is desperate for cheap food, and this means a lot of restaurants employ mostly foreign workers, lots of which are working illegally and below minimum wage (a friend of mine worked somewhere where the kitchen porters were paid £3 an hour). At one place I worked at briefly I was contracted to work 45 hours a week, but I was made to do six twelve hour shifts instead, sometimes seven, and only paid 45 hours regardless.

On the abusive side of things, thankfully I have not been on the end of too much. But a few things that have happened: After burning something in the fryer (which I didn't send out, I just redid it) the chef decides to "teach" me about how hot the oil is by grabbing a ladle and pouring a small amount of oil down my arm. After an argument one time someone left the handle of a pan over a burner and then passed me the pan handle first (this massacred my hand). I had the pizza door over deliberately closed on my arm. And the classic I had a knife thrown at me, which resulted in quite a nasty cut.

This is not every restaurant, but almost every chef I know has worked places like this. My last job was pretty good but even there the hours were mental and everyone pretty much was minimum wage. I have personally decided to take a few weeks break while I work out what I want to do from here. I don't want to continue being a chef but I might have no choice, because I have no other skills/qualifications and no one will employ chefs.

carlos_371735

Hey Brian, That's so cool, man! Thanks a lot for taking the time to read it and then write your thoughts. I found your analogies funny. You are right in saying that nobody said I should work in kitchens, in fact I've met people that discourage me to do so. However, I don't think there's a problem with my analogy, although I admit it's a bit over the top, but it's a title that was meant to get people's attention

I have also worked in kitchens were the first rule is to care for your team, and the times where I've been in charge I've certainly tried to give that example as well. So it's not all darkness and shadows. But, my friend, you'll be surprised of how often things don't work out that way. How fucked up people can be with coworkers. Leave alone the innate conditions of the job which you described. And you'll be surprised as well how much illusion cooks can have to try to see through that in order to learn and get better, but a person can only take so much before it gets to you. My post is to say that it doesn't have to be that way. Nobody is happier and works better with insults and more, and there are so many productive ways to deal with stress and rush. I live for it, man, to know that if I make a mistake, service is fucked, I love that feeling, that responsibility. There are too many stains in the trade and I think it's a must to talk about it. I want to make my trade better, not run away from it. If you have a problem, running away from it is not the solution. Anyway, I don't mean to make you change your mind, I just want to explain myself. So kind of things do you like to cook?

carlos_371735

Hey Samuel1 Thanks a lot for reading the post and I admire you for sharing your dark moments in kitchens. It certainly wasn't easy for me to write that post. But as I said in a comment above, I think it's worth talking about dark things of your trade, in order to address them and hopefully make things better. There was one thing you mentioned that I would like to suggest to you. I don't know your responsibilities outside work, or your age or where are you from, but you really have to know that you do have a choice. We live in a time where we have a lot of freedom, man. If you have decided that you are done with this, you must know that you can do something else. I've met entrepreneurs that didn't go to school but they made it happen. I don't know if you knew, but Fergus Henderson actually studied to become an architect, but then he became one of the most respected chefs among chefs. If you really like food and cooking, maybe it's a matter of finding just another place, another outlet for your work that's healthier. If you are done, just find something else you like and do it. All the best. Where are you from, by the way?

brian_martin2001

I'm not arguing that point. I have had many friends and acquaintances who have worked in kitchens. Some have had very positive experiences, some not so much. I'm not arguing that there are many kitchens out there than are not in severe need of an attitude adjustment. I've cooked many things, whatever the spirit moves me, as it were. That's the beautiful thing about being a home cook with a decent understanding of food and access to a variety of ingredients to play around with. I an indulge my flights of fancy.