That Was The Week That Was

Women make the best cooks, says Marco. Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White has said that women are more instinctive and better cooks than men, who he accused of being driven by ego. In an interview in the food magazine Delicious, White said that women “cook from the heart” and have “better palates, a better sense of smell, a better understanding of food” whereas “many top [male] chefs are only cooking to serve their egos. It’s all about them, not the food. Unlike most women, they have forgotten that Mother Nature is the true artist – and we must allow her to be the star.” White – who is as famous for his violent outbursts against underachieving staff as for being the first British chef to win three Michelin stars – added that of the modern restaurant kitchen meant women were less likely to reach the top.
Speaking of the physical nature and macho culture, Mr Ego himself, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay attacked food critics and offered to provide the canapes at their funerals free of charge in a new radio interview this week. The chef and TV star, whose New York restaurant Gordon Ramsay at the London was criticised in a New York Times review, says he is “sick to death of being judged by individuals that know less about food than I do”. Ramsay says the opening of the New York restaurant is the toughest he has had so far. But he says he felt vindicated by its two Michelin stars in its first 10 months. “If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. I’ll say that to anyone, whether you’re an artist, a chef or you’re thinking of opening a bakery. It’s the toughest city in the world.” Asked about food critics, he says: “I’m in the situation now, at the age of 40 after cooking for 21 years (and it shows on the wrinkles on my face) that I am sick to death of being judged by individuals that know less about food than I do. However, as I have done in the past, I take it on the chin.” He said when he was “panned” by the New York Times the critic called him to ask what was inside the dish. “If you don’t know what you’re criticising, then don’t write about it,” he says.
Perhaps that other Ego, powerful food critic Anton Ego in the movie Ratatouille, really summed up Gordo’s feelings in a much more elegant style. After a revelatory meal in Remy’s revamped restaurant, Gusteau, the erstwhile surly Anton Ego, undergoes something of a Damascene conversion. In his words: “In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” I’m not sure his real life counterparts would subscribe to that thinking however.