Chefs & Grub & Rock & Roll
By David Swanson
Welcome back to Culture Club, the weekly feature where Talia and I discuss our preoccupations—what we’ve been thinking about, reading, watching or playing. Please note that we’re going to be taking this holiday week off to recharge our batteries, but in the meantime, here’s a “Bear”-inspired rock and music feature for your Sunday reading pleasure.
“People who cook for a living are in the pleasure business and I think it is no coincidence that just about every chef or cook you bump into or talk to also really likes music, and things that give them immediate gratification,” Anthony Bourdain told me in 2011. “They’re sensualists. That’s their business and their pleasure.”
As viewers of The Bear may have noticed, there’s something about the life of a cook that feels analogous to the life of a rock musician. This is the observation that helped inspire “Eat to the Beat”, an interview series I started in the spring of 2011, “where rock-star chefs talk about their taste in tunes”. Watching the third season premiere “The Bear”—with its Michelin-approved roll-call of culinary cameos set to a relentless Nine Inch Nails soundtrack—I was reminded of the series, which featured the late Bourdain as the first guest.
If the food-rock axis had a better ambassador than Anthony Bourdain, I don’t know who that would be, but most of the chefs I spoke to for this series felt similarly. “We’re both in the pleasure business,” said Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert, when asked about the similarities between chefs and rocks stars. “We are both free-spirited and live sort of extreme lifestyles. We both create something intangible—just like notes disappear, so do flavors, so you enjoy them in the moment. And the same way a musician depends on his instruments, we depend on our knives and pots and pans and fire.” Plus, as chef and humanitarian José Andrés told me, “your parents would not be happy if you came home and said you wanted to grow up to be a chef or a rock star.”
For this week’s column, I went back to my previous life as a men’s magazine editor and repurposed an array of answers into something like a c. 2011 rock-n-roll survey of “rock star” chefs. If I was still doing the series today, and Carmy Berzatto was a real chef, I’d no doubt be trying to book him by the end of season three.
CHEFS INTERVIEWED
Anthony Bourdain, chef, author, and travel documentarian who died in 2018
Grant Achatz, chef/owner The Alinea Group
David Chang, chef/owner Momofuku Group
Eric Ripert, chef/owner Le Bernadin
José Andrés, chef/owner José Andrés Restaurant Group, founder World Central Kitchen
Vinny Dotolo, chef/co-owner Jon & Vinny's, Son of a Gun, Helen’s, Cookbook Market
Jon Shook, chef/co-owner Jon & Vinny's, Son of a Gun, Helen’s, Cookbook Market
Corey Lee, chef/owner Benu, San Ho Won
Donald Link, chef/owner the Link Restaurant Group
Andrew Carmellini, chef/co-owner Noho Hospitality Group
George Mendes, executive chef Amar, Lupulo, Veranda, chef/owner Aldea (closed)
Paul Kahan, chef/co-owner One Off Hospitality Group
Tim Love, chef/owner Tim Love Restaurant Group, Co-Host '“Restaurant Start-up”
Wolfgang Puck, chef/owner Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group
Tom Colicchio, chef/owner Crafted Hospitality, head judge and executive producer, “Top Chef”
What’s the first meal you cooked?
Anthony Bourdain: The first meal I cooked as a kid was egg in the hole. You know, a piece of toast with a fried egg. I think they taught us how to do it in second grade and I was very proud of myself.
Grant Achatz: Breakfast at my grandmother’s diner. Eggs over hard, because I couldn’t flip them and keep the yolk soft without breaking them. I was six!
David Chang: I really don’t remember the first meal I cooked, but the first time I realized that cooking was really a viable career was when I was at Craft. Just working with your hands and being part of a team was very infectious. There was a camaraderie that you couldn’t find anywhere else.
Eric Ripert: The first meal I can really take credit for was in culinary school when I was fifteen. It was goulash and tarte tatine.
José Andrés: I have been cooking as long I can remember, always helping my parents, the most memorable meals probably were the ones I’ve cooked for my wife when we were dating.
Vinny Dotolo: I remember I wrote my first recipe when I was like seven years old for tortilla chips and cheese. The directions were like, “tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, thirty seconds in the microwave!”
