Chef Magazine for Thailand December/January | Page 45

Keller also refuses to be defined as a west coast chef, despite making his
name there. ‘We’re not talking about California cuisine or East Coast
cuisine, that’s not part of our lexicon. We talk about a true basis of what we
do in a philosophical way that’s really based on the way that I think about
food. A large majority of it’s based in classic French cuisine and trying to
make sure that we’re able to execute it better than they did 100 years ago,
or 50 years ago because we have better ingredients, we have better skills,
we have better equipment, we have better technology’.
Despite his close ties to France (he spent a year in the early 80’s staging
around some of the finest restaurants in the country including Taillevent,
Guy Savoy and Le Pré Catelan in Paris and was personally asked by Paul
Bocuse himself to lead an American team to the Bocuse d’Or, ‘, ‘In all
honesty, if Paul called you and said, “I want you to do this,” you would have
a hard time saying no’), Keller is at heart an American chef.
During our interview, he talks eloquently and in detail about the history and
evolution of American cuisine, from the French Pavilion at the World’s Fair
in New York in 1939 to Jacquie Kennedy bringing the first French chef to the
White House and the influence of major figures such as like Julia Child, Chuck
Williams (of Williams Sonoma), and Robert Mondavi and his own close ties to
the country’s indigenous produce and the people behind it.
‘I don’t call them suppliers, I call them partners. Building relationships
with those farmers, those fisherman, those foragers and those gardeners
is really the foundation for any great restaurant. That’s why I’ve rarely
done anything outside of our country because ingredients are such an
important part of what we do. I’ve been offered things in London and been
very flattered by some of the people who’ve offered it to me, but there’s
just no reason for me to go there. Anything that I would do there would be
something that other people have done. The chefs in the UK have already
built relationships with those farmers and fisherman and foragers and
gardeners to get the best ingredients. How can I expect to leap-frog over
ten of my colleagues just because I’m Thomas Keller?’
For many chefs around the world, three Michelin stars is the ultimate goal,
something Keller has achieved twice over, and yet, although he sees the
Michelin guide as ‘credible’, Keller doesn’t define himself in their terms
alone.
‘Michelin didn’t come to our country until 12 years ago. My entire life
before that was not based on anything about Michelin, other than
looking at those great chefs of the past years and trying to live up to
a little bit of the example that they set. Whether you’re a three-star
chef, or a one-star chef or a no-star chef, the fact that you’re giving
your guests a memory that they take with them, for hopefully a long
time, that is the true meaning of success, irregardless of accolades or
rewards. It’s really about that ability to nurture others in a way that
gives them a great sense of comfort, of joy, of excitement and affection.
I think that’s really what we try to do mostly, as chef’s, is nurture people.
How do you summarize what it takes to be a three-star chef? I think it’s
a true sense of wanting to make people happy’. · Chef
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