Food lives in our family. We cook, we eat, we critique, and
also explore new things. When I was
young, cooking was always something my family did which has been passing down
from generation to generation going back decades. We would cook from smoked
Bar-be-que meats to wedding cakes.
Everything was always homemade, made from scratch. Now that I am
emerging into the future generation, I was often taught the skills of cooking
in which I still learn to this day. Not only do I learn from family, but as
young kid I was often fascinated with Food Network (The early years) with shows
such as Emril Live, Mario Batali, Iron Chef Japan, Gordon Elliot, Oliver’s
Twist, Alton Brown, Sarah Molton, Martha Stewart, Clarissa Dickson Wright, and
Jennifer Paterson. To me that’s when I found my horizon to be open when
experiencing something unique. So as a chef, our job is to try something new
here and there within our cooking. Incorporating different techniques, spices,
and styles within a dish that is created. As a food reviewer, our job is to
critique in what can be improved upon within the dish. We can say it needs more
seasoning, or perhaps why not try another technique. A lot of great chefs have
so much experience that they often find themselves being critique by many food
bloggers, journalists, celebrity chefs etc.. There are also a lot of amateur
chefs in which they may not have the best training, but we can still critique
them without being super hard on them. For example, the basic techniques of
cleaning, and separating a chicken. Knowing the food item and the correct way
of cooking it. How to also know your temperatures and time of cooking.
Basically something that is very simple to know (hence “Food Network’s Worst
Cooks).
Is there a right technique to cook food? Yes. Is there a
wrong way for creativity? No. Now I understand that we can critique someone’s
dish based on preparation, flavor, and appearance. We can critique on whether
or not if the food is freshly made, authentic, or frozen. However, what I’m
trying to get at is this, we look at shows such as Chopped, or perhaps any show
that is a competition based cooking show and realize that many of the chefs
featured are aspiring chefs with the skills and knowledge. As a food critic, we
often compare and judge another chef’s [creative] dish that is suitable to
“our” likeness of our food comfort zone. We forget that just because it doesn’t
suit our taste buds doesn’t mean it won’t suit someone else’s taste buds. So
now what? Well that’s how we bring an aspiring chef’s creativity down. We bring
their motivation down, and we bring their confidence down to the point that
they aren’t good enough. As chefs and
food critics, we’re afraid to try something new. We also have to realize that
even though we may have been spoiled with delicious food in our lifetime, we
have to be fair and give another person a chance to shine. Just because a chef
creates something the first time doesn’t mean the recipe will stay like that.
They can always add and take away from it and switch it up in the future. To
this day, I’m still learning to recognize food based on creativity and effort
that is outside of my comfort zone. My parents always told me to give new
things a try. Even when I cook, I experience different methods, spices, and
flavors to incorporate into the dish. We can be extremely hard and judgmental,
so why not instead of bashing, we should offer suggestions yet still give them
credit for their effort and hard work.
@RonaldAtkinson9
