Written By: Dineash Joseph-Peter
Growing up for me was different, I was interested in things that normally other kids would over look, or just simply did not consider. As a kid I would look forward to watching Pasquale Carpino over something on TVO. I didn’t know exactly what attracted me so much to watching an old singing chef cook Italian food, but I certainly knew that I was happy watching it.
Over the years my curiosity for food and cooking developed, more so when I spent much of my early teenage years growing up in a family bakery. To a twelve year old, it seemed like a mystery thinking about how cooking worked. I would watch the production of all kinds of things and wonder what is it that makes it all work. The following years I would spend my summer breaks working at the bakery. Normally you would spend your summer going to beaches and being outside, but there’s something about being at the bakery that made me want to go back the next day. Looking back now, I don’t regret spending my summers in a kitchen full of industrial baking equipment that would never fail to increase the day’s high temperature. It certainly lent an awful lot to the stamina and persistence I posses today as a chef.
The next few years opened my eyes as to what it was that I truly enjoyed about watching cooking shows as a child. During my high school years I had the opportunity, given the fact that now I was actually legal to work, to get a real job at a local restaurant. Now this was my chance to do it on my own. I became more interested in the profession and gave it serious thought. But there was one thing lingering in the back of my thoughts through all of this, although in my mind I knew nothing could stop me from being what I wanted, the biggest problem would be to face my parents and tell them something completely opposite of what a normal South Asian teenager would say during the last moments of Post Secondary. I would have to tell my family that instead of wanting to attend University that I wanted to become a chef. Growing up in North America and being exposed to this culture, it would be news of excitement in one’s ordinary family. Unfortunately in South Asia the thought of being a kitchen worker is of the lowest respect. It certainly is not considered a profession for that matter. So I was faced with a considerably uneasy challenge. It wouldn’t just mean telling my parents, it would be the years to come as family would find out and eventually the news would make itself across the seas to the ones that I feared most, my family back home.
When I did build up the courage to openly say that I truly enjoyed what I did at the restaurant and wanted to pursue it, I sort of let the realization ease itself into my parent’s thoughts. Surely enough as I worked more on reading cook books and less on text books, it became evident that I wasn’t going to become the proposed brain surgeon every Tamil mother hopes and dreams the moment one is conceived. What followed were years of conflict and conversations that lead to arguments due to countless attempts on persuading my thoughts of actually becoming a professional chef. Over the years in my journey, if I could change anything at all it would be so that I had more support at the beginning of my career, as it would have made my journey a bit less lonely even though evidently a chef’s journey is more than often, a one-man battle. This is the very reason why I believe our culture needs to broaden its horizons on what true success is and what great rewards personal satisfaction brings to a person’s life.
During a visit back home at the age of fifteen, wholeheartedly knowing that I wanted and will become a great chef, I couldn’t wait for the moment to tell my grandmother that I was going to become one. There are very few other moments that I can remember in life when I felt true failure and disappointment, because her response to that was a simple, why? Why don’t you do something better with your life. Being fifteen this wasn’t an easy response to react to. Of course I was angry, but more so disappointed that there are parts of this world that may never know and come to understand what an amazing thing the culinary arts are. Being more mature today I do not blame their ignorance, but what I can do is accomplish what I set out to do. To open our culture’s eyes on what it truly means to become a chef and to introduce this profession in the same caliber as any other profession in this world.
Dineash's Creation
Dineash's Creation
I continued to pursue my career with every bit of determination as I had in the beginning and went on to work for some great chefs and learned a great deal in the recent past. The day came when I decided to pack up and leave for some time, to chase my goal regardless of what anyone thought. Being away from home gave me yet another view on what this world has to offer and how respectful people are to this profession. I challenged myself to obtain my Red Seal certification in Canada and I pushed myself until I got it. This is when things took a turn for the better, it became easier with family and they now started to realise that I was truly happy with what I was doing, and that there is actually credentials to what I do. I am grateful for the family that I have and now have their full support, and I hope that one day I can see that our culture welcomes this profession with the respect that it deserves.
I look forward to the upcoming years of my journey as a chef, my next goal is to obtain my Chef De Cuisine(C.C.C) certification in Canada, then go on to pursue higher acclaim abroad. Just recently I was blessed to have the opportunity to work for one of the World’s Leading Cruise Lines. My experience at sea was life changing on both a professional and personal level. It has been the most challenging yet rewarding months in my journey, I came back a better chef, a better person, and most importantly with a different view on what the world is and how significant mother nature is. The world is truly beyond imagination. From being able to observe the local culture in Uruguay, to taking in the overwhelming atmosphere in Antarctica, it has truly been an amazing experience.
I will continue to enjoy and pursue my career as a chef, and hope to play an active part in changing the mindset of culinary arts in the Tamil community. There is an unwritten oath in every chef’s mind, heart, and soul. My goal is that this level of understanding and passion is welcomed more and more in the lives of every young Tamil youth that dreams of becoming a chef. Unity is the key to success in multiculturalism. My only message to those who chose this career; there is a world beyond belief out there, and there are so many other cultures and cuisines out there to learn from. Do not limit yourself, or let anything stop you from becoming who you are set out to be.
Tags: Speak Out
