ART BEGINS AT THE KITCHEN
Kitchens are being turned into art studios. Kemal Demirasal, Graduate of Izmir University of Economics (IUE) and Enterprising Chef of Alancha Restaurant in Alaçatı, stated that chefs were no longer just cooking, and restaurant management became more interactive at the workshop where he met students of IUE Department of Culinary Arts and Management.
Demirasal said, “Being a chef is not associated with being at the back of the restaurant all that much, but being in the front as well. Restaurants are no more places where chefs are only cooking at the back and the others are serving at the front. Now chefs are interacting with their guests personally. Therefore, a restaurant is not a place where people go to eat only; it became more of a place where people go to have an experience, where they can see the philosophy and the perspective of the kitchen.”
Demirasal, who made suggestions to young chefs, reported that a good chef needed to know what was happening at the front of the restaurant also in order to bring a good perspective to his dishes. “If you are cooking at the kitchen, your serving should not be unnatural. Just like you put your soul into cooking, you should do the same when it comes to serving that food. Chefs, no longer the restaurant managers, are the connectors between the kitchen team and the serving team. Chefs now have this duty as well. Therefore, personal development of this team plays a significant importance,” stated Demirasal.