A Chef Coat

Last week I taught my first cooking class with PCC. Though I've had my share of issues with the organization in the past, I'm really impressed with the cooking program and I'm happy to be a part of it.

I wore a chef coat for the first time in my life. For years I've taken pride in the fact that I've come this far without ever having worn one. It's not that I don't take pride in my skills as a cook (chef?) I certainly do take pride in my work and my talent, if you will, but I feel that chef coats play up the difference between professional cooking and home cooking and I've always been more interested in playing that down.

As a cooking instructor, I want to teach people to trust their instincts and experiment. I want to show that simple food can be at least as appealing as complicated food and that there is almost never only one correct way to do anything, despite what the "experts" say.

Our collective body of cooking knowledge is broad, deep, and very, very old. It has developed in the hands of thousands of generations of ordinary and extraordinary people exploring the infinite possibilities offered by the countless edible and potentially edible substances that surround us. Each of us has the potential to continue building on that knowledge even today, whether it's for the purpose of finding simple recipes that work for our own families or designing award winning dishes at high end restaurants.

When I expressed my ambivalence, the folks who run the cooking program offered me the option of wearing an apron instead. I may take them up on it next time.