1/6
The mental health of Chef's can feel taboo to talk about.
There are demons associated with my profession. Alcoholism, Hard Drugs, Divorce, Physical Unending Pain, Pills, Caffeine & Nicotine laced nights, Loneliness, Burnout, Suicide. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/26/chefs-mental-health-depression

2/6
For all of the highs and accolades, and press coverage, there are rock bottom moments that have engulfed some Chefs, and they don’t recover from it. Long hours, constant pressure, not only of the philosophy of “you are only as good as your last plate”, but the pressure to...

3/6
...meet your labor and food cost numbers. Now, we have social media. A platform where anyone can vent their unvarnished opinion on our hard work, and we MUST be ok with that, so that our endless and tireless pursuit of our unattainable mistress named Perfection,

4/6
will come that much closer. We shotgun and mainline caffeine until we shake, but we don’t notice because: here comes the dinner rush. At its conclusion, we have to find a way to come down, to stop our brains from spinning, and our eyes from bulging. Our undergarments...

5/6
are stuck to our bodies. You can barely walk straight because you are chaffed. We work countless hours per week, where the days string together like a molasses waterfall, missed holidays with the family, abandoned anniversaries & absent on birthdays of loved ones.

6/6
If any of this rings true. If any of it resonates, you can reach out. Someone you know will listen. If they won't, I will.

#OneVoice1

I am not suggesting that there aren’t other professions that haven’t seen what I have seen. I am however, a cook at heart. I am not a first responder, or an ER nurse. I come to work expecting to cook.

Yet, I have seen people burned, mutilated, deformed, cut, bleeding, hospitalized, & even had a poor, gentle, quirky soul, die in one of our kitchens. Brain aneurysm, dead, before he hit the floor. 2 days after I wrote this, my garde manger girl drops to the floor.

Her eyes are open, she can’t talk. Her limbs are unresponsive, her neck bulging as blood is trying to go, I don’t know where. I’m on with 911 as my dining room manager and another cook are by her side. I grab the defibrillator and we wait for the ambulance to get here.

Despite the chaos that ensued in all of these scenarios, my psyche tells me to push forward because the show must go on. Time stops for no man or woman, but 4 a Chef, she is our enemy. Our sense of urgency, our willingness to prepare at all costs to beat her, makes us who we are.

We can’t afford to panic. If you are running or hurrying, you have done something wrong in the preparation stage that may end in an unforgiving scenario

I never liked coffee and still don’t. Which means, I am fat. Not obese, but fat. The years of mainlining caffeine into my body in the form of sugar has caught up with my 5’8” frame. So the 2 liter or gallon of soda I drank per shift/day has caught up with me.

Not to mention the few beers I had to have after work to come down from my caffeine buzz. Now, I have type II diabetes and acidkitidosis which means I wake up with my pillows soaking wet because my body is trying to burn sugar while I am sleeping.

I run and exercise, and don’t lose weight because my body no longer knows how to burn fat, it burns sugar. Despite this, I am lucky. Not many chefs or cooks have a support system around them. I am so fortunate to have family around me.

Family is everything. Even if you are just close friends, consider them family. We do. My family is the only reason that I am not the victim of the above demons. My wife has always made every sacrifice for my job. To see me continue to rise, and follow me wherever the job has led

She loves me despite my absences during holidays and family events. She has said, “Valentine’s is just a day, we can celebrate it anytime.” My heart melts and my eyes well up when I think of that.

She might as well be a, working, full time, single mom and she is the glue of my family. Half of our bed is cold, because I get home late, and everyone is already asleep. Home late, up early. Do it all over again the next day.

I know not everyone has a support structure around them. This brings me back to my original point of support for other chefs. We are a family, a brotherhood and sisterhood, of hard working, stubborn, perfectionists. If you need someone to listen, my DM's will never close.