Imagine getting out of bed in the morning just knowing you were going to do a substandard job and sail your way through the day only using 10% of your little brain until the day is finished…………………….

This is what I wonder most mornings when I go for breakfast here in Madrid.

Being an Australian I really appreciate a great breakfast made up of simply prepared high quality ingredients, and of course a coffee made with a little intelligence and a lot of LOVE! Is that so much to ask?

Well it seems it is! I have to admit there are many countries which make a great cup of coffee and unfortunately Spain is not one of them The coffee grind is rarely if ever checked and there doesn’t seem to be an understanding of any parts of the whole process. If you know anything about coffee you will know there are many many techniques involved in making a great cup, if one of these are not respected the result is disastrous. A bad breakfast has the power to ruin your day before it’s even had the chance to start and if it is your coffee at the end of a great dinner it can overshadow the whole experience and leave you with a bad taste in your mouth (literally). But I didn’t write this story to talk about coffee (If you want to read about my techniques on coffee follow this link http://www.madridlab.net/melonas/2009/04/there-is-a-technique-for-everything-coffee/).

The reason for writing this story is to help people realize why they are doing what they are doing. Chances are if you are reading this story than you actually have enough interest in the world of food and beverage as you are doing this in your spare time (Or slacking at work). But next time you get bad service or the the Chef is disrespecting food ask them “Why” as I did in Prague a couple of weeks ago when my food was basically thrown at me.

We all started this job (Chefs) as we have a love for food and want to discover, produce or create. We didn’t start this job to start cutting corners, doing things we know we shouldn’t, or working our way up the Chain (In my opinion down the chain) just so we could start carrying a clipboard and pushing papers around as they do in Hotels.

I am saying this because I ordered a Croissant this morning which was basically like bread in the shape of a croissant which had sugar glazed on the top. This is not the worst part, it was served to me at 4 degrees from the fridge and the waiter stuck a fork in it right in the middle and stabbed it like a piece of roasted meat before carving. Are these the actions of someone who likes what they do or more importantly is this someone who respects “what is a Croissant”? I was too afraid to ask for it warmed up as the guy next to me was eating a black and smoldering one as the waiter didn’t realize you can squash the croissant into the toaster especially when it has sugar glaze, worst thing was the customer seemed to be happy eating it!

Anyway, time for me to come down from my soapbox……………

Love what you do and do it well! We have the greatest job in the world, don’t forget that and start cutting corners!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 12:01 and is filed under Wisdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.