Jaiden Dale
Professor Harmon
Summer Bridge English
August 4, 2019
Creativity In The Kitchen
Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas; creativity can be displayed in numerous fields of work or even the average everyday life. Creativity is most evident in the kitchen; a chef is one of the most creative people to walk the earth. A chef’s job is to put together multiple ingredients in order to put together one creation. Whether that is the flavor or the presentation of the food to make sure that a customer’s satisfaction is met. Creativity can be portrayed through culinary arts by chefs.
Pierre Gagnaire is a world renown chef from France who has climbed to the top of the charts based off of his unorthodox thinking and creativity in the kitchen. Gagnaire explains his thinking process when he alludes to “Cooking is a authentic source of happiness that evolves into creativity. Cooking becomes a daily happiness when an individual begins to think outside the box and puts his/her own spin on different recipes and routines. Instead of taking the usual approach I reinvent techniques that I have learned over the years I have learned over the years so that I don’t began to become bored with them” (Gagnaire). Gagnaire feels that once a chef practices his/her craft more and more it will no longer feel like a job or a hobby it will become a daily happiness that they will enjoy for the rest of their life’s because they are able to express their creativity through their work and generate bigger and broader ideas in the long run.
Gagnaire expresses how he comes up with his ideas in the kitchen by thinking outside of the box and separating himself from other chefs In the culinary industry. He keeps creativity flowing by being himself and being authentic this is evident when he alludes to “ Creativity is born from authenticity, but is supported by tradition” (Gagmaire).Gagnaire emphasizes the importance of authenticity in the culinary industry do to the broad variety of chefs in the world who are considered competition, so in order to be successful one must be able to be authentic and stand out in a way that the others do not. Gagnaire discusses being efficient, enthusiastic, and restrained. He strongly believes that determination and authenticity drive a person to display creativity not only in the kitchen but in life in general. He credits his success to his authentic way of thinking; he feels he would not be where he is today if it was not for his creative ways of thinking and bringing his imagination to life in the kitchen. He expresses his emotions through his work by putting his all into it and giving it his all every time he creates a new dish for an event.
Robert Wemischner is a pastry chef and culinary educator who expresses his passions for art and food through his culinary masterpieces. He discusses that creativity is evident in every field whether it is architecture, painting, or pastry arts. This is evident when he alludes to “To be creative one has to study the past to invent the future” (Wemischner). Wemischner believes that in order for a chef to be successful in the culinary industry an individual must be able to study and understand the past teachings in order to reinvent their own. Once an individual understands past recipes, he/she can use their creativity to put their own spin on them and create their own. He emphasizes commitment, in order to stand out as a chef one must think differently from the others and use creativity to create something that has never been done before. In order to be dessert architect am Individual has to know art and how to create something out of nothing. Ones thinking process has to separate them from other and has to be able to commit themselves to their craft, if a chef is not committed to their craft it’s not their passion. If one is not truly committed to his/her craft, they will not be successful. In order to be successful, the chef has to be committed and take pride in his/her craft to be able to put a lot thought into their body of work.
James Kempston the author of The Creative Cook discusses the science of art and cooking. He emphasizes the similarities that many foods share, instead of trying to emphasize the differences between them. He explains fundamental theories and techniques on cooking. Kempston explains his beliefs when he alludes to “While most culinary books encourage that you should focus on the importance of using imagination, experimenting, and creating your own dishes and recipes” (Kempston). Kempston emphasizes that a true chef should not have to follow a cook book in order to be successful, he feels that a true chef should be able to use imagination, experimenting, and creativity in the kitchen when creating a dish one should be able to go into the kitchen and create a dish from the heart and put your creativity into that dish to create your own masterpiece that you can feel positive about. If a chef is not proud of his/her creation after it is finished the odds are, they were not able to portray what they originally had on their mind to do lack of time or whatever the situation may have been.
