Culinary State of Turkey

When i realized i am now able to clearly define the situation, i imimediately wanted to share it with everyone who listens. It's about the lack of acceptance of culinary work as an art form. Sadly in Turkey, a chef is just some underdog prepping the food in the kitchen... Although there's been some change in this perception in the last couple of years, it's still the restaurant owner who gets the main focus and in most cases is mistakenly referred to as the chef. Yes, we do start to hear more about chef's restaurants and quality food. We are beginning to learn more about what the perfect form we are to expect in a plate is. But, this improvement is not actually (not for all cases, but most) the result of enhanced knowledge, but of the guidance of trends. It's now trendy to go eat at a classy restaurant and know the chef's name. But, what actually happens is that, the names we know are not the chef's names. And this becomes more shameful, when the one making this mistake is a food magazine. Restaurant owners are included under articles like Istanbul's best chefs, among real chefs who've spent their years in this art... ( This is my actual observation that got the MSA executive chef to immediately like me:) )

Anyways i could complain for hours about the subject, but you all got the point. So, let's improve it..

First must-know:

There's a strict distinction between a baker and a pastry chef. In Turkey we see this distinctions only in Hotels or Hotel restaurants. Everyone else is a baker except hotel chefs. Chef, actually, is not as cheap a term as we use it in here...

If we say a chef is the scientist, then a baker is the industrial partner. Industrial partner has to make his main product better, while chef develops the new methods for him to do so...

To simply explain; a pastry chef has to think of presentation ten times harder, while a baker has done his job when he's got the flavor just perfect. A pastry chef has to come up with new techniques and have a variety of them on hand, while the baker needs to have the highest experience on his technique to make the specific product on the spot each time...

These examples do not propose any less respect for either occupation, but merely defines the distinction inbetween. A perfect product by a baker takes us to our childhood, while a perfect product by a pastry chef takes us to a whole new world. And either is as much valuable yet different for me. I sincerely hope we- as a culture insanely based on food unlike any other culture- will get to this same level of almost-worldwide knowledge in culinary arts...

So, a decision awaits... Will i be a pastry chef, or a baker?!

Day 10: Is it sunday already?

Since my computer is in the safe hands of Dell service once again, i haven't been able to give you lots of updates through the week. And i probably forgot most of the funny stuff. But even if i had my notebook with me, i still couldn't have found the energy to write anything, since i die when i get home. I actually started to experienced the thing called 'turning one's switch off':)

So...

This week i worked for 6 days, from 10 in the morning to, whenever in the evening(usually by 7 or 8pm). We started the menu trials-yes the place is still not OPEN-, so what we do is, cook the whole menu and find new things different from the other two restaurants and try'em all. 9 hours of cooking a day, it is innncredible. I've learned lots n lots n lots of things, techniques, ingredients, combinations, etc. I tell you, the kitchen of a restaurant is an incredible place:RESPECT!!:) I am standing through the whole day, except for the lunch breaks for about 20 minutes, and when i sit down at the metro after a 10 minute walk, i realize that i have never sat down that day and my feet are actually dead. And the amazing thing is that i am not complaining, i soooo love my job, couldn't have imagined a job so pleasant.

Anyways,

as i have found out, it is both a tradition and an unavoidable fact that everyone gets a cut in a new kitchen. So, on monday, i cut my hand with a....wait for it(HIMYM)...........DRAINER:))) Yess, you CAN cut your yourself with that, at least i sure can. After a thorough thinking, i decided that a cut by a drainer would not count, so i cut my finger (sliced almost) with a bread knife. And i've been strolling through the place proudly with my cut-finger whole week:)

Other than cutting body parts, we made amazing dishes, and i helped the exec. chef do his magic. The perfect pancake, amazing sandwiches, salads i would have never thought of and main dishes; pork, cow, fish, all kinds of sea creatures, a huge octopus....I guess we'll be going through the dessert menu by wednesday, fingers crossed:)

Lots of other stuff i remember saying i have to write about this, but get seem to remember them now. So, this is it for today

Adios...

PS: The first thing i happened to do was to peel a potato. I'm real prescriptive. And i washed dishes, too:)

A Misfortunate Event

So...

you all know how hard i have been trying to get a scholarship for MSA and how especially harder it was for me since i had a Koc university stamp saying 'She's richhh'. I worked my way through it, giving some very intimate details to the executive chef to lay out my situation.

AND

guess what happened?

I called him yesterday, as he told me to do, to ask about whether the scholarship is going to happen or not. After a couple of umm,hmmm, immmms he told me that he quit his job at MSA a week ago. WHAT THE...????? Just as my luck has always messed around with me, the joke's on me once more.

He quit last week and now nobody in MSA knows my situation, i'm just a -supposedly-rich kid applying for a scholarship. I called the school, they told me to send an email for application, and they would consider me among other applicants, even though it's a little late.

After these shochking news, i went through the stages of ANGER, SELF-BLAME and COOL DOWN very quickly, and then i started to look at the option of getting a student loan.

So....

New Plan: I'm starting to work at a pastry shop right away. The second semester of MSA starts in about 9 months. By then, i would have worked in 2 or 3 pastry shops if things go as planned. By that time, if i still see getting the MSA certificate (actually the City & Guilds certificate) is a 'must', i will get the damn student loan, period.