On a more serious note considering that statement, being a Chef is a completely unsustainable lifestyle. I think, especially considering the gift that Bourdain gave us with his writing and commentary over the years, it is recognized how harsh an environment kitchens are. The better the kitchen, usually the worse the lifestyle as we live to do nothing but be better than we were the day before (for some of us, at least). The sad truth is that I’ve seen and experienced too much in 20 some-odd years as a professional in the industry.
I embraced a different approach while I was doing Fine Dining in San Francisco. Leading up to that career change at 30 years old, I had been doing Taiji and studying Eastern Philosophy pretty hard. After a few hard lessons in my first Fine Dining kitchen, I started applying myself as a Warrior rather than just another Screw Up. Five years and 3 world class restaurants later I started my own business as a Private Chef for some high profile families. I’ve run that business since 2008, now just doing pick up gigs for tourists in Wine County. I’ve also run a kitchen for a flagship winery doing multi-course pairings with their juice.
And now, I just want to figure out what I want to do as a grown up.
To bad you can’t get rich designing and building speakers!
