Chefs who smoke

[amber]

Not sure what your point was GB for bringing this thread back up, but I did see it over this past weekend. Whether people smoke cigarettes or not, I dont think that has anything to do with cooking per se. Sure some may take smoke breaks, and granted may smell of cigarettes, but that doesnt mean they dont cook great meals right?

 

[JohnL]

Quite an interesting topic,
I didn't smoke very long, approx 8 years (I quit @ 21 while tending bar), but I noticed lots of difference in the taste of foods and seasonings. Possibly because I didn't smoke for many years? Or, maybe because I stopped at and early age? I guess many things determine our overall taste sensitivity.

 

[GB]

Not sure what your point was GB for bringing this thread back up, but I did see it over this past weekend.

I split this off from another thread where it was off topic. There was a conversation going on about this so it was only fair to turn it into it's own thread.

Sure some may take smoke breaks, and granted may smell of cigarettes, but that doesnt mean they dont cook great meals right?

This is exactly the point of this thread. Some people agree with you Amber, and others think the opposite. This thread is a discussion of those two sides.

 

[amber]

I split this off from another thread where it was off topic. There was a conversation going on about this so it was only fair to turn it into it's own thread. This is exactly the point of this thread. Some people agree with you Amber, and others think the opposite. This thread is a discussion of those two sides.

Ok, fair enough. I can see both sides of this issue actually.

 

[D_Blackwell]

I think that it was absolutely right to split this thread from the original. It took on its own life and merited the split. The thread now has two distinct points. First, does smoking impair taste perception? Second, do smokers (however skilled) (in a business rife with excess) present an overall liability in the kitchen? For me - maybe to the first, and yes to the second.

 

[BlueCat]

Thank heaven I don't work in a field where people's narrow opinions and generalizations could have had an effect on my livelihood. Mind you, I don't regret for a minute my decision to stop smoking, but smoking never changed my ability to taste food. Smoking also never interfered with my putting in a very decent day's work. It also didn't make me lazy or impair my judgment. My sinuses are not one molecule better than they were before, and I never caught more than a sniffle as a smoker. I got double pneumonia and very nearly died several years after quitting. I will admit, I'm glad I didn't smoke when I was coming back from that one. I just can't stand holier than thou judgments about a group of people like this.

Honestly, sometimes I think that crackheads get a fairer shake in life than someone who smokes a cigarette. There are plenty of distasteful habits in the world, but who gets it thrown in their faces like a smoker does? It's as though people feel that a smoker has no feelings whatsoever. Maybe they should just make cigarettes illegal, since smokers are such a liability anyway, and try to find some other whipping boy to levy those same horrific taxes on like maybe fat people, or carnivores, or single people, or maybe they should just hit the drinkers harder - they already tax them pretty hard - but they're running out of sins to tax.

BC

 

[suzyQ3]

I'll trust what some of you have said about a smoker's lessened ability to season properly. But other than that, the liabilities that a chef who smokes bring to the job are no more nor less than a smoker brings to any job. While some may be stellar employees, smokers do tend to have more health issues, which can't help but affect their job performance at some point.

 

[TATTRAT]

Thank heaven I don't work in a field where people's narrow opinions and generalizations could have had an effect on my livelihood. Mind you, I don't regret for a minute my decision to stop smoking, but smoking never changed my ability to taste food. Smoking also never interfered with my putting in a very decent day's work. It also didn't make me lazy or impair my judgment. My sinuses are not one molecule better than they were before, and I never caught more than a sniffle as a smoker. I got double pneumonia and very nearly died several years after quitting. I will admit, I'm glad I didn't smoke when I was coming back from that one. I just can't stand holier than thou judgments about a group of people like this.

Honestly, sometimes I think that crackheads get a fairer shake in life than someone who smokes a cigarette. There are plenty of distasteful habits in the world, but who gets it thrown in their faces like a smoker does? It's as though people feel that a smoker has no feelings whatsoever. Maybe they should just make cigarettes illegal, since smokers are such a liability anyway, and try to find some other whipping boy to levy those same horrific taxes on like maybe fat people, or carnivores, or single people, or maybe they should just hit the drinkers harder - they already tax them pretty hard - but they're running out of sins to tax.

BC

I wish I could give you all my karma points, Blue Cat.

