Today’s New York Times had a significant number of letters commenting on Marcella Hazan’s Op Ed piece from November 29th.  Seems like she hit quite a nerve in the controversy between calling one a chef versus a cook, and the ramnifications of the decision.

Although I’ve been cooking most of my adult life, and produced most of La Cuisine’s food for the first 8 – 10 years of our existence, I have never thought of myself as a chef.  I am a fairly non-hierarchical guy, I call my doctors by their first names along with anyone else I happen to run into.  I don’t think it’s disrespectful, just a way to diminish barriers and promote conversation.  Here in the kitchen, we have an Executive Chef, but no one refers to him as such, his name is Uli.  Our Pastry Chef is Kevin, our Sous Chef Louis, etc.  The titles are descriptive of their roles in the organization, not what we call them.

My son Alex is completing his externship from the Culinary Institute at Restaurant Daniel, a fairly traditional French kitchen, where titles are used more often than not as a sign of respect.  Most of the instructors at Hyde Park are referred to as Chef as well.  It is simply a different orientation.  Neither is right or wrong for every one in every situation.  Does it “cheapen” the title as some in today’s paper thought, when applied to today’s celebrity “chefs”?  Probably a bit – can you equate four or five years of experience to 20 or thirty?  Does the definition need to be expanded a bit to embrace the radical shift in training, experience and exposure that today’s chefs receive?

The most interesting point Marcella made back on the 29th is the need to remember that “the food prepared and shared at home…has provided a solid center to our lives.  Which is why, as we come together over the holidays, we should take a moment to think about how we can become cooks again.   Cooking delivers its truest and most enduring gifts when it is savored in intimacy, prepared by a cook with love.”

I think back to my grandmothers’ kitchens in Brooklyn, the aunts, uncles, cousins and more gathered around large tables laden with food, cooked with joy, eaten with delight.  In many respects, it is why I do what I do.  Cook or chef, chef or cook, I’m not sure it really matters.  What seems most important to me is the simplicity of great ingredients, well seasoned.  Gather those you care about most, then cook, eat, drink, enjoy.

Ben