Chefs vs. Home Cooks

Any time I bring up my love for food and cooking, two things are brought up:

1) You should go on Masterchef/My Kitchen Rules blah blah.

2) You should be a chef.

Let me touch on the second point.

Chefs cook for work. Granted, they do it out of love. They cook the same food, every day*. They work nights, weekends, double shifts, cover sick days and come in early to prepare, unpaid. The higher up you go, the more intense it gets: managing staff, rostering, devising new menus, tracking costs and wastage.

My respect goes to these people, particularly in a food-centric city like Melbourne - they're at the forefront of the city's culture. They're dedicated, passionate and essentially insane.

On the other hand, home cooks are totally unencumbered. We can spend as much or as little time/effort/money/love as we want. There's no pressure, just a yellow brick road of creativity, indulgence and practicality.

Home cooks can enjoy cooking at their own pace, add or remove ingredients as they wish and share their labour with whomever they choose. There's an intimacy and beauty that comes with that.

With that being said, when the chef/home cook thing comes up, I know which one I'd rather be.

L

*Of course, menus are subject to change based on seasonality etc.