"'Financially and emotionally, as an employer and as a human being, it just doesn’t work.' A newly empowered generation of workers has begun pushing back against that model, often using social media to call out employers.... Recent films and TV series like 'The Menu,' 'Boiling Point' and 'The Bear' have brought the image of armies of harried young chefs, silently wielding tweezers in service to a chef-auteur, into popular culture.
In a 2015 essay, Mr. Redzepi admitted to bullying his staff verbally and physically.... Namrata Hegde, 26, had just graduated from culinary school in Hyderabad, India, when she was chosen as an intern in 2017... [S]he flew to Copenhagen to live and work at her own expense for three months. For most of that time, Ms. Hegde said, her sole job was to produce fruit-leather beetles, starting with a thick jam of black fruit and silicone stencils with insect parts carved out. Another intern taught her how to spread the jam evenly, monitor the drying process, then use tweezers to assemble the head, thorax, abdomen and wings. Ms. Hegde repeated the process until she had 120 perfect specimens; each diner was served a single beetle in a wooden box.... Ms. Hegde said she was required to work in silence... and was specifically forbidden to laugh."
As for what all is in Noma's model, I don't know but it includes "grilled reindeer heart on a bed of fresh pine, and saffron ice cream in a beeswax bowl." Maybe I need to watch "The Menu," which HBOmax has been pushing lately:
I'd like to see more of Ralph Fiennes. What was that movie I saw him in recently? Ah, yes, "Hail, Caesar!' He play Laurence Laurentz. Here's the unforgettable "Would that it were so simple" scene:
Which is worse, making fruit leather beetles or listening to the Beatles?
According to my sources, secret agents from Hell walk amongst us, doing research and conducting surveys on these kinds of things, working hard to prepare a just place for us.
Note, I would say that "The Menu" is a horror movie. The trailer and ads are a bit misleading about the overall tone of the movie, but the trailer sells it as a suspenseful movie and it has violent moments.
I saw the movie in the theater. I thought it was a good movie and good story. Ralph Fiennes nails his role. Anna Taylor-Joy doe-eyes her way through the movie. I liked her in "Queen's Gambit" and she has a natural resting "Taking it all in" face which plays well in this movie.
Uh huh, it's unsustainable all right. As is the whole "great reset" push to serve the proles real bugs while reserving the last few "fine dining" places for WEF and DNC big shots, where they will dine on faux bugs made out of fruit leather and the tears of Indian wage-slaves. That shit is unsustainable.
Tweezers are used to prepare a twee feast for the rich geezers. Personally, I prefer the meatier pleasures of the Gourmet Club, so rare they're almost extinct.
I agree that fruit beetles are a bit problematic, but whose mouth doesn't water at the thought of duck brains or two year old carrots. Duck brains, though, have to be cooked just exactly right or they taste like chicken brains......This seems to be a case of the rich exploiting the rich. You have to have a fair amount of money to be able to fly to Copenhagen and work as an unpaid intern for three months. You have to have a fair amount of money to be able to eat at such a restaurant. I disapprove of all this, but in a bemused way. The food, the staff, the work, the management are not like anything I have ever encountered in my world.....I did one time eat at trendy restaurant. The food was good, but it was bite sized portions spread artistically on large plate. It was kind of disappointing. To me a fine dining experience is a steak house with massive portions of fries and charred, rare steak. The better establishments have vomitoriums at the back of the rest rooms. That way you can unburden yourself and go on to have the cheescake for desert.
Kate – same. I thought of the movie with the first few words of this article. I thought it was a good movie. Not the best I’ve seen, but most products that come out of Hollywood are terrible and it is rare to find a genuinely enjoyable, interesting film. I think this is good, not great, but my standards are high for movies. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a fun movie.
Pick any “artistic” endeavor and you can find an example(s) of people willing to work for free for the “master” of the craft to learn and mostly end up being abused. Restaurant, music, acting/entertainment, etc. seems to be how the model works.
how much, does this "fine dining" cost? Using an Actually Good restaurant.. say Country BBQ, in Greensboro as a reference; How Many Sliced Pork* Plates could you buy, for one dish of "fine dining"?? 10? 20? 30?
