Notes from a certain cook.
--I Write it down to forget.
I wish I, and anyone, won't read this.
Since they call it the Seven Islands of Izu, I used to think that the archipelago of Izu was comprised of no more than seven islands.
At first, I was told that Rokkenjima was a considerably small island
However, compared with the image I had of an island like a flat tatami mat, like the back of a whale where a single palm tree would be growing, pictured by my poor imagination, Rokkenjima seemed to be of a considerable vastness.
The coastline of the island is a little over 10Km. Its overall lenght would be around 3Km.
On a map, it'll certainly look small, but when you take into account that it's a private island, with only the mansion of the Ushiromiya family built there, its vastness becomes something unimaginable.
I oftenly remember how the presence of the imposing mansion on the other side of the beautiful rose garden greatly surprised me when I first arrived here.
Not even in my wildest dreams I imagined that my life as a cook would lead to being called out to be an exclusive cook for multi-millionares, like what happens in mangas or fairy-tales....
In the first place, I had no luck.
A well-established restaurant of a high class hotel was a wonderful workplace known by its pride and brimming tension, a place where wonderfully talented cooks competed over their skills.
But, the pride there was a custom above that, and it was also a fact that the bonds there were strong.
It all suffered an eruption when the head chef, who coordinated the cooks through his strong carisma, all of a sudden, decided to retire due to health problems.
To a cook of skills and pride above others, the only person they is able to respect is a cook who surpasses themselves.
That's why, as long as head chef kept his authority, no matter how inflexible, impertinent or young we were, we all made our work as one.
So, maybe this was the inevitable consequence when the head chef decided to retire all of a sudden.
We were split into a few factions there.
The ones with most popularity in the kitchen were expected to become the head chef. Those were highly valued for their respectable achievements, skills and leadership over the enthusiastic juniors.
However, they were also strong willed people and it was hard to say they got along well with the hotel side in particular.
What the hotel side needed was a cook who would be able to show satisfactory results with suitable budgets and deadlines, and not a cook who would go against the deadlines and budgets in order to show satisfactory results. ...... That discrepancy of priorities with the cooks became trouble.
The candidate the hotel side recommended was typical 'sitting on the fence'. He gave a strong impression of being more interested in being toady to the big shots than polishing his skills as a cook. Instead of improving his cooking skills, until today, he seemed to spend more time only aiming at the position of the next head chef.
In the end, that man was installed as the head chef. The peson whe agreed to that position ended up being his assistant.
We could not agree with that result, but we started to put the kitchen to work under that set-up to see how things would turn out for a while.