Jon Shook: I caught the cooking bug while I was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant and I ate a sandwich that was made with a real baguette and real mashed potatoes. Growing up I ate Spuds and Wonder Bread and I remember eating that and being like, “holy shit!”
Corey Lee: The first meal was when my dad wanted to do a big traditional Thanksgiving, and everyone cooked a different dish. I made stuffed pasta shells…which really isn’t very traditional at all.
Donald Link: During high school I worked at burger joints and fry cook jobs, and the guys working the line seemed pretty cool – respectable degenerates with tattoos.
Andrew Carmellini: The first meal I cooked is not such a vivid memory: it was probably something like pie with my mom.
George Mendes: My first meal was a chicken breast roulade stuffed with spinach and raisins, and served with Madeira sauce when I was 15 or 16. It was definitely ambitious, but I was pretty proud of the results!
Paul Kahan: Around 7th or 8th grade I started dabbling with my mom’s cookbooks, and one night I decided to make some whole wheat bread.
Tim Love: The first real meal I cooked was at a restaurant called Tootsie’s Grill and Spirits, and I made this chicken parmesan dish that I thought was awesome. Of course later on I realized how easy it was to cook chicken parm, but at that point I thought I was a badass.
Wolfgang Puck: The first meal I ever cooked was my grandmother’s birthday cake.
Tom Colicchio: The first meal I cooked at home was a stuffed eggplant, with onions, peppers and shrimp. It was a Cajun recipe I found in a food magazine. It was good, but I guess I didn’t really read it, because it only really worked as an appetizer so my mom had to rescue the rest of the meal. I was 13.
Let’s talk starters: what’s your ultimate side one, track one, and what’s your ultimate appetizer?
Anthony Bourdain: The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” on Beggars Banquet. The ultimate appetizer is, for me, the angel-hair pasta with sea urchin butter and ossetra caviar at Le Bernardin is as good as it gets.
Grant Achatz: It would have to be “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ‘n Roses. I remember buying Appetite for Destruction when I was like 12, popping it in the cassette player, and my dad going, “Oh God. What are you listening to?” The appetizer would be Thomas Keller’s Cornet of Atlantic salmon with red onion crème fresh and chives at French Laundry. It looks like a miniature ice cream cone, and was the most mind-blowing thing to me as a young cook. It’s like the best three bites ever.
David Chang: It’s gotta be Pavement’s “Summer Babe” off Slanted & Enchanted. I love Pavement and that’s the first song off their first album. My ultimate appetizer is probably the mushroom foie gras pie by Pascal Barbot at L’Astrance in Paris.
Eric Ripert: It really depends on what’s in season, but anything with black truffles is my favorite appetizer. And my favorite album is Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, so I would say “Speak to Me.”
José Andrés: Does anyone over a certain age think that way about music? Especially in an age of iTunes and Pandora? The simplest things are the best to start a meal, some jamon Iberico, some caviar.
Vinny Dotolo: For music, “Thunder Road” by Springsteen is a good choice. You can’t mess with the Boss. Or maybe the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post,” even though it’s not track one. For food, I’d say anything with foie gras would be the ultimate appetizer for me: cold, in a terrine, seared, whatever.
Wolfgang Puck: That’s easy—“Speak to Me/Breathe” from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. My ultimate appetizer would have to be the best caviar you can buy with a fabulous bottle of Krug Champagne.
Andrew Carmellini: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill… damn that is a smooth first side. “Airbag” by Radiohead is also awesome, simply awesome. Can you tell I miss the 90’s? The ultimate appetizer depends on the party: foie gras and black truffles if it’s fancy, toasted bread with whipped ricotta, herbs and olive oil if it’s casual.
Tom Colicchio: Let me think. Oh…it’s Springsteen! “Thunder Road”, the first cut off Born To Run. For me the ultimate appetizer is always whatever the freshest fish-based option is.
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What’s your ultimate road food?
Anthony Bourdain: I like a good taco or burrito, but whatever the local indigenous dive is, that’s good eating. That’s gonna trump a mediocre burger anytime.
