Rohan Dsouza

Thanks for joining me and welcome to my ‘cook’s biography’!                   

This is a blog covering certain details about me pertaining to the subject of cooking and  my personal beliefs and ideologies about it.

Why I want to be a chef?

In this world, people are trying to achieve something in order to gain monetary rewards or a sense of completion of a goal fueled by passion. It is not fair to say that I belong to the group of people in the former, but my major motivation to become a chef is because I am passionate about cooking.

I discovered this passion ever since I was in preschool back in India, not because I was good at it, but because I was simply so bad at it. One thing to know about me is that if there is a task that I am interested in but do not understand how to perform it, I like to perfect myself into it. Eventually through trial and error, I became capable of putting up a meal on the table for my family of four.

Most of my lessons come from the first chef that I trained under. ‘My Mother’. Through her, I have learnt some combinations of different spices for different dishes, although most of her recipes contain such combination of these spices, that it will take me years to truly understand. 

My work in the Industry

I do not have much exposure to the industry. I was doing my bachelors degree in International Hospitality and Tourism back in Mumbai, India. During this program, I had to do a 20 week internship, and i got myself placed in The St. Regis, Mumbai. These 20 weeks were divided for training in the core four departments in a hotel. Therefore, I got about a month’s experience in the banquet kitchen, which during that season was the most operating kitchen in the entire hotel. I got exposure to cooking taking place in huge quantities mostly happening for wedding events. On few occasions I would sneak myself into the butchery and the garde manger only to see how those sections of the kitchen operate.

Currently, as I am pursuing my culinary management diploma from George Brown College, I have even found myself a part time job at Porchetta & Co. which is located on King street west. At work, I am learning different types of mise en place such as different sauces, meat butchery, preparing work station along with working on the line which includes preparing sandwiches and side dishes. 

My philosophy about cooking

My definition about cooking is something related to homely rather than acceptable by most individuals working in the industry. I believe that cooking is a passion driven by a want to feed and strengthen a person or persons. It is the art of understanding different ingredients and the combination of these ingredients to make a dish to serve loved ones. 

“My first outdoor cooking memories are full of erratic British summers, Dad swearing at a barbecue that he couldn’t put together, and eventually eating charred sausages, feeling brilliant”

Jamie Oliver

I also am a firm believer of cooking with fresh ingredients. I like to work with the least amount of ingredients for a dish with