 

[amber]

Thank heaven I don't work in a field where people's narrow opinions and generalizations could have had an effect on my livelihood. Mind you, I don't regret for a minute my decision to stop smoking, but smoking never changed my ability to taste food. Smoking also never interfered with my putting in a very decent day's work. It also didn't make me lazy or impair my judgment. My sinuses are not one molecule better than they were before, and I never caught more than a sniffle as a smoker. I got double pneumonia and very nearly died several years after quitting. I will admit, I'm glad I didn't smoke when I was coming back from that one. I just can't stand holier than thou judgments about a group of people like this.

Honestly, sometimes I think that crackheads get a fairer shake in life than someone who smokes a cigarette. There are plenty of distasteful habits in the world, but who gets it thrown in their faces like a smoker does? It's as though people feel that a smoker has no feelings whatsoever. Maybe they should just make cigarettes illegal, since smokers are such a liability anyway, and try to find some other whipping boy to levy those same horrific taxes on like maybe fat people, or carnivores, or single people, or maybe they should just hit the drinkers harder - they already tax them pretty hard - but they're running out of sins to tax.

BC

Agreed You've summed up my thoughts so I cannot add more, except to say that if one wants to smoke now a days, you have to go outside, and even "air" space is fair game to some. I've been both a smoker and a non smoker. Enclosed spaces ok no smoking, but outdoors?

 

[Lynan]

Hear hear Bluecat!

I am totally amazed that some people would prefer food prepared by a non smoker because his ' bad habit' could affect said food. (I'm assuming the chef is NOT smoking in kitchen! ) I would be a darned sight more concerned over the kitchen worker who doesnt bother washing hands after a bathroom break/nose blowing actually. There are 1000's of documented cases where people have become very ill after these occurences ( Hepatitis, food poisoning etc) but I am yet to read/hear of one concerning a smoker.

 

[ironchef]

From an industry standpoint and from a non-smoker, I don't think it matters in regards to taste. Some chefs have a great feel for flavor, and some don't. Period. Some chefs can make make a great pan seared fish with a lemon-caper sauce. Very vanilla in terms of creativity and flavor complexity, but they can make a good one and that's that. But that is the extent of their skill and taste profile. On the other hand, some chefs can make and season correctly something like a sea bass cooked sous vide with a cauliflower puree and pistacio gastrique. In both these cases the chefs may or may not smoke. The point is, it's the chef or cook's own individual interpretation of the flavor of the dish. Some people have a higher tolerance to salt than others. Some of these people are chefs. They cook your food and it is salty.

 

[Gossie]

I am a non-smoker, always have been, always will be. I grew up in a family of smokers. Two of them being very disrespectful of the fact that cigarette smoke made me sick. This has gotten worse over the years. As far as I am concerned, I would prefer it not be a smoker that cooks my food, but if they are fastidious about washing their hands, go for it, I don't mind, I'll never know. hehe

On the other hand, smoking is a disgusting habit. I hate the smell, I hate the smell getting all over MY clothes and hair because I have to walk thru a door where other's are smoking outside the door. And this happens at a lot of restaurants. One restaurant that I really love, the food is excellent, but having to walk through that front door where the smokers are is horrible, I can't smell the food when it comes out. It doesn't help my husband either, he has asthma, and it has brought on an asthma attack. I'm so glad he is good about carrying around his puffers when he has an attack. You can pretty much fix your house up to not cause problems, but when you go outside, it's random.

 

[YT2095]

I was going to post here and give my experience, but after reading some of the posts here, I think I`ll stay silent!

 

[Vegas Girl]

Most of the would-be chefs on ****'s Kitchen were smokers. Although non smoking Virginia didn't win her own restaurant (she was in the final two), she won several mini challenges. Chef Ramsey said her pallette was "spot on".

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Thank heaven I don't work in a field where people's narrow opinions and generalizations could have had an effect on my livelihood. Mind you, I don't regret for a minute my decision to stop smoking, but smoking never changed my ability to taste food. Smoking also never interfered with my putting in a very decent day's work. It also didn't make me lazy or impair my judgment. My sinuses are not one molecule better than they were before, and I never caught more than a sniffle as a smoker. I got double pneumonia and very nearly died several years after quitting. I will admit, I'm glad I didn't smoke when I was coming back from that one. I just can't stand holier than thou judgments about a group of people like this.

