Rick Moonen on Work and Passion

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Recently, Rick Moonen shared with superchefblog his low-down on aspiring super chefs, celebrity chefs, and other chefs in this day and age. So gather around, any super chef wannabe. Listen up, all you kids -- take your iPods out of your ears and hear the words of one of the most respected seafood chefs in America and therefore the world: I don’t know any school that prepares you for the intensity that a kitchen demands. [Working in the kitchen], it’s all very beautiful and wonderful. What worries me is that the celebrity status of the chefs has sort of "softened" the industry. People going into schools think in a couple of years I will have my own TV show. And then I will sell some cookware. You want to know something, man? -- 99% of the chefs who have been in the business for any length of time, their backs are shot out. Their nerves are gone. To really bust your way through this craft, to be successful in this business is not to be glorious, or to be celebrity, or to do a couple recipes on a television show and make a million dollars... If you don’t actually get inspired and passionate about it, you are going down. Thus spake chef: heed his words well. Previous articles: Profile: Rick Moonen in Las Vegas Personal Favorites: The Chefs of Las Vegas Jeffrey Chodorow: Talent Agent Rick Moonen Sets Seafood Straight Buzz-Buzz-Splash, Super Chef --> back to superchefblog