Wellbeing could mean safety. It could mean calm. It could mean community.
It could be internal to you. It could be in the environment.
In my first post I wanted to put that thought out there and to talk about what it means to me and what its meant to me in the past.
When do you feel well?
For me, in the kitchen, a feeling of wellbeing is there when I feel like I am being my best self. When I feel safe in myself and safe in the environment that I am in.
For some I know it is in the midst of service. When adrenaline is flowing and they feel part of the team. The brigade. With a feeling of being in that moment.
It used to be the case for me. Not anymore. For me I enjoy a calmer, more balanced environment.
Which are you?
It can be a rhetorical question or one we talk about, but its invaluable to know. To know yourself. To know what wellbeing feels like. To know what you need in your life to feel it.
The Chefs Wellbeing program and the Chefs Union as a whole are here to say that this DOES matter.
The days of the hospitality industry being stoic and tough and putting up with a life without wellbeing are OVER.
Your Wellbeing MATTERS. And the wellbeing of your friends and colleagues matters.
Meditation is a broad term that has many meanings to different cultures and religions and is carried out in a multitude of different ways.
If you googled it now you would get many different definitions for what it means to meditate. Varying from enlightenment to changing the way your mind works.
What is Meditation?
It is important to choose your own definition for what you would like to achieve meditating. For me it is:
“To create a space to be connected with my true self, my true self not associated to stress or worry”
I like to strip back the term. Instead of setting out time to meditate, simply set out time to sit still.
How do you meditate?
You will find a huge amount of different techniques for how to meditate. For some this is great, choice is of course one of the great privileges of the internet but for me it becomes a little overwhelming. How do I choose? Which is right for me?
Traditionally most meditation techniques all require you to sit comfortably in a seated position and bring your attention inwards focusing on your body and your breathe. You then sit in this space for a set amount of time bring your attention back to your breathe or focus point each time you have a thought.
Like many I started with Headspace a few years back. The worldwide app has brought meditation to the masses. To keep it fresh however there are a huge number of different courses you can do for a technique that I think should be left much more simple.
Challenges of meditation?
When I spent time in India one thing I was doing was meditating every morning. To meditate fully you need be in a comfortable seated position, cross legged on a mat or cushion. This enables your body to stay alert. If you are supported in your seated position you mind can become too relaxed and you could sleep.
I’m afraid as a chef this will probably be incredibly difficult. When I started I could sit cross legged for about 2 minutes before my middle back, hips or groin screamed at me to get up. This is very normal and not something that should stop you.
Asana, the movement part of yoga which we are all familiar with is the way you stretch and strengthen your body to be able to sit cross legged and meditate.
I am in two minds as to whether or we call the monkey mind a challenge to meditation. It’s what we are looking to calm and control using meditation.
Finding your meditation?
A teacher of mine recently gave me a different perspective on meditation. Meditation simply doesn’t have to be this traditional way. For some it is great but its not for everyone.
We meditate whenever we are consciously taking control of our thoughts using focus.
For you, when do you feel you have control of your thoughts, your monkey mind? It is this time you can cultivate. Expand on. To meditate.
It could be…
Brilliantly for us… when you cook? Cooking is a great meditation. Next time you are kneading bread or stirring a risotto simply focus your mind on your breathe, or on the job at hand. If you have a thought, acknowledge it and then let it go. Don’t judge yourself (keep up your Ahimsa practice – see my post on Ahimsa).
or is meditation for you when you are in the bath, whilst on a walk, whilst running or whilst doing a yoga class?
So, don’t be overwhelmed by the term. Just appreciate the benefits and give it a go.
For me I have always found that the more I meditate the more I can take this calmer mind into life. The stresses of life or the stresses of the kitchen.
If you would like to chat about how you could benefit from meditation drop me a message and we’ll have a chat, and if you have other ways that you think you meditate then please share.
Ballymoloe trained chef, superstar and head chef at Good For The Soul Cafe in Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland talks about where his passion of food came from and the love you need to be a chef.
