Nice Asian man and props for standing up fighting hate all the way to the top!!!

[theking]

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The Chefs Who’ve Fought for Racial Inclusion in the Highest Levels of French Gastronomy



There is something rather remarkable and admirable in chef Kei Kobayashi’s quiet self-assurance.

In a conversation with the recently minted Michelin three-starred chef—the first Japanese chef in France to be admitted into the exclusive three-starred club—Kobayashi makes it clear that from day one of moving to France 20 years ago, he had one goal in mind.

To obtain three Michelin stars.

Today, that kind of ambition is more or less conceivable. During the last decade, Paris’s fine-dining landscape has opened up considerably to the potential of foreign-born talent, thanks in part to the soaring growth of both inbound and outbound travel, globalization and social media.

But 20 years ago, the notion that an immigrant chef—and a person of color at that—would harbor such a lofty dream and dare to imagine themselves being accepted as a peer to chef titans, such as Joël Robuchon and Alain Ducasse, on French soil was audacious, brash and verging on crazy.

“I’m sure that people made fun of me whenever I talked about it,” Kobayashi says, chuckling.

After moving from Japan to France at the age of 21 and working in Michelin-starred kitchens throughout the country for about 10 years, including Restaurant Alain Ducasse at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris, Kobayashi broke out on his own to open Restaurant Kei in 2011.

Critics have labeled his cuisine everything from Franco-Japanese and “Japonisant” to “French cuisine that uses Japanese ingredients.”

In January, when the chef took to the stage at the Michelin awards ceremony, he thanked France for giving him the chance to live out his dream.

“I’m proud to be in France. And it’s thanks to you. I’m a foreigner and you accepted me,” he said. “There are a lot of Japanese in France and you have accepted us. For this, I thank you. Thank you, France.”

When Kobayashi moved to Paris, he didn’t speak French. He knew little about the culture. But he came with the single-minded vision of mastering French cuisine after watching a food show starring Michelin-starred chef Alain Chapel in Japan. Interestingly, Kobayashi admits it wasn’t the food that inspired him, but the white chef’s coat that Chapel wore, and all that it represented: finery, authority, master chef.

“No matter where you go in the world, French food has universal appeal,” he said during an interview at his restaurant. “French cuisine is familiar and can be adapted wherever you are. And I want to run the best restaurant in the world.”

The significance of Kobayashi’s admission into the exclusive three-starred club in France can’t be overstated. He’s the first non-French chef to join an elite canon in Paris: Only 10 restaurants in the city boast the three-star rating. And in France overall, that number rises to just 29 restaurants.

(Kobayashi says he too threw forks at anyone who hurled racial slurs at him in the kitchen.)

As foreigner, both Kobayashi knew they had to work harder than the rest of the French brigade and prove themselves worthy of their place. Kobayashi talks about being the first one in the kitchen and the last to leave. Of hours spent on his time off practicing and perfecting his cooking techniques. And of trying to outperform his peers in the only areas he could.

“I knew I couldn’t compete with other French in terms of communication. To get their respect and be accepted in their inner circle, I had to know more about French gastronomy than the French and master French techniques.”