Food as Destiny

“You don’t choose food, food chooses you” (Rick Martinez).

This was a statement Rick made early on during his visit in class today. It was one of the most prominent ideas that I took away from his entire talk. The quote was his way of saying that cooking is not an easy profession and it mandates a certain level of passion to be successful at it. The field of food will seek you out if you love it enough. Perhaps one could even call it destiny if the enthusiasm is that strong.

Rick had a good marketing job that he walked away from to work in a restaurant. He said he constantly had food on his mind while working and thought perhaps it would be just a hobby, but it was something more.

He told us how he questioned his own decision as certain adversity hit where he wasn’t working with the greatest people. His passion ultimately became stronger, though, as it acted as a learning experience. He learned to develop and process recipes while interning with Food Network. Martinez shared the being a home cook is different than being a chef. Cooking food for yourself and those close to you may be easy because you know what you all like. It’s accommodating for the palates of the varying audience members you serve where it becomes much more difficult to manage.