Food is an expression; a lifestyle choice ever before we step foot into a professional kitchen. For me, my love affair with food began as a quiet teenager in a family of wonderfully outspoken individuals as I asked myself what I could bring to the mayhem of this equation. The obvious answer, it seemed, was cake and suddenly things got personal.
All those years later, and things have changed little. A tough day can still be made better by a good bake; every family occasion is marked by a signature dessert, but what’s more is that each day has found me at the head of the Good For The Soul kitchen as my relationship with food goes from strength to strength.
The reason I touch back on the beginnings of one of the most important relationships in my life, is to then pave the way for a focus on the fragility and vulnerability which comes with such a connection. It is a brave move to subject something so important to the professional kitchen environment: an environment of intense pressure driven by the cruel mistress of time, under the watchful gaze of a temperamental audience. There must really be only one reason why we would do it, and it is true; we do it for the love.
However, love too is a double-edged sword, and in cooking with your heart, you put your head on the line. Despite being a part of a fast-paced team, the overriding narrative can often be your own thoughts. Such thoughts can manifest themselves in various forms along the spectrum, from the inner-saboteur to the well-satisfied ego. Orders flood in, plates go out and demands of tomorrow have already begun encroaching on your mind, and suddenly the lines between the head and the heart become blurred as the pressure grows and the pot boils.
A superior gives you feedback, a colleague does not share your vision, a customer takes to their online podium of power, blissfully unaware that for each blow they deliver, the ripple effect will throw another ten, leaving a chef accountable to their seniors, their peers and most directly to themselves.
There are so many external sources of impact on the mind of a chef that put our mental health in jeopardy. It is therefore our responsibility to be aware of such factors and to create that on/off switch between the personal and professional. Whilst easier said than done, what we can do for ourselves is simple: remind yourself regularly why you cook; what dish you first cooked which gave you the confidence to say ‘yes I can’ and stay present. Let not one flawed dish set a precedent for the following hundred, rather reaffirm why and prove yourself in the comeback, as you continue to strive for excellence.
The next step is to turn outwards, look at those around you. Those with whom you share a kitchen and a common goal are quite likely experiencing similar thoughts and have different levels of ability to deal with them also. Be a support and be supported. Signs of stress or anxiety can often be clear so be prompt in your action. You should know the mood and what your kitchen can be; like a well-rehearsed song, that you know instantly if somebody is out of tune.
I maintain that food should be accessible and not a well kept secret. We are all connected by our love of food, and so should share that freely: talk. Talk, don’t tell. Share with each other your knowledge about food, your experiences, ideas, inspirations and realign your personal mission statement before it gets so entangled in a stifled, emotion-driven silence.
Chefs have been tarred with the ‘tired and cranky’ brush for far too long. We are allowed to be vulnerable and to feel the highs and the lows in equal measure. With every failed soufflé, comes a memory; with every memory comes an experience and with every experience comes an opportunity to grow. Do not retreat from these moments; rather cherish them as soon-to-be highlights in your own memory bank of learning.
Finally, from a diners’ perspective also food evokes memory. As chefs we owe it to the legion of great chefs before us to facilitate the creation of more special memories through the dishes which we present. It is an honour to be entrusted with this task. However, as humans, we owe it to ourselves to take care of one another, to know when the relationship is fraught and in need of repair, and to ensure we are able for the role before we reach the point of burnout.
Cook with the head and with the heart, but above all, cook smart.
On #worldsuicidepreventionday I want to talk about the mental health risks in our kitchens from a different angle.
At Cooking In Mind I want to talk about the problem from the bottom up. There are wonderful charities out there to help people who are really at risk from suicide, drug abuse or other serious mental health issues. What makes me passionate is to think about how we can prevent people feeling like this in the first place.
Lets look at the causes rather than the symptoms.
The pressures of working as a chef or in the hospitality industry is enough to make people feel suicidal. I’m interested in what we can do to look at the causes. What can we be doing to loosen that grip, to keep people safe and enable our hospitality workers to live balanced lives.
By doing this we could prevent one chef from reaching that point of danger. Just one and I’m happy.