Honestly, sometimes I think that crackheads get a fairer shake in life than someone who smokes a cigarette. There are plenty of distasteful habits in the world, but who gets it thrown in their faces like a smoker does? It's as though people feel that a smoker has no feelings whatsoever. Maybe they should just make cigarettes illegal, since smokers are such a liability anyway, and try to find some other whipping boy to levy those same horrific taxes on like maybe fat people, or carnivores, or single people, or maybe they should just hit the drinkers harder - they already tax them pretty hard - but they're running out of sins to tax.

BC

bluecat; You will see, if you go back to my ealier post on this subject, that I try to judge not by emotion, but by empirical evidence. That being said, I too believe that to paint all smokers by the same brush is just plain wrong. But having been in many places and with 51 years behind me, I can say that I understand many non-smoker's aversions to smokers. It has been only in the last decade or so that the non-smoker has been given freedom from the irritation of second-hand smoke. My Dad smoked like a chimney, about 3 packs a day of Pall Malls. He smoked in the car from when I was an infant right through to his 70th year of life. He quit smoking then. And in the winter, with car windows rolled up, cigarette smoke is very irritating to the throat and sinuses of non-smokers. It also causes headaches, can lead to illness, etc. etc.

The frustration of non-smoking was great in yesteryears. Often, peer pressure was against you. And finding a smoke-free place was nearly impossible. The pendulum has merely swung in the opposite direction and smokers are feeling (unfortunately) the often undesearved wrath of those who don't want cigarette smoke in there lungs and sinuses.

Plus, as a person aware of the risks, and wanting everyone to enjoy life to its fullest, I frequently urge smokers to quit, though I do it gently, understanding that some people actually enjoy the habit, or have difficulty quitting.

For this discussion though, I still believe that taste and smell sensitivity are as another has stated, the result of many factors, such as gentic disposition, smoking, age, and desensitivity to various flavors.

In life, rarely will one find a pat and easy answer to complex questions. We can only gather what facts are available to us, and try to make educated and informed opinions. If we tend to form our answers through emotion, then those answers are usually erroneous.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Andy M.]

If the food is good and has been prepared observing health and safety rules, I don't care what the kitchen staff put into their bodies.

 

[BlueCat]

In life, rarely will one find a pat and easy answer to complex questions. We can only gather what facts are available to us, and try to make educated and informed opinions. If we tend to form our answers through emotion, then those answers are usually erroneous.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I wasn't pointing to your post in particular, Goodweed. I was stating the facts as I see them, the ones that I have available to me, and making educated and informed opinions, just as you stated above. I'm not sure what you were driving at with the emotion statement. Much as I don't like the way smokers are treated, I made some very valid points, certainly because of the fact that I can see the debate from both sides of the issue.

BC

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I wasn't pointing to your post in particular, Goodweed. I was stating the facts as I see them, the ones that I have available to me, and making educated and informed opinions, just as you stated above. I'm not sure what you were driving at with the emotion statement. Much as I don't like the way smokers are treated, I made some very valid points, certainly because of the fact that I can see the debate from both sides of the issue.

BC

I was agreeing with you Bluecat. I don't believe that smoking is as much of an issue with tastebuds as some may suspect. Because of teh posts I've read here, I've expanded my view, or rather, refined my hypothesis a bit. Rather than stating outright that smoking doesn't play a role in taste sensitivity, I will now propose that it is just one of many factors that may affect sensitivity to some flavors, but that it can be compensated for.

And the statement about emotional response or reaction was more for those who tend to let emotion govern their opinions. I found nothing wrong with your statements except they were a bit hard-line, or rigid. I am the kind of guy that constantly re-evaluates my opinions or ideas on the latest information I have.

Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[goboenomo]

I like the ones that will go on about how to make the perfect healthy meal and know all about all the right foods to eat, and curse you for eating unhealthy, and then excuse themselves to go out and get some "air".

 

[BlueCat]

I get you now Goodweed. How funny that things are taken so differently when reading the printed word. Yep, I'll admit that my opinions are rigid. I have a real tough time making a decision about many things, but once I have one, by golly, I stick to it!

And I get your point too goboenomo. I don't like when anyone goes after a person for their unhealthy eating habits either - whether they go out for a smoke afterward or not. People really do have a clue that their unhealthy habits are unhealthy. I just heard a psychologist talking about that very same thing - and saying that people know WHAT they need to do, but often they really aren't very well taught HOW to achieve it. Their view was that a person with a bad habit gets the news from say, the Dr., that they need to change, but that's the extent of the advice. What they thought was needed was more one on one education. Maybe not by the Dr., but by a professional who would take the case from there. It sounded reasonable.

BC