The restaurant industry needs to move on from the era of ‘shouty chefs’ to make sure the next generation of cooks ‘fall in love’ with the business, Michel Roux Jr has said.
The head of the kitchen at the legendary Le Gavroche says it’s important chefs ‘learn’ from their own negatives to ‘make it better’ for the people who will succeed them.
Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay are among celebrated chefs who worked at the Michelin starred restaurant and have spoken about the aggression of the kitchens they served in, a theme in TV series such as the BBC‘s Boiling Point and the US hit show The Bear.
Roux has called on the hospitality sector to do things ‘properly’ and accepts kitchens can be a ‘tough’ work environment – but insisted they ‘should never be brutal’.
When asked if the industry had ‘come out of the genre of shouty chefs’, he told the Wine Times podcast: ‘I b****y hope so. It’s not ‘because I went through a tough sort of beginning of my career that the youngsters now should go through that’ – quite the contrary.
‘People like myself of my age should learn from their experience, positives and negatives and make it better for the next generation and that’s key.’
Roux, 63, closed the doors of his two Michelin-starred restaurants, for the final time earlier this month after 56 years of being run by his family.
The former Masterchef: The Professionals host says it is incumbent on chefs to ‘learn’ from their mistakes to ensure future chefs ‘fall in love’ with the industry.
Speaking on the podcast, he explained: ‘Of course (the industry is) tough but it should never be brutal. There are times where yes, you’re asked to work long hours, but you should be asked to work long hours, not forced into it and not treated in a bad way.
‘In service you need to be switched on and it is full on commitment but there is no place at all, ever, for bullying or for intimidation.
‘We want the next generation of chefs to fall in love with this industry not to hate it and to fall out of love and to leave the industry.
‘(So) as all of hospitality has to (we) have to look at (ourselves) and think, hey, come on let’s do this properly.’
Critics have previously slammed the way notorious Michelin-starred restaurateur Gordon Ramsay rants at cooks on TV shows such as Hell’s Kitchen.
A famous meme, born from a parody sketch on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2015, shows Gordon Ramsay holding two pieces of bread against the ears of a ‘member of staff’ while asking ‘what are you’ – before she replies ‘an idiot sandwich’.
In 2018, after Channel 4 tweeted a highlights reel video featuring Ramsay’s best meltdowns, food experts said his aggressive style has permeated in the industry over the last few decades – and said that it is now outdated.
Food critic Jay Rayner and chef Stevie Parle were among those to respond to Channel 4’s clip to criticise Ramsay’s style of harshly attacking anyone who disappoints him on camera.
At the time, Rayner tweeted: ‘This is everything that has been wrong about restaurant kitchen culture.
‘Because he suffered violence and abuse as a young cook, Ramsay thinks it’s character building and so the cycle continues. All he’s doing is glamourising bullying.’
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Danya Bazaraa