To do this…
We all need to take responsibly for others. Primarily we need to be aware of how we manage the people below us. Are they ok? Am I asking too much? Are they coping? By taking this all the way to the top we change the way we manage and over the years those commis chefs who become head chefs take that good style of management with them.
We all need to take responsibility for ourselves. How do we live our lives to give ourselves the best chance? Do we live a good work/life balance? Do we get outside? Do we get some exercise? Do we fuel our bodies well?
Lets start this journey. Lets shake it up for the hospitality workers of the future. Lets bring down the chef suicide rate one kind word at a time, one responsibly management service at a time, one run at a time, one hug from a loved one at a time.
As part of cooking in mind I think its important to be asking difficult questions. Questions that could cause division and conflict to begin with. I have a huge fear of confrontation, I always have so this question has always been a difficult one for me. I have always asked it.
Asking this to yourself is important in all professions but as a chef I think it is particularly important. A chef role can take over your life.
Being in the right job can be magnificent for your mental health. You can feel energised and motivated a good proportion of the time.
Being in the wrong job can be very dangerous for your mental health. Am I in the right job for me? now?
To guide you I’ve made some points below. Some things to think about when trying to answer the question
Don’t base this decision on whether it is ‘hard’.
When you are doing meaningful work then hard work is empowering and rewarding. Work is the wrong kind of hard when you don’t feel engaged in what you are doing.
Do you feel you thriving on the pressure of what you are doing?
When times get hard perhaps during a busy service do you feel a rush of adrenaline? When this happens you can actually feel a high. On the other hand, do you feel heaviness in your stomach or a tight chest. These are warning signs that you need to listen to. What is your body telling you?
It is a dangerous environment for your mental health, but is it leading you to where you want to be? Can you focus on the end to get you through the now? Can you side step safely?
This is a huge question. A complicated question. Long term goals can help you when things get very tough. However, you need to learn where your line is. In simple terms life is short and you should never put yourself through too much for any long term idea. Never push too hard however, you could endure a tough year if you can see the light at the end as a powerful motivator and focus point rather than the present struggle.
Does the business match your values?
These values could be linked to your long term goals. Are you vegan and working in a steak restaurant? Do you agree with the way your owners run the business from an ethical pint of view? This can effect your engagement to your role and how much you can give.
Does the business want what is best for you?
Are they nurturing you? Are they working towards you being your best self? Or are they simply bleeding what they can from you? This could be through regular progress meetings or simply getting regular feedback as to how things are going. Do they discuss long term goals for your progression. Some businesses do this very well and others simply see you as another face.
Are you being developed? Are you learning?
You will never know everything. you should always feel you are learning.
Does the kitchen have a mental health policy?
Right now this is unlikely but it is a question we should all be asking. For now, perhaps think about what would happen if you went to a manger and explained you weren’t coping very well. Would they be supportive? Would there be mental health sick days?
If you felt anxiety within your job, could you speak to anyone?
Leading on from the last question really, do you have a good relationship with your managers. Could you talk to people about your concerns and / or anxieties.
Having long term goals are important. Is the job directing you towards them?
Think big. You only have one life. Don’t waste it. Knowing where you want to be will make you happy in the present when working towards that point.
I’m looking for chefs to join me in a focus group to discuss how we can have all chefs in the right roles. If you are interested please get in touch through social media or the contact me page. Id like to discuss these issues from the side of chefs and from owners.
What we eat can of course have an effect on our moods. Deep down I think we all know this. We are being bombarded with different super foods to fix different problems.
It needs simplifying, stripping back and made accessible to all. Agree?
Whole foods are an easy way to try to do this. Whole food carbohydrates in particular. White flours for example will give you a quick hit of energy but then leave you tired again. This high and low can be a huge cause of anxiety in the kitchen. Much the same as if you drink coffee as a diet.
Check out my recipe for a delicious quinoa tabbouleh. Get it on the menu so that staff food can offer something wholesome!
Over the past week I have read Lost Connections by Johann Hari. A book that has changed mine and millions of others’ take on what depression really is.