Sliced Pork* As a Yankee, i tend to avoid the Chopped Pork; it's more like Minced Pork.. But they Do make Coarse Chopped Pork, for scaredy cats
"Ann, I have been wondering about this for months, b/c someone routinely posts here as capital-U "Unknown." I see these posts go through all the time."
No, capital or not, I am deleting. I have been careless about this in the past, but my current routine methodically ousts them all, even when they look like sincere and well-intentioned comments. It's only because of that that I'm making a point of saying this today. As for the names I know to be trolls, they get systematically eliminated regardless of any pretense of sincerity. They waste my time, so I have an approach that gives them the least possible time. I don't read them at all and never will.
It reminds me of Julia Childs' comment about nouvelle cusine - “It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate, you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
My city, Louisville, KY has a lot of independent restaurants that are very good. We have fine dining, but that doesn't interest me (also I can't afford it very often, so that works out) as much as the others.
I highly recommend the Nicholas Cage move Pig. The scene in the Portland restaurant is here and is a good counter to some of the above.
The movie is odd and I was ready to shut it down for the first 30-60 minutes, but stayed with it because of the respect I have for the person who recommended it.
This reviewer gets it - many spoilers, don't read this until after you see the movie, but the movie is a parable. It brings tears to my eyes.
The end of the movie The Freshman, roughly paraphrased from memory: Mattew Broderick: If the Komodo Dragon is here, what are those people eating? Marlon Brandow: Smoked turkey. Broderick: They paid $350,000 for smoked turkey? What a scam! Brandow: (shrugs) Who knows what Komodo Dragon tastes like? And scam is such a nasty word. It's business. Cjf
gilbar said... how much, does this "fine dining" cost? Using an Actually Good restaurant.. say Country BBQ, in Greensboro as a reference; How Many Sliced Pork* Plates could you buy, for one dish of "fine dining"?? 10? 20? 30?
Sliced Pork* As a Yankee, i tend to avoid the Chopped Pork; it's more like Minced Pork.. But they Do make Coarse Chopped Pork, for scaredy cats
J. Farmer said... Haven't read the article, but the headline immediately brought to mind an article I read in 2016: There's a Massive Restaurant Industry Bubble, and It's About to Burst
Part of the Small Business Association presentation was the fact that the lowest success rate of new businesses in any industry was restaurants at ~5%. The highest success rate was mortuaries at 95%.
Restaurants are going to be replaced by in home dining options over time.
30 years ago, I listened to that book on audiotape during long drive. It was hilarious. I hate long distance driving but that book distracted me completely from the monotony of the road.
I was a waiter in several restaurants while working my way through college in the 70's. Orwell hilariously captured the craziness of restaurants.
If there's one person who demonstrates what it's really like to work in a high-end restaurant kitchen (and why you probably don't want to), it's Gordon Ramsey. Unlike on warm-and-fuzzy cooking shows, he takes some of the best young chefs in the country and just berates them constantly. If you survive till the end, the "prize" is getting to work for him full-time.
Blogger WK said... "Pick any “artistic” endeavor and you can find an example(s) of people willing to work for free for the “master” of the craft to learn and mostly end up being abused. Restaurant, music, acting/entertainment, etc. seems to be how the model works."
Not just the arts - look at sports, organized crime, or financial services. Any time the reward for the top winners in the tournament is out of balance to the value they add, you'll see similar structures.
I see that now, but that was before I got here and the post didn't get a restaurant or Orwell tag. (I also know I'm not the first commenter to recommend that or any other Orwell title.)
MDT already asked my burning question about "U/unknown"
I expect casual dining is under greater threat than fine dining. Fine dining people don't much care how much it costs. As Nancy points out, not turning a profit at $500 a plate? Charge $600. Or $1,000. Most of your customers won't change their behavior.
Normal people are where the difference is. We used to like to go out a couple times a week, spending $50-$70 for dinner for two adults and a child, but as our grocery bill climbs each week and those $50-$70 dinners are costing $100 or more, we are finding that we can keep our overall food budget the same by going out a little less. Twice a week became once a week, which is now becoming 2 or 3 times a month. I bet we're not the only ones who are coping with inflation by cutting the dubious luxuries first.