Grant Achatz: For a short road trip, you have to have your bag of Doritos and your Mountain Dew. And if you’re driving along the east coast or in the south, all the great barbecue seems to be in gas stations, so that’s good. Although when you’re driving and trying to navigate barbecue, things can get messy.
David Chang: It’s always beef jerky at a convenience store, and fried chicken.
Eric Ripert: When I drive I tend not to stop and eat too much, but I always take Gummi Bears and dark chocolate.
José Andrés: In America, diner food or roadside barbecue is the best road food but I am not a fan of eating while driving. Too messy.
Vinny Dotolo: Eating a cheeseburger and having a steering wheel in my hands is not ideal. I’d rather sit, eat, and move on so if I’m near a Chick Fil-A, that’s a must. For snacking I’d go for a big Sour Patch Kids bag.
Jon Shook: When I was in high school I’d tell you beef jerky and Doritos but now I’m more into finding local produce. The little stands on the side of the road are great. Like in Florida boiled peanuts are a thing, in Georgia people always think about peaches, and even raw corn on the cob when you’re going through Iowa.
Corey Lee: When I’m in the car I like to eat mandarins, but if I’m stopping, it’s definitely fried chicken.
Donald Link: It depends where I am. If I’m driving through Northern California, I’ll stop for some crabs and oysters, but if I’m in Louisiana it’s boudin and cracklins.
George Mendes: When I’m driving it’s usually Kit-Kats, salt and vinegar potato chips, and Gatorade.
Tim Love: I cure my own charcuterie, so I like to take some that for the road. And being from Texas, I’m all for roadside barbecue. The place can’t be too clean though, that means the barbecue is definitely gonna suck. It’s gotta be made out of wood and need a little work, and if you walk in and people don’t greet you when you walk in the door, you’re in the wrong spot for barbecue.
Paul Kahan: Road food is totally regional, so if I’m in the South West, I’d like good Mexican food, but if I’m in Maine, I’d want a lobster roll.
Tom Colicchio: My favorite road trip food is definitely barbecue.
What kind of music is good for cooking?
Anthony Bourdain: “Superfly” by Curtis Mayield is perfect for cooking. It’s smooth, it’s got some funk to it, it’s energetic, but it doesn’t cause your brain cells to rub together. During clean-up you want to put on the Deadboys or Nine Inch Nails, but during the prep period I like Curtis Mayfield or Bobby Womack, those sort of guys.
David Chang: In our kitchens it’s a real mixed bag; everyone from AC/DC to Funkadelic to Gang of Four.
Eric Ripert: In my kitchen at Le Bernardin we don’t play music, but at home I listen to techno. When I was a young cook in New York, twenty years ago, I would go to the clubs with guys like DJ Tiesto, Danny Tenaglia and Junior Vasquez deejaying. I’d go home after work, sleep for a few hours, and then hit the clubs at 6am—when the DJ was so high he was at his best—dance until 1pm, and then go to lunch. Now if I did that, I’d need two weeks to rest.
José Andrés: I don’t like music in the kitchen. Cooking is serious business and I need to concentrate. Sometimes my guys try to sneak music. If I like it, I might pretend I don’t notice.
Wolfgang Puck: When I cook, there’s no music in the kitchen. Music is better in the dining room because in the kitchen, we have to focus 100 percent on what we’re doing. Even background music is too much.
George Mendes: The staff here at Aldea will say that I’m an Interpol and Strokes addict. I could play that shit every day and not get sick of it.
Tim Love: My wife calls it kitchen music. I’ll start singing songs and she’s like, “How do you even know that song?” I’m like, “It’s kitchen music!’ It’s hardcore shit and it’s two beats faster than anything else, and two clicks louder. Everything from Mexican music to old-school Blind Melon to new-school Kings of Leon to Willie Nelson.
Paul Kahan: Blackbird has a pretty intense kitchen with a lot of younger cooks, so we listen to a lot of hip-hop. At the Publican, it’s an open kitchen and we’ll listen to everything from Grateful Dead to Hip-hop to jazz. And at Big Star, it’s all vinyl, all country.
Tom Colicchio: When I’m cooking at home, I like to listen to whatever new albums I’ve got. Last weekend it was Florence and the Machine and Dr. Dog. It’s an open kitchen, and the speakers are right there, so I can crank it up, go about my cooking and no one will bother me.
