Getting involved

  Breakfast before we left was huge considering the amount we'd eaten for our last supper but we had food to use and we had the inclination so it was kind of inevitable. Before I get back to life in London I want to send out a big thanks to the boys for all their enthusiastic help with the cooking, cleaning, table laying and most importantly all their plate emptying and subsequent licking clean. I'm looking forward to the next one already.

  But on that note, and as a continuation from yesterday, I don't think I've stressed how important it is to get as many people as possible in the kitchen. Before you get all excited and start yelling at me that you'd heard some rumour that too many chefs spoil the broth, I'm taking about helpers, minions, commis and apprentices. Don't expect to be doing everything on your own, share the love and do it together.

An exhausted Belgian helper earlier.

  I was really lucky that as a small person I was not only allowed in the kitchen but actively encouraged. I can think of countless occasions where I've seen little 'uns kicked out of the kitchen for getting underfoot and that's a bit of a shame partly, and you may not have thought about this, because if you train them well, you can get them to do a lot of cooking. How does that sound? 

  But this idea isn't limited to tiny beings who can be threatened with limited access to the internet, it works well with grown ups too. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a control freak and I need to take a large portion of my own advice, but even though I did the majority of the cooking, I still found tasks for the diners. I haven't asked them but I'm pretty sure they'd tell you they were happy to be involved and even felt a sense of accomplishment. And it goes the other way too. When you go to a friends or family, don't be shy about asking to help and being insistent if the cook politely declines.

  Getting involved is how we learn to cook and if we want any chance of that to survive, more of us need to get stuck in. The zombie filled, apocalyptic nightmare alternative is too unspeakable to comprehend but just to spell it out, it looks like this. Once cooking has become the sole practice of proper chefs, (not just monkeys reheating shit in microwaves), and those interested in historical re-enactment, the only way to get a hot meal will be as a ready meal or via a restaurant, (eat in, delivered or take away). Supermarkets will stop selling ingredients as there will be no demand. Instead, as well as selling the basics like milk, bread, sugar, tea etc, they will just stock ready meals. The closest anyone will get to cooking is removing the outer packaging, piercing the lid and putting it in the microwave or, (if you're a bit of a show off), the oven. Think about this because if you don't do anything about it now, by the time you get put in a home, who knows what shit they'll be feeding you!

Kirk out

Chefsebastian.com