The restaurant industry (like any entertainment industry) needs a rich supply of workers who are addicted to the process of making product and having that product praised. This is as true for smoked pork as for arranging dried fruit puree into interesting shapes. It makes for a mix of creatives and autists (but I repeat myself) who share an addition for the chaos and for the magic that happens when they actually get it right.
Monetize this through ascending layers of wealth and culture and the Pareto principle and you wind up with what we have today. The churn and the creative destruction break a lot of hearts in the process. Is it cruel to be kind in the midst of this? Conductors were often simply brutal in my youth, but now they are almost always sweethearts.
Thanks for helping me decide what to pack to read next week. Sometimes only a real physical book will do.
The palate cleanser, with real nostalgia for an affordable New York City, is the film I Like to Kill Flies, about a very eccentric hole-in-the-wall restaurant owner and cook. He also has a great book of recollections and recipes: Eat Me, by Kenny Shopsin.
Keith -- agree. I wouldn't rewatch but I enjoyed myself. I love reality cooking shows, especially the kind where the chef uses tweezers! Hahaha. To turn that pomposity on its head was clever.
"Twice a week became once a week, which is now becoming 2 or 3 times a month. I bet we're not the only ones who are coping with inflation by cutting the dubious luxuries first."
Going out to eat? I order a pizza for delivery once or twice a year.
Achilles said... Pull your pork! Two forks > knife.
couldn't agree More, now that i'm safely home in Yankeeland. But down in the Piedmont, you'd be asking for trouble if you said that out loud.. Next thing you know, you might accidentally imply that More than Just the front shoulder of the hog should be used.. And THEM is Fighting words!!
Hail Caesar was hysterical. One of the few movies I went out of my way to see in the theater in the last fifteen years or so (even though there's a theater complex about two blocks away from my apartment). It helped a lot if you're an old movie buff.
Would love to see The Bear (duh, I'm an old Chicago kid living in exile for fifty years), but haven't tracked it down as yet. Just made a note to do so.
You're missing the fun of wondering what funky bits got mixed in.
The fighting words are using tomato-based sauce. Must be vinegar-based. Greensboro is at the frontier between Eastern V and Western T. Charlotte is going to Hell.
The best I've ever had was at a country church festival near Greensboro. The chief BBQ cook had to drink a six pack to get the nerve to season food for almost two thousand. Considering they cooked only twice a year, they did an amazing job of keeping gnarly parts out of the pork and German chicken pie.
If moderating comments — all of them — took anywhere close to an hour a day, I would not have comments.
I can't go without moderation, because the comments would go to hell very quickly. You don't know what I am keeping out, which is fine. But I've got to moderate, and I do it in a way that is very quick and does not involve setting aside time for the activity.
"I'd like to see more of Ralph Fiennes. What was that movie I saw him in recently? Ah, yes, "Hail, Caesar!'"
We watched The Menu over the weekend. For me, it was primarily because I saw that Ralph Fiennes was in it and because he was so iconic in Hail Caesar I sold my wife on the movie by pointing out that it claims to be a horror film. We both love Anya Taylor-Joy, but didn't realize she was in this until a little while after she appeared on-screen.
Mason G said... "Twice a week became once a week, which is now becoming 2 or 3 times a month. I bet we're not the only ones who are coping with inflation by cutting the dubious luxuries first."
Going out to eat? I order a pizza for delivery once or twice a year.
My point is I keep the food budget in balance by cutting back on eating out, which I expect is common, putting pressure on mid-range restaurants. Not sure what you're point is. Virtue signaling about how you already don't go out? Good for you. Have a cookie.
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53 comments:
Read Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London" for a look at real kitchening.
We just watched The Menu over the weekend. It is a perfect reference to this article, and I thought of it before it was mentioned.
Food items assembled to look like a bug? I would not want to work or eat there.
It is utterly ridiculous, is what it is. "Fine" dining has become a self-absorbed joke.
No one does restaurants like the boys from Monty Python
Althouse community!
Come to Omaha if you want fine dining at a reasonable price. Nothing crazy here. Just good food.
Loved "Hail Caesar". Josh Brolin was awesome and the communists were perfect.
I have little patience or regard for such overweening, pretentious nonsense.
Modern, fine-dining model indeed.
Which is worse, making fruit leather beetles or listening to the Beatles?