What about for eating?
Anthony Bourdain: I’m into background music, honestly. I do appreciate being at Momofuku Ko or at Babbo and getting these outrageous playlists in the background. I appreciate it because it’s so different. I like it when you have no idea what’s coming next. It’s kind of crackpot and eccentric. In my own home I’d probably do something a little more laid back, if anything. I don’t even know that I play music during the meal. It’s all about the conversation.
David Chang: I’ll give you the top ten songs we’ve played at the restaurant over the past year: “Tomorrow Never Knows” by 801, “Providence” by TV on the Radio, “Five Cornered Drone (Crispy Duck)” by Yo La Tengo, “You Can’t Stop Me Now” by the RZA, “Life Like” by the Rosebuds, “Mambo Sun” by T-Rex, “Your Fucking Sunny Day” by Lambchop, “Point That Thing Somewhere Else” by the Clean, “Sweet Lady Guinevieve” by the Kinks, “Freaking and Tweaking” by Luna, and…well this is a weird one, “Margarita” by the Traveling Wilburys.
José Andrés: The right music can enhance the experience. I work with companies like Audiostiles to put together mixes for my restaurants. I even created a soundtrack for my television show.
Corey Lee: The soundtrack in our dining room is pretty eclectic. We have everything from Led Zeppelin to the Byrds to Beethoven to Miles Davis. It’s really more about tempo than about genre.
Wolfgang Puck: On any given night you can hear anything from Pink Floyd, especially The Wall, to Jay-Z in my restaurants.
Andrew Carmellini: It depends on what you’re eating and what’s going on around you. If you’re eating at The Dutch late night, I’ve got a burger on the menu and Pharrell or Blackaliscious on the speakers: if it’s dinner time on the earlier side, it’s more like Escolar with yellow-eyed pea chili and something sweeter and a touch more mellow, like some Rolling Stones or Broken Bells.
Donald Link: We don’t have music in the kitchen, but in the dining room you can’t go wrong with classics like Louis Armstrong, the Stones or Beatles, or old country like Willie Nelson or Merle Haggard.
George Mendes: The playlist here is all over the map, it really is. There’s Led Zeppelin, then all of a sudden Jay-Z kicks in, and then it’s Johnny Cash, Ryan Bingham. And then it’s The Strokes, then it’s Thievery Corporation.
Tim Love: We do mostly Texas country music, so Pat Green, Jack Ingram, Kurt South, a band called The Crop Dusters, which are really great. And of course we play a lot of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.
Tom Colicchio: At Craft, we used to play jazz, but we’ve moved away from that. Now we play all sorts of stuff. The only rules are: you need to mix up the tempos, you never play love albums, and you never play something that’s very popular. You don’t play “Stairway to Heaven”, you play “Achille’s Last Stand.”
If you could invite all of your favorite artists to a dinner party, who would you invite, and what would you cook?
Anthony Bourdain: Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age. In fact the whole band—they’re great guys, I know they like good food, and they’re really fun to be around. Marky Ramone, you can be sure he’ll clean his plate if nothing else. The guy’s got an appetite. He loves good food and he likes lots of it. I’ve never met Iggy Pop, but I’d love to at least once in my life, although I have this terrible suspicion he only eats vegetables. And Keith Richards above all others. That would be the ultimate for me. If we could throw Bootsy Collins in there also, that would be awesome. If I could come back as any musician and live my life over again, I would wanna come back as Bootsy Collins. If I could play bass like that, I would give up everything else. I would be happily, completely talentless in every other aspect of my life. [I’d cook] something simple like pot-au-feu or boef bourgignon. Something not too involved but delicious that people could talk and drink a lot of good wine and mop their bowls or their plates with bread afterwards. Nothing too fancy.
Grant Achatz: I’ve gotta say Axl. Plus John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Plant. Oh, and Steve Vai. I mean, he’s a vegetarian, but I just like that guy. We’d do burgers, potato chips and a big pot of really good chili. Fire up the grill, everyone can customize their burger the way they like it, you’re out in the backyard, drinking beer, nobody’s complaining, everything’s good.
