On Becoming A Culinarian

There’s an old Italian saying that I came across the other day;
Bisogna mangiare per vivere, e non vivere per mangiare.
(One should eat to live, and not live to eat).

And I thought to myself, e non vivere per mangiare–but that’s what I’m dedicating my career and life to right now–the discovery, understanding and appreciation of FOOD! This saying goes against my profession entirely!

Then I stepped back for a moment and came to the conclusion that I’m not living to eat for my own enjoyment (though I will certainly sample and enjoy as many tasty morsels as I can get my hands on!), but rather, I am living to help other people enjoy their food more. I think there’s an important difference there.

Confucius taught that “A man should not eat so much that his breath smells more of meat than of rice”, but he didn’t say anything along the lines of “A man should not dedicate his life to preparing meat and rice so others can not help but surrender to their tastebuds and beg for more.”

Now, if I can just figure out how to not get reincarnated as a duck on a foie gras farm I’ll be all set…