The Sorceres apprentice - Lisa Abend - A season in the kitchen at Ferran Adrias Elbulli

 

The Sorcerers apprentices

„I dont want to hear any screaming in this resturant. No one insults anyone else, no one belittles anyone else. If you have a criticism, you raise it calmly, in a meeting. We're team. And if I hear of anyone insulting anyone else, they're out.“ - „When I started“, Ferran continues, „insults, shouting, outbursts were normal. But by now we've created an environment of respect so that when others come here they admire us.“

Learning required the utmost dedication and focus, and he would not tolerate a moments lapse in himself or, for that matter, in anyone else. (…) But Luke remained centered on the task at hand. „The only thing I think in my head while I am working“, he said, „is faster, faster, faster“.

In fact, they expect their chefs to have privileges; they want them to be different. After all, those same privileges may someday await them when they are chef, and the chance to receive your plate of lentils before anyone else seems like fair reward for all those years of scut work.

But anger is not just an uncontrollable reflex, it's also a tool: it keeps people focussed. As one otherwise mild-mannered New York chef says in reference to the staff he regularly screams at, „Your need their fear. Otherwise it all goes to shit.“

I like it when someone gives me shit if I fuck up. Dont say, „Oh you poor thing, are you having a bad day?“ Get in my face.“