Chefs and smoking; does it really matter?
You might be wondering why I’m writing an article about chefs and smoking when it’s become such a taboo in today’s society. And I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to navigate away from this article because, let’s be honest, thinking about whether the chef in your restaurant smokes might make you feel a bit queasy. However, the reality is that, no matter where you are in the world, smoking is an accepted culture of the catering world.
But it really struck me the other day when Mrs HB – now a staunch non-smoker herself – said to me, “this dish is a bit salty, I bet the chef smokes.” I actually laughed at her. However, the last laugh was on me because, as we were driving out of the hotel car park, there was the chef, having a sneaky fag!
Mrs HB has said it before about her food but I’d never really seen the proof about chefs and smoking firsthand until that moment. So why do so many chefs smoke when they know it alters the flavour of the food they prepare?
According to a working conditions survey, chefs experience more pressure than doctors and lawyers, simply because of the speed at which they have to work. They are under constant demand to produce high-quality food under tight timeframes, so the stress felt from this pressured environment is almost inevitable.
In the hustle and bustle of a busy service, you’d think smoking was one of the last things on a chef’s mind. But apparently not. Smoking serves two purposes for the chef: one, to have a break from the stress of the kitchen and two, to chat with their coworkers about something other than cooking – albeit for a brief moment – which can help to reset their energy before returning to the kitchen.
In my opinion, it’s a sort of ‘adult peer pressure’ which I think we all need to grow out of. If you’re serious about your cheffing career, then you don’t need to worry about gossip or being ‘mates’ with everyone on shift. The thing you should care most about is how your diners are going to feel after they’ve tasted your food surely?
What you can’t taste, you can’t make
One of the fundamentals of becoming a good chef is understanding taste. Taste buds are largely responsible for conveying sweet, sour, bitter, salty and metallic sensations.
People are not born with amazing taste buds (how many children have you seen sucking on a wedge of lemon and then holding out their chubby hands for more, huh?!). It’s a skill that is developed over a period of time, just like any other skill, and chefs will learn to understand how a dish should taste and season it accordingly.
However, it’s a universally known fact that cigarettes negatively affect your palette and taste buds. Through a process known as vascularisation, the chemicals in cigarettes interact with your tongue to dull and flatten your taste buds making them virtually ineffective for the tasting of complex flavours commonly created by professional chefs. Add to this the fact that those chefs that do smoke have probably done so for many many years… their taste buds are shot. So how can you make what you can’t taste?!
Think about this too. For a chef to cook, he not only needs to taste, he needs to touch the food being prepared. Your chef goes for a smoke and returns to the kitchen to cook. Yes, they might wash their hands, but the smell of cigarettes won’t leave their skin or clothes. These contaminants from the smoke – which contain over 7,000 chemicals, including many carcinogens and other toxic chemicals – can find their way into the food. This not only ruins the taste, it adds unnecessary risk to diners.
So there are two very clear reasons why chefs and smoking don’t go together: taste and safety, and I think they’re pretty good reasons when you’ve got a paying audience. I don’t care for the excuses that they ‘compensate’ for their tastebuds over time; I’m not sure that’s ever really true. And I don’t care that there have been some extremely famous chefs that have smoked throughout the years. These chefs often aren’t the ones cooking the food; they’re standing at the pass making sure the food goes out hot and looking good.
I acknowledge the stressful environment for chefs, and smoking is part of the sub-culture that exists behind the scenes in the kitchen, but I will not advocate a chef that smokes. However, I believe the culture is changing (slowly) and that chefs are attempting to make things better, not just for themselves but for the industry itself. I also believe that chefs are more aware than ever of the importance of living a cleaner, healthier life, and this can only serve to benefit the quality of the food they serve their customers, both in the short- and long-term.
I liked how the piece balances the personal freedom of chefs with the expectations of the industry and customers. Smoking might seem like an individual choice, but in hospitality it can affect team morale, perceptions of cleanliness, and even guest comfort. Looking at it from all these angles makes it easier to understand why this debate exists rather than dismissing it outright.