Life in a non-vegan kitchen

Meatloaf with butternut squash, watermelon radish, braised cabbage, and spiced bordelaise, at Le Bertin

People ask me a lot what working in non-vegan restaurant at the level I'm at and i think it'd be cool to let y'all know

Shit sucks. For real.

The secret about fine dining is the hours you have to work. I haven't worked shifts shorter than 10 hours since I've been cooking professionally, where I work now, 12-13 is the norm (and yes we're all on salary lmao)

What that ends up meaning is a lot of not eating. No staff meal, and no snacks throughout service. No nibbles or bits from extras or off cuts, no tasting another chef's new proposed dish. You eat before and after work and then you spend 11 hours surrounded by things you'll never eat.

You also need to do a lot of jobs you absolutely do not want to do. Some chefs are nice enough to take some of crueler jobs for themselves, but a lot think it's super funny to make the vegan kill lobsters, fry baby crabs alive, butcher chickens and ducks or break down Lambs. You have to make a choice between working somewhere that'll boost your resume and secure your career, hopefully getting tou in a position where you don't have to do these things anymore, or you quit.

And often, you have to catfish chefs into giving you a job. I don't tell tell chefs that I'm vegan because, the assumption is 1) vegans don't know how to work with animal products 2) vegans don't know how to cook food that tastes good. It's kind of funny because, despite 7 years of veganism I have only ever specifically worked on the protein/meat station at every job I've ever had. I think chefs see it on my resume in the past and just put me back on there. so I've developed the skills despite absolutely never wanting to do that job, haha.

A lot of people quit and go back to eating meat. In fact, I think almost every one of my cook friends who used to be vegan isn't anymore. It's super hard. Everyone gives you shit, you have to deal with the psychological struggle of being opposed to animal cruelty and having to work with dead animals or even kill them yourself.

You have to decide how to fit veganism into your career aspirations, or to decide to give one of them up. I absolutely know I would be further along in my career with my skills if I wasn't vegan. But I'm not willing to give that up. One of my motivations behind opening Le Bertin is providing a structured, disciplined restaurant that has all to cool food and techniques and gadgets that good restaurants have, but no animal products. So that vegan and vegetarian cooks can have somewhere to thrive and learn and be challenged not feel like their diet or beliefs are a hindrance. A place where being vegan is a plus, not a negative. I would almost rather have vegan cooks who want to learn how to work in a tasting menu only modern restaurant than non-vegan cooks who already have. They can work anywhere. We need a spot for ourselves.