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What advice do you wished you received early in your career? Recently, the Huffington Post posed this question to seven famous chefs across the United States who, as it turns out, had many jewels of advice for their younger self.
For instance, legendary Chicago chef Tony Mantuano thinks tradition plays an important role in the kitchen. He recommends looking "to the past to move forward," which would give a young chef an understanding of tradition and create a ''unique point of view.''
But Ludo Lefebvre from Trois Mec in Los Angeles had sharper advice: "First, make sure to learn how to use a knife. Speed is crucial, because in the kitchen we are always in the weeds."
Of course, knife skills are important but so is humility and patience, a point driven home by Mindy Segal from Hot Chocolate in Chicago. "Keep your head down, ears open, and do not lose focus of the fact that you're working to learn a craft that takes a lifetime to master."
Perhaps Vinny Dotolo from Animal in Los Angeles summed it up best with this philosophy: "Have fun. Take notes. Listen more than you talk. Travel. Spend all of your money eating food that you're interested in. It will pay you back 100 times over."
So there you have it advice chefs would give their younger self. For more culinary wisdom, swing by the Huffington Post to see what other chefs like Tom Love had to say.