Christopher Styler is a renowned chef, cookbook author, and culinary producer who is known for his plating work in the culinary industry. In his book Working the plate, he discusses the numerous amounts of ways a chef can plate an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. He expresses how plating is more than just preparation and emphasizes the artistic factors that have to be contributed while doing so. He explains how preparation is typically based off of the chef’s experience and or even that is being catered to, the chef’s style of cooking and more importantly the venue where the event is being held at. These things matter a lot to the chef because it is all about presentation, presentation is everything to a chef because it is how their work is presented to the consumer. The presentation must be appropriate for the occasion. The consumers opinion is always important to the chef because it lets the chef know that what they are doing is right or wrong, informing the chef of what he/she needs to improve on. Creativity is a big factor when it comes to plating or culinary arts in general because the chef should be able to expressive when in the kitchen so that he/she is comfortable with their craft. If a chef is not able to express themselves in the kitchen while doing their job if not the finished product may not come out the best, it could have been. It is important for a chef to be open minded and and not think just one way, if an individual is not willing to have an open mind culinary is not the right field for them. When creating a dish an individual should always feel passionate about their craft no matter what the dish may be, it may not look or taste the same every time but that’s the best part. There are so many outcomes to the creation that the final product is always unpredictable which makes the piece of work even more creative and interesting. That’s the best thing about the culinary industry, all chefs have their own outlook on the same things which makes each one unique in their own ways.
In conclusion all of the chefs and authors presented all portray creativity in the kitchen in their own unique ways, which make them stand out in the culinary industry. Pierre Gagnaire is a world renown chef from France who has climbed to the top of the charts due to his unorthodox way of thinking and displaying creativity in the kitchen. Robert Wemischner is a famous pastry and culinary educator who expresses his passions for food and art theough his culinary masterpieces. James Kempston the author of The Creative Cook emphasizes the importance of using imagination, experimenting, and being creative while creating recipes. Christ Styler a world-renowned chef and culinary producer discusses how he enforces creativity into his plating techniques. Creativity is the use of imagination or original ideas; creativity can be displayed in numerous fields of work or even the average everyday life. Creativity is most evident in the kitchen; a chef is one of the most creative people to walk the earth. A chef’s job is to put together multiple ingredients in order to put together one creation. Whether that is the flavor or the presentation of the food to make sure that a consumer’s satisfaction is met. Creativity can be portrayed through culinary arts by chefs.
Work Cited
Gagnaire, Pierre, et al. Pierre Gagnaire : Reflections on Culinary Artistry. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2003.
Kempston, James. The Creative Cook: The Secrets of the Kitchen Revealed. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993.
Styler, Christopher. Working the Plate: The Art of Food Presentation. John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
Wemischner, Robert. The Dessert Architect. Delmar, 2010.
- A big problem I had while writing paper was structuring it. I was so use to have an outline in high-school so it was easy to follow, now that I don’t have one it was hard to structure but as I sat down and began to write it it took me a while to create a structure but once I got the hang of it the words just began to flow on to the page and things started to come together.
- The audience I envisioned influenced me because I wanted to inform them of the many creative chefs in the culinary industry. I wanted to inform that there is more to culinary than just following recipes and showing them that there are individuals who express their creativity inside of the kitchen through food. I made sure that I used the best sources that I had to educate them on being original and authentic in the kitchen while doing what they have a passion for.
- I improved on my writing process tremendously while writing this research paper. It challenged me to teach my self how to do proper research and use the research that I found in the body of the research paper while also supporting it in my own words. I improved on MLA format as well, I learned how to properly cite my sources and support those sources with evidence from the articles and books I obtained.
- The type of comments I expect from my readers are that they were able to learn from my paper while also being entertained with the facts that were in it. I hope they clearly understood the statements made in the paper and that the knowledge they obtained is useful to them.
- I tried to make this assignment my own by taking a different approach than the other individuals doing the same topic as me. Instead of discussing how different techniques in the kitchen express creativity, I decided to use a variety of chefs that incorporate their creativity into their work in the kitchen. I believe it worked because I didn’t see anyone else that took the same approach as me.
Jaiden's Journey 