Playing with your food

[Jonathan Day]

Almost all young children love to play with food -- combining ingredients, mashing foods to change their textures, stirring, tasting. My three enjoy helping in the kitchen -- the youngest, for example, has become very proficient peeling carrots, and insists on taking on this task when we cook together.

Yet so much of what we do with food, either as amateurs or chefs, is terribly serious. We have long debates about the best way to cook a steak, or whether Ducasse is better than Passard.

My question to you: is there a playful side to the work that you and the other chefs at Trio do? Do you ever try experiments just for the fun of it? Or does the serious, commercial aspect dominate the kitchen?

Thanks for joining in this Q&A!

[chefg]

Jonathan:

Both. I would say we are focused on creating a new dishes for the restaurant but at the same time our food is sometimes playful by nature. Things like pizza and caramel popcorn are whimsical. David, the sous chef came to me with grilled cheese the other day. Puffed Velveeta with bread ice cream. I want to try and break away from the whimsy though, as it is now being used widely. Alittle is fun. We don't have time to experiment for fun, I envy el Bulli for having an "off season" to create. Sometimes silliness helps create a dish. "Let's do "shaving kit" someone says.. poached razor clams and some type of foam...that one got a laugh ...but that's about as far as it went.