What has Food Become in our Industry?????

22. July 2009 by Kenneth Gilbert.

I was privilaged to participate at the 2009 Veggie U event in Milan Ohio for a sixth year in a row the other day. I have to say that I was very impressed with my overal experience with the event. This year I only participated in the gala dinner on Friday and decided to chill out on Saturday to enjoy the event. Great move on my part this year….

As I was enjoying the food at the event, the question that came to me was, “What has Food Become in our Industry”? There was  Steelite competition between Chefs that would in turn provide a Chef with the honor of going to stag at El Bulli in Spain with Feran Adria. I had the honor of going to Spain in like 2000-2001 and I trained at the Newport Room at the Hotel Arts Barcelona, Hotel Arabella in Palma de Mallorca and Koldo Royo in Palma de Mallorca. I had the honor of having housemade spirits with Juan Arzac (considered to be the Paul Bocuse of Spain), while in Palma de Mallorca.

Overall what I got out of that experience was that the country is a country of expression and bold interpratation of Art by which is very evident in Barcelona when you tour the city. This is represented by the food as well. Tapas restaurants featuring classical local fare are all over he city. Iberico Ham, the prized Black Pig, feeding on Cork Trees from the Basque Region of Spain is truly a must when you visit. Olive orchards are with incredible olives that are perfectly brined with a pop that is truly remarkable.

I some up my experience to the Chef’s represent what they do and they do it exceptionally well. So what is that we as Americans do exceptionally well in regards to Food??? Those of us that are classically trained, which comes from classical French scholars focus on technique, simplicity and great products represented on the plate. I feel that in our industry that now Chefs are forgetting where they come from….Instead of worrying about about making Pearls of some type of puree that needs to be rinsed due the Calcium that was used to create the capsul, how about using knife skills to do a perfect BRUNOISE cut on the product? How about making the perfect Veal Stock, then reducing by half to get a great Demi Glace and then if you want something a bit more rich then reduce again to make a great Glace de Viande.

I guess in my opinion I rather taste the food for the food. Craig Deihl from Cypress in South Carolina is butchering 300 lbs pigs and making his own Charcuterie. This is Art….His dish represented this year like many dishes this year at the garden were beautifully presented, great layers of flavors and truly represented what the ingredients were supposed to be….

Here are some shots of food that tasted delicious. Clean food and artifully presented. There are many more pics. I just woke up way to early today and was inspired to write for some reason today. If you want to see more, go to www.veggieu.com or check out my FaceBook link or Farmer Lee Jones Facebook and you will see many more great photos….

 What it boils down to is be true to the CRAFT……Be true to the CLASSICS…..Be true to the PRODUCT…..Love what you do……As you LEARN you should TEACH…..As you TEACH you will LEARN…..

These are all just my opinions and as most of you may know, I am not shy about stating it…..Just a few thoughts….

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