According to my sources, secret agents from Hell walk amongst us, doing research and conducting surveys on these kinds of things, working hard to prepare a just place for us.
Note, I would say that "The Menu" is a horror movie. The trailer and ads are a bit misleading about the overall tone of the movie, but the trailer sells it as a suspenseful movie and it has violent moments.
I saw the movie in the theater. I thought it was a good movie and good story. Ralph Fiennes nails his role. Anna Taylor-Joy doe-eyes her way through the movie. I liked her in "Queen's Gambit" and she has a natural resting "Taking it all in" face which plays well in this movie.
Haven't read the article, but the headline immediately brought to mind an article I read in 2016: There's a Massive Restaurant Industry Bubble, and It's About to Burst
Uh huh, it's unsustainable all right. As is the whole "great reset" push to serve the proles real bugs while reserving the last few "fine dining" places for WEF and DNC big shots, where they will dine on faux bugs made out of fruit leather and the tears of Indian wage-slaves. That shit is unsustainable.
Why is it unsustainable? They would still sell out if they charged $1000 per dinner instead of $500.
Tweezers are used to prepare a twee feast for the rich geezers. Personally, I prefer the meatier pleasures of the Gourmet Club, so rare they're almost extinct.
"Fine dining" typically, in my experience, has been entirely meh.
I agree that fruit beetles are a bit problematic, but whose mouth doesn't water at the thought of duck brains or two year old carrots. Duck brains, though, have to be cooked just exactly right or they taste like chicken brains......This seems to be a case of the rich exploiting the rich. You have to have a fair amount of money to be able to fly to Copenhagen and work as an unpaid intern for three months. You have to have a fair amount of money to be able to eat at such a restaurant. I disapprove of all this, but in a bemused way. The food, the staff, the work, the management are not like anything I have ever encountered in my world.....I did one time eat at trendy restaurant. The food was good, but it was bite sized portions spread artistically on large plate. It was kind of disappointing. To me a fine dining experience is a steak house with massive portions of fries and charred, rare steak. The better establishments have vomitoriums at the back of the rest rooms. That way you can unburden yourself and go on to have the cheescake for desert.
Kate – same. I thought of the movie with the first few words of this article. I thought it was a good movie. Not the best I’ve seen, but most products that come out of Hollywood are terrible and it is rare to find a genuinely enjoyable, interesting film. I think this is good, not great, but my standards are high for movies. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a fun movie.
Pick any “artistic” endeavor and you can find an example(s) of people willing to work for free for the “master” of the craft to learn and mostly end up being abused. Restaurant, music, acting/entertainment, etc. seems to be how the model works.
how much, does this "fine dining" cost?
Using an Actually Good restaurant.. say Country BBQ, in Greensboro as a reference;
How Many Sliced Pork* Plates could you buy, for one dish of "fine dining"?? 10? 20? 30?
Sliced Pork* As a Yankee, i tend to avoid the Chopped Pork; it's more like Minced Pork..
But they Do make Coarse Chopped Pork, for scaredy cats
Do people not see the instructions above the comment window? They include "You must use a name or pseudonym. The non-name 'unknown' is not accepted."
I delete everything that is submitted as "unknown." In case you are wondering. If you are actively harassing me, you're an idiot.
Ann, I have been wondering about this for months, b/c someone routinely posts here as capital-U "Unknown." I see these posts go through all the time.
So is it just small-u "unknown" that's verboten? Or is your deletion inconsistent?
'Haute cuisine' has as much to do with what I eat as 'haute couture' has to do with what I wear.
Narr beat me to it.
All of orwell's writing is great and Down and out is no exception
John Henry
I would have thought Europeans would have learned lesson from famous French Revolutionary Madame La Guillotine
"Ann, I have been wondering about this for months, b/c someone routinely posts here as capital-U "Unknown." I see these posts go through all the time."
No, capital or not, I am deleting. I have been careless about this in the past, but my current routine methodically ousts them all, even when they look like sincere and well-intentioned comments. It's only because of that that I'm making a point of saying this today. As for the names I know to be trolls, they get systematically eliminated regardless of any pretense of sincerity. They waste my time, so I have an approach that gives them the least possible time. I don't read them at all and never will.
