28 July 2008

Food Poetry : The Secret Life of Chefs

What is food? it is life giving, nourishing both physically, mentally and sometimes spiritually.

Working with food and creating food fosters a keen connection to not only the ingredients, but the kitchen and tools used to create it - the kitchen becomes a safe haven where both chaos and creativity are awakened - the sites, the smells, the sounds become a second skin, and you develop a sixth sense about this culinary world.

Your co-workers become a living breathing single entity, each and everyone striving for the same outcome. All dancing in a timed rhythm around the kitchen , hurrying to get your prep done, to get your major courses panned in hotel pans within the steamer or in stock pans and sauce pans upon the stove, whose many squared and blackened burners are set aflame, all movements are accomplished in a delicate balance of wits and skill.





Image Credit: ljcybergal

Here is a poem that I wrote that encompasses a brief glimpse into the chef's kitchen. I hope you enjoy.

CHEF
beyond
the
flavors,

beyond
the
prep
work

and
the
working
rhythms
of
the
kitchen...

clanking
dishes,

chopping
block,

chef
banter.

the
gleaming
stainless,

the
hot
steam
venting
from
stock
pots.

sizzling
from
the
grill...

spices
intermingle
with
pilot light
perfume...

walk-in
freezer
gives
brief
respite...

grab
your
ingredients
and
go...

open
door
blindly,

across
the
kitchen
doing
a
dance
of
100
men...

always
shifting
reinventing
a
new
way
to
carry,

to
reach ,

to
scurry,

into
the
open
arms
of
your
menus...

Poem © Amber 2008. All rights reserved.









18  Comments
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18 comments

Anonymous
4:20 AM, July 28, 2008 Reply  

I love the poem! I can picture them all choreographed like in an old Busby Berkeley film dancing around with their knives to butterfly a chicken.

Anonymous
10:19 AM, July 28, 2008 Reply  

haha, very creative.

Anonymous
6:10 AM, July 30, 2008 Reply  

Awesome and very good poem indeed!
I like this post! Keep writing mate!

Anonymous
12:50 PM, July 30, 2008 Reply  

Awesome Poem! I never realized how much art is involved in being a chef!

Anonymous
1:41 PM, August 11, 2008 Reply  

Hi Renaissance Culinaire,

Nice your poems. It tells us you are interesting to cook food. I like your poems. I appreciate to make your own poems. All of your poems are good. Keep it up!

Anonymous
9:09 PM, August 18, 2008 Reply  

I am a big food + poetry fan, and somehow this reminds me of a book I found many years ago which has loads of poetry that LOOKS like this -- in the sense of strands of words.

9:45 PM, August 18, 2008 Reply  

Thanks for your comments everyone. I appreciate your willingness to read my poem and comment!



@biblioChef Hi, thanks for commenting. Well I am not sure if you are making an observation or accusing me of plagiarism? Hmm.

Well I can tell you that my poetry is mine and mine alone.

As for the "strands of words", a poem will reflect different sounds the way the words & sentences are arranged (in stanzas).

I wrote the poem in more traditional form, but I wanted it to flow very quickly and frantically - just as the work in a commercial kitchen is.

The pauses and punctuation in this poem were better as if flowing downward.

Anonymous
5:21 PM, September 29, 2008 Reply  

Nice poem. I like it.

Anonymous
9:05 PM, November 10, 2008 Reply  

You can't go wrong with mixing food and poetry!

Anonymous
7:23 AM, January 29, 2009 Reply  

This chef must be very talented to mix poetry and food. I watch the "Iron Chef" program a lot of the Food Network, and the way these chef's can be so creative and make all sorts of meals, spices, marinades etc just blows my mind.

8:14 AM, June 24, 2009 Reply  

I really like your opener. The kitchen does seem like the perfect place to conjur up the creative juices. And I loved the way your poem ended, almost as though the menu is the eternal hereafter where dishes go to live forever in bliss. I like it. Really cool poem

12:46 AM, October 16, 2009 Reply  

Mind blowing and very good poem indeed! wording of this poem is very sound.

The Chefs is very telented and i like your way to express feelings, its tells us that you are interesting to cook food.
I really appreciate to make your own poems. All of your poems are good.

Keep it up!

7:06 PM, November 24, 2009 Reply  

nice poem...great stuff. i'll pass along!

10:36 PM, December 20, 2009 Reply  

I like this post
i love poem, keep it up

1:46 PM, January 28, 2010 Reply  

great post and poem!

9:46 PM, May 13, 2010 Reply  

Really nice work... A great chef and a really nice poet ! :)

3:51 PM, August 02, 2010 Reply  

Dancing in the kitchen, watching the precise movements of the chef, fascinates when you can get a glimpse inside their secret world. They make my solo kitchen dances seem slow by contrast.

7:53 AM, December 06, 2010 Reply  

I really enjoyed the poem, great job!

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