New chef training course is all about vegetables

The ROC in Amsterdam is changing course: it is also offering a fully plant-based chef training course. The initiative was launched by master chef Theo van Rensch. ‘The time is ripe for a fully fledged plant-based course,’ he says. In the Facebook group for chefs, the course is being mocked: ‘The art of filleting a tomato, good luck.’

The new course starts in September. Plant-based, so vegetables take center stage. Logical, according to master chef Theo van Rensch, the course’s initiator, if you understand the spirit of the times. ‘If we continue like this, by 2050 we’ll need two planets to feed everyone. You now need five grams of plant protein to produce one gram of animal protein. We’re clearing the rainforests to feed the chickens and cows. So I think we’d be better off eating plants ourselves,’ he tells broadcaster AT5.

Emphasis on vegetables

That doesn’t mean animal proteins won’t be used in the kitchen, he hastens to add. ‘We’re ruling nothing out, but the emphasis will be on vegetables. We teach [the students] to apply techniques you use on meat to vegetables instead.’

‘Runner beans banned’

Chefs’ reactions are sceptical. Especially on Facebook, in a group where mostly chefs have gathered, people are laughing at the new course. ‘Nutters, they’re completely out of touch,’ it says there. And someone else says: ‘First teach them how to actually cook properly. What nonsense.’ One chef is also afraid that runner beans and beef tomatoes will be banned from the kitchen.

Raring to go

These chefs aren’t ready for it yet, but the new generation is raring to go, according to Van Rensch. ‘We’re going to ferment, we’re going to create a vegetable garden, we’re going to work with guest chefs, we’re going to do projects, so it’s going to be a really fun course.’ The first class is already full.

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Source: AT5