I have been to many Michelin Star restaurants and they have all been very good, but all save two were pretty pretentious.
A good meal to me is a big steak, a baked potato, some sort of side like mac and cheese, and a well-made Manhattan with a Luxardo cherry.
In Chicago.
I've blogged about the Orwell book numerous times. It's one of my favorite books.
It reminds me of Julia Childs' comment about nouvelle cusine - “It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate, you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”
My city, Louisville, KY has a lot of independent restaurants that are very good. We have fine dining, but that doesn't interest me (also I can't afford it very often, so that works out) as much as the others.
I highly recommend the Nicholas Cage move Pig. The scene in the Portland restaurant is here and is a good counter to some of the above.
The movie is odd and I was ready to shut it down for the first 30-60 minutes, but stayed with it because of the respect I have for the person who recommended it.
This reviewer gets it - many spoilers, don't read this until after you see the movie, but the movie is a parable. It brings tears to my eyes.
The end of the movie The Freshman, roughly paraphrased from memory:
Mattew Broderick: If the Komodo Dragon is here, what are those people eating?
Marlon Brandow: Smoked turkey.
Broderick: They paid $350,000 for smoked turkey? What a scam!
Brandow: (shrugs) Who knows what Komodo Dragon tastes like? And scam is such a nasty word. It's business.
Cjf
Just salted 5 pounds of Pork Belly.
Took pork belly out of wrapper.
Dumped Salt on it. A little bit of pepper. Will let it dry while we wait to cook it.
Roast at 450 for 20ish minutes. 275 for 30-90 minutes depending on your taste and the size of the cut.
3 or 5 meals for a family, took about 10 minutes of prep time.
I bet it tastes way better than a fake beetle. A real beetle jury is out I guess... Healthier too.
gilbar said...
how much, does this "fine dining" cost?
Using an Actually Good restaurant.. say Country BBQ, in Greensboro as a reference;
How Many Sliced Pork* Plates could you buy, for one dish of "fine dining"?? 10? 20? 30?
Sliced Pork* As a Yankee, i tend to avoid the Chopped Pork; it's more like Minced Pork..
But they Do make Coarse Chopped Pork, for scaredy cats
Pull your pork!
Two forks > knife.
J. Farmer said...
Haven't read the article, but the headline immediately brought to mind an article I read in 2016: There's a Massive Restaurant Industry Bubble, and It's About to Burst
Part of the Small Business Association presentation was the fact that the lowest success rate of new businesses in any industry was restaurants at ~5%. The highest success rate was mortuaries at 95%.
Restaurants are going to be replaced by in home dining options over time.
Narr,
30 years ago, I listened to that book on audiotape during long drive. It was hilarious. I hate long distance driving but that book distracted me completely from the monotony of the road.
I was a waiter in several restaurants while working my way through college in the 70's. Orwell hilariously captured the craziness of restaurants.
If there's one person who demonstrates what it's really like to work in a high-end restaurant kitchen (and why you probably don't want to), it's Gordon Ramsey. Unlike on warm-and-fuzzy cooking shows, he takes some of the best young chefs in the country and just berates them constantly. If you survive till the end, the "prize" is getting to work for him full-time.
Blogger WK said...
"Pick any “artistic” endeavor and you can find an example(s) of people willing to work for free for the “master” of the craft to learn and mostly end up being abused. Restaurant, music, acting/entertainment, etc. seems to be how the model works."
Not just the arts - look at sports, organized crime, or financial services. Any time the reward for the top winners in the tournament is out of balance to the value they add, you'll see similar structures.
[Down and Out] "one of my favorite books."
I see that now, but that was before I got here and the post didn't get a restaurant or Orwell tag. (I also know I'm not the first commenter to recommend that or any other Orwell title.)
MDT already asked my burning question about "U/unknown"
I expect casual dining is under greater threat than fine dining. Fine dining people don't much care how much it costs. As Nancy points out, not turning a profit at $500 a plate? Charge $600. Or $1,000. Most of your customers won't change their behavior.
Normal people are where the difference is. We used to like to go out a couple times a week, spending $50-$70 for dinner for two adults and a child, but as our grocery bill climbs each week and those $50-$70 dinners are costing $100 or more, we are finding that we can keep our overall food budget the same by going out a little less. Twice a week became once a week, which is now becoming 2 or 3 times a month. I bet we're not the only ones who are coping with inflation by cutting the dubious luxuries first.
