Bravery

By Tim H. – April 17, 2016

Feuille food lab is not a restaurant, but a studio where its purpose is to promote the culinary interaction, education, creativity, and transparency. We do not operate full time and it is only during the appointed service hours that we all shed the various vocations of our daily life and assume the double identity of a chef. Underneath that carefully tapered white uniforms and black hats are individuals with differences in personalities, experience, knowledge, and age. What is truly remarkable is that despite all that difference, we are bound together by the same passion in food. Who would have thought, our carefully and meticulously choreographed kitchen is operated by different professionals proficient in photography, visual arts technology, marketing, chemistry, and accounting other than fine dining professionals. It is amazing to me, that despite all that difference, we have treated each other courteously with respect, encouraged each other with assurance, and motivated each other with good will. And staff with more experience took up the role of a mentor, nurtured those with little experience and those who were more agile and acute in execution helped pick up the pace of those attempting the task for the first time. I am most consoled by the fact that these staff members did not let their inexperience or nervousness slow them down, but rather they stared fearlessly into them, face stern and ready with determination, without slightest hint of faltering.
During service, tensions and stress ran high. Despite the fact some mistakes were made, the staff were able to quickly adapt, improvise, and correct their errors without letting their emotions get the better of them. I think there are valor and braveries in many forms, what I witnessed here is certainly one of them—regardless of where you come from or what your background may be, if you believe in what you want to do and that you can do it, then all the gears would fall in the right place to help you get started and ahead.