The book talks about how depression could be caused by lost connections to what really matters rather than a chemical imbalance. I found it to be utterly inspirational. For a number of years I believed I was ill and sure, I was but the most terrifying part of it was believing it was out of my control. A chemical imbalance does indeed feel out of your control.
This got me thinking about my depression and anxiety in relation to my work.
Two of the major connections Johann talks about are community and meaningful work as being connections which can make a huge difference. If you feel part of a community and have meaningful work Johann says you are significantly less likely to suffer from depressions.
Being a chef can give you both of these things in abundance if you are in the right job for you. But how many of us have lost this connection. I know I did.
So, what I am saying it perhaps it is time to re-frame how we see elements of our work. Connect back to the ingredients. As chefs, we should see a carrot and connect with it, the story of that carrot and what magical and meaningful things we can do with it. Its why you wanted to cook in the first place, right?
And community, I spoke recently to a friend of mine and he said to me that the community of the kitchen saved him during very difficult times. When you connect with your team and achieve great things it makes you feel warm and joyful. Embrace it.
But of course, remember, that looking at these connections is one part of how you can feel better. It is not always a solution on its own, however take control of what you can. How you frame and appreciate things is in your control. So next time you are working with someone who you see as a friend and that amazing mozzarella is delivered, stop and appreciate the moment. Connect with it and then perhaps the stress and pressure to come will feel more meaningful.
If you want to read more I highly recommend the book and I’d love to hear abut how you can connect it to the kitchen.
Read my bio and you’ll see what I want to achieve, see what we have to achieve.
I thought my first blog post should be simply looking at where we are now. A big part of the reason I want to write this is to see if my thoughts are the same in a years time.
I’ve very much only started the conversation.
Is working in a professional kitchen a mentally healthy thing to do?
The extreme is to simply say no. I have spoken to many a chef who has answered with that. I wouldn’t shoot them down but I definitely don’t think that it is always the case and it simply cant be like that. What if all chefs stop being chefs? Where will you take your mum out for mothers day? Where will you get a burger when you’re hungover and couldn’t possibly cook it for yourself?
Right now we are in a place where the food industry is growing, however the popularity of being a chef is going down.
The simple reason that being a chef is becoming less popular is down to the fact the jobs being asked for by employers are not very appealing. They are demanding a level of commitment not matched in other industries.
“Its always going to be long hours, anti-social hours, limited holiday opportunities, no breaks, low pay; that’s what being a chef is”
How long do we really think this will last? I hear it compared to being a nurse for example. Really? The commitment from a job that saves lives cannot be compared to a job that offers somebody a plate of food which lets be honest, you could make yourself. It should be compared to a builder, where breaks are enforced and where you would only work a weekend for double pay.
I love the industry is my truth. I have been addicted for a lot of years. But I know that the conditions have become too much for me. My mission is to get everyone talking about how we can make this better. It is not in any way to talk to chefs and tell them to run away and leave the industry. Being a chef is fulfilling and gives you everything you need from a job. However, it has to evolve so that the best chefs stay as chefs.
If we can do this, not only will the industry be a wonderful thing for its workers but on the other side…
The food coming out of professional kitchens will get better!
The food that comes out of kitchens where the chefs are in control and happy is so much better. Ive witnessed it. Its fairly obvious really isn’t it? We used to believe that if chefs were scared then they wouldn’t make mistakes and the food would be great, right?
Its not true! This myth needs to be busted. I make mistakes when I’m anxious and scared of the consequence of a mistake. If chefs feel empowered, safe and respected then they will always give 100% and their focus will be on great cooking rather than the fear of failure.
Pressure is great, fear is bad.
At the moment I don’t think most head chefs or managers would know how to put pressure on one of their chefs without that becoming fear. I feel a lot of chefs would say that they spent years being scared of making a mistake and would therefore think it is their right to pass this onto their team. I’m here to fight myth.
I am aware that I will come across some very motivated, focused chefs who will say to me that we need to ‘Man up’ or ‘Toughen up’ and if this is you then I’d like to talk to you about it. Are there elements of this can use to give focus? Should we replace it with a better rhetoric?
I am interested in how many chefs would recommend to their children that they should follow in their parents steps? Not many I would think.