David Chang: I’d definitely invite Joe Strummer. I’d get Mac McCaughan from Superchunk, Mark Ibold from Pavement, and Will Odham. Man, this is tough. I’d get John Bonham. And I’d invite the Davies brothers from the Kinks for a little drama. You know, I wouldn’t want to cook. I’d probably hire somebody to cook something simple like a bunch of blue crabs, some potatoes and some really good bread and butter. Plus lots of cold beer and lots of wine.
Eric Ripert: Mick Jagger, Bono, Roger Waters, Wynton Marsalis, Jim Morrison, Tito Puente, Cachao—who was a famous Cuban artist—Louis Armstrong and Claude Nougaro, who made jazz music with French poetry over it. Manitas de Plata, a gypsy flamenco player. And definitely Prince! I would also invite Maria Callas and Amy Winehouse. I think those two would be a really good combination. I would make a gigantic paella, Valencia-style, with chorizo, rice, saffron, onion, garlic, shrimp, monkfish, clams and mussels. And rosé to drink, with a stash of scotch in the back.
Vinny Dotolo: I’d have Jerry Garcia because I never got to see The Grateful Dead. Then probably the Allman Brothers; I love their music. Johnny Cash without a doubt. I’d invite Andre 3000 and Big Boi, Tom Petty, Stevie Nicks, Ben Harper. Then I’d have to say Jay-Z and Beyonce as a couple—he can’t get all of the spotlight. And Snoop Dogg—SoCal, man! He represents. I’d do a whole raw bar with clams, mussels, oysters, lobster tails, king crab, and all that shit on ice. Then I’d do a whole roasted prime rib on the bone and a big salad of seasonal vegetables if anyone’s a vegetarian.
Jon Shook: I’d invite all the members of The Grateful Dead, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Eminem, 50 Cent, Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, Andre 3000 and Big Boi, and, I know it sounds kind of femme, but I love Stevie Nicks. I know that’d be an interesting group of people all at the table but maybe they could collaborate and make great music. I’d make some fresh pasta and market salads; just keep it straightforward and simple. I feel like a lot of times people have parties and get a little sidetracked. Don’t make it too hard for yourself. For dinner parties I try to create dishes I can cook within an hour so I can actually enjoy the party and not feel like I’m working.
Corey Lee: Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Stevie Wonder. I’d want to do all the cooking in advance so I could hang out. I’d probably do either a hot pot or a Korean barbecue at the table. The great thing about that is that you don’t have to be in the kitchen while your guests are at the table waiting for you. And we’d probably be drinking whisky.
Donald Link: Definitely Elvis—I’m a huge fan and always have been. Jimmy Buffet would be a great dinner companion and I’ve met him before; he’s a real great guy. Maybe Keith Richards and the Kings of Leon. I’d do some sort of outdoor taco party, grill up some steaks and fish, fry some shrimp, and make fresh salsas and tortillas. You want to have time to hang out and eat at your own leisure. And we’d be drinking margaritas and cold beer!
Wolfgang Puck: That’s really difficult because I’d first have to find out if they like good food and wine. People like Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z who love good food are naturals. I remember making pasta for Frank Sinatra one time—in the traditional way. One important thing is that I’d have a piano and guitar close by in case anyone wanted to break something out.
Andrew Carmellini: Frank Zappa, Biggie, Billy Corgan, Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, Bruce Dickinson, Pete Rock, Henyrk Gorecki…this list could get long and very geeky so I’ll stop there…I think I would go simple American cookout-style here. I don’t think that group would do well with anything super-fancy. The fewer rules the better.
George Mendes: I would definitely invite Johnny Cash. Michael Jackson, absolutely. Then my favorite bands, the Strokes and Interpol. I’d definitely put Prince in the mix. And I would have to include Radiohead too.
Tim Love: I would definitely invite Kings of Leon. I’d invite George Strait, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Elton John and Bob Marley. I gotta have a couple of chicks in there, so I’d invite Madonna, because she’s pretty entertaining, and Alicia Keys. Between Willie Nelson, Bob Marley and the Kings of Leon, I don’t know who’d smoke the most pot, but it’d probably be the Kings! I’d do a really elaborate barbecue. I’d roast a whole pig, grill some large tomahawk rib eyes, make four or five really great salads with stuff like roasted beets and fresh ricotta, squash, asparagus, corn on the cob, some badass mashed potatoes, some killer mac & cheese, and grilled pickles. And I’d make four or five specialty cocktails from the ingredients I grow in my garden: strawberries, lemons and limes. I the think the best dinner parties are the ones that happen outside, so I’d cook everything out in front of everybody.
