The Parts of the Whole

As a planner, I have been mulling over what will come after LCB for the past year. Obviously work, that is to say something that will pay me money. My intention – rather, my life goal – is to make a living doing something that I love. Doing something that not only plays into my passion of cooking, but something that consumes me. Something that will consume me to such an extreme that it becomes me.

You see, I have always based my identity on my career, and before work, there was school. It is my hardwire makeup. A part of me that I have realized that I can not get away from. Something that I have chosen to embrace, no longer suppress.

I get a slight chuckle inside when I realize that I have never worked in a restaurant. Never. Not as a bust boy. Not as a host. Certainly, not as a chef (or cook). [Chuckle, Chuckle]

For the past four months I have been apprenticing at an Italian-style restaurant in Salt Lake City. This has given me some exposure to what working in a kitchen is like. It has exposed me to the kitchen vs. “front-of-the-house” dynamics. My apprenticeship has also opened my eyes to the down and dirtiness of being a chef. I love it all. Relish actually.

During my apprenticeship I have done things as awesome as make risotto and stuff the evening’s calamari steak special, to tasks as straightforward as washing dishes. While the later may seem unglamorous, or even avoidable, it builds character.

I know to say something, “builds character” is one of the most pretentious clichés around, but it’s true. Building character to me is more than hardening one’s shell or opening one’s mind. It is about digging deep down to the most fundamental aspect of one’s job – not ignoring any part. It is then by adding up these parts that one can honestly see the whole.

Every job has parts that suck. My philosophy is to get down and real with the sucky parts then they just become a small part of the whole – never consuming.

This is all deep, but true, and feels right to share.

So go out there, gather up all your parts, add them together, and experience your whole.