The restaurant industry (like any entertainment industry) needs a rich supply of workers who are addicted to the process of making product and having that product praised. This is as true for smoked pork as for arranging dried fruit puree into interesting shapes. It makes for a mix of creatives and autists (but I repeat myself) who share an addition for the chaos and for the magic that happens when they actually get it right.
Monetize this through ascending layers of wealth and culture and the Pareto principle and you wind up with what we have today. The churn and the creative destruction break a lot of hearts in the process. Is it cruel to be kind in the midst of this? Conductors were often simply brutal in my youth, but now they are almost always sweethearts.
Thanks for helping me decide what to pack to read next week. Sometimes only a real physical book will do.
The palate cleanser, with real nostalgia for an affordable New York City, is the film I Like to Kill Flies, about a very eccentric hole-in-the-wall restaurant owner and cook. He also has a great book of recollections and recipes: Eat Me, by Kenny Shopsin.
Keith -- agree. I wouldn't rewatch but I enjoyed myself. I love reality cooking shows, especially the kind where the chef uses tweezers! Hahaha. To turn that pomposity on its head was clever.
Could have been worse. Ms. Hedge could have apprenticed at The Fat Duck.
"Unknown Unknown" may have been accepted as Donald Rumsfeld's nom de plume, but he died back in '21.
"Twice a week became once a week, which is now becoming 2 or 3 times a month. I bet we're not the only ones who are coping with inflation by cutting the dubious luxuries first."
Going out to eat? I order a pizza for delivery once or twice a year.
Achilles said...
Pull your pork!
Two forks > knife.
couldn't agree More, now that i'm safely home in Yankeeland. But down in the Piedmont, you'd be asking for trouble if you said that out loud..
Next thing you know, you might accidentally imply that More than Just the front shoulder of the hog should be used.. And THEM is Fighting words!!
Hail Caesar was hysterical. One of the few movies I went out of my way to see in the theater in the last fifteen years or so (even though there's a theater complex about two blocks away from my apartment). It helped a lot if you're an old movie buff.
Would love to see The Bear (duh, I'm an old Chicago kid living in exile for fifty years), but haven't tracked it down as yet. Just made a note to do so.
--gpm
As a Yankee, i tend to avoid the Chopped Pork
You're missing the fun of wondering what funky bits got mixed in.
The fighting words are using tomato-based sauce. Must be vinegar-based. Greensboro is at the frontier between Eastern V and Western T. Charlotte is going to Hell.
The best I've ever had was at a country church festival near Greensboro. The chief BBQ cook had to drink a six pack to get the nerve to season food for almost two thousand. Considering they cooked only twice a year, they did an amazing job of keeping gnarly parts out of the pork and German chicken pie.
to Professora thanks At a personal level,
>> I shall pray every morning [short and quick],
that you get up at such a time that can spend ?an hour? deleting comments by unknown
@Narayanan
If moderating comments — all of them — took anywhere close to an hour a day, I would not have comments.
I can't go without moderation, because the comments would go to hell very quickly. You don't know what I am keeping out, which is fine. But I've got to moderate, and I do it in a way that is very quick and does not involve setting aside time for the activity.
"I'd like to see more of Ralph Fiennes. What was that movie I saw him in recently? Ah, yes, "Hail, Caesar!'"
We watched The Menu over the weekend. For me, it was primarily because I saw that Ralph Fiennes was in it and because he was so iconic in Hail Caesar I sold my wife on the movie by pointing out that it claims to be a horror film. We both love Anya Taylor-Joy, but didn't realize she was in this until a little while after she appeared on-screen.
Mason G said...
"Twice a week became once a week, which is now becoming 2 or 3 times a month. I bet we're not the only ones who are coping with inflation by cutting the dubious luxuries first."
Going out to eat? I order a pizza for delivery once or twice a year.
My point is I keep the food budget in balance by cutting back on eating out, which I expect is common, putting pressure on mid-range restaurants. Not sure what you're point is. Virtue signaling about how you already don't go out? Good for you. Have a cookie.
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