Food Inspiration: new trend among chefs is from ego to eco
Celebrity chefs with rock-star status; you’re probably familiar with that phenomenon. When around twenty years ago a number of chefs started pulling in seriously high viewing figures by either being young and puppy-like nice (Jamie Oliver), or being a huge jerk to whoever else happened to be in the kitchen (Gordon Ramsay), the way was paved for The Chef as a celebrity. You can still find examples of that, but by now another trend can also be observed: the chef who stays a little more in the background and instead puts farmers, producers and special products in the spotlight.
Just to mention the chef whose poster I would hang on my wall if I weren’t about thirty years too old for that: that would be David Chang. He, too, makes television programmes in which he doesn’t even cook but mainly eats a lot. A new generation of Dutch chefs, however, is taking a different approach. They are drawing attention to sustainability and other important issues, although of course they do so by cooking incredibly well.
Leading the vegan movement
Food Inspiration coined an apt motto for this: from ego to eco. While there will surely always be chefs who like to be in the spotlight, for a number of leading chefs what matters most is that people pay attention to nature and to the people who cared for the products that ultimately end up on their plates. A telling example is the two Michelin stars plus a green star that Nijmegen restaurant De Nieuwe Winkel** received this year: the cooking here is almost entirely plant-based.
Young chefs on the rise
Food Inspiration also speaks of a rise of young chefs who think ‘differently’. The strict hierarchy in classic restaurant kitchens is less prevalent among them. They often work with local producers and, for example, vegetables from urban farms or farmers, butchers and fishers from their own country (if they prepare meat and fish at all).
Curious about the full Food Inspiration article? You can find it here.
Also read:
- Take away the Michelin stars from chefs who behave like idiots
- 9 tips from chefs for the best, simplest pasta
- The comment that caused Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay to feud for 10 years
