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Yes Chef

The Day My Exec Chef Gave Me My Black Chef Coat

It reminded me of lessons learned from family

Susan Brearley
Curiosity Sparks
Published in
9 min readJan 14, 2025

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By the author with NightCafe

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I’m a professional chef.

This is a statement so many aspirants want to be able to say. For those of us who are paid chefs, it’s layered with meaning. You only need to watch The Bear to try to understand. And that’s just a beginning. No amount of voyeurism can prepare anyone for the real experience. No amount of romanticism prepares you. Chef, it’s not.

Having been raised in a community surrounded by anabaptists, and with this as the foundation of my own family’s lifestyle practices — food was for providing sustenance of the body, and definitely not for experimentation, creativity or bringing joy. It could be an expression of love — but never joy.

That would require novelty. Flavors outside of the routine. Spices.

Meeting my neighbor’s children in an art class at school, and being invited over for dinner at their house, introduced me to new foods beyond my wildest imagination.

If you live in a metropolitan area, where every cuisine of the world is a phone call or a Door Dash away, it might be inconceivable that the options for all…

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Curiosity Sparks
Curiosity Sparks

Published in Curiosity Sparks

Subject Matter Experts Passionate About Sparking Curiosity in Their Fields. Because as Maya Angelou said, “When you know better, you do better.”

Susan Brearley
Susan Brearley

Written by Susan Brearley

Writing on Medium since 2016. Boost Nominator, EIC (10 publications), Entrepreneur, Coach, IMBA Community Leader, NGO Founder. https://linktr.ee/SusanBrearley

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