Paul Kahan: Joe Strummer is first on the list, then jazz guys like Charlie Mingus, Thelonius Monk and Dizzy Gillespie. Gram Parsons, Willie Nelson, Keith Richards, all of Yo La Tengo, D Boone, definitely, maybe Curtis Mayfield. And Lemmy from Motorhead. He’d be the odd man out. I’d want to do something in the summer in the backyard. Grilled porchetta, homemade sausages, a couple chickens, vegetables from the garden. And we’d drink a lot of good beer, wine and whiskey.
Tom Colicchio: I’d have to start with Tom Waits. Then Jerry Garcia; I think he would have the best after dinner entertainment, if you know what I’m getting at. Gram Parsons would be fun to have around. So would Levon Helm and Tim Harden. We’d need a couple women at the table, so Grace Slick and Josephine Baker. I’d just want a group of people who would be fun to hang around with. You know what? Let’s invite Bob Dylan and John Lennon too. How could you not? For the food, I’d put out a big spread of antipasti: marinated eggplant, various cheeses, prosciutto, salami, roasted red peppers, olives. And then I’d make a big bowl of pasta and a big pot of gravy, like my mother makes, with meatballs and sausages. The conversation would flow. The wine would flow.
What’s your ultimate food fantasy?
Anthony Bourdain: The meal that I want most badly is at Grant Achatz’s new restaurant Next, where he’s doing nothing but classical turn-of-the-century Escoffier dishes for three months and only three months. That’s the most exciting meal I can imagine. I really hope that I get a crack at that. I did not respond well to his main restaurant Alinea when I ate there, but I know his work from previously, and he is without question one of the world’s most brilliant chefs. This Escoffier thing from Grant Achatz and his crew sure as hell sounds like what I’ve been waiting for from this guy. And not just he Escoffier meal, but a lot of the other things he’s doing. It just sounds really, really exciting.
Grant Achatz: I would have to say Auguste Escoffier when he was cooking at the Ritz hotel in Paris circa 1906. And of course, because of that reason that will be our first menu at Next… I know that I will never be able to make music like Cobain, but I can recreate Escoffier so I can see what it was all about.
José Andrés: To meet the first guy to fry an egg. Think about how important that person is!
Eric Ripert: I would actually like to go to El Bulli now, because in a few months they are closed forever. I’ve eaten there once before, and I would love to duplicate that.
Vinny Dotolo: I’d like to have eaten some of the food that the African American community cooked for each other before the Civil War. They were dealt all the scraps and probably made something delicious out of nothing; I think that would’ve been an amazing thing to see.
Wolfgang Puck: I have no more. I’ve pretty much done almost everything I’ve fantasized about—both in and out of the kitchen!
Donald Link: I wouldn’t pick a restaurant. I’d go to Vietnam and eat street food. That’s sort of a dream.
George Mendes: I’d like to be on a ship in the 15th century, during the Portuguese age of exploration and eat with the seafarers and the fishermen, and people like Vasco Da Gama. They were barbarians who were pretty mean, but I’ve got to be honest with you, man, I’d love being out on the water, eating with these barbaric people, going from island to island, beating people up and taking their spices and bringing them back to Europe!
Tim Love: I think it would be pretty damn cool to have had Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims to see if there was really turkey and corn and all that shit.
Paul Kahan: I’d definitely want to go to Provence, but the time period is kind of irrelevant. Would I like to have a meal with Escoffier? Sure. But I’d rather have some beautifully roasted vegetables in Provence in the summer, with a bottle of rosé, some great bread, great cheese and meats. For me, it’s more about the company and the food and the place than the time.
I know this was in the past, etc and what a great idea to put this together. I have to say I am pretty shocked though - not ONE female chef? They didn’t exist back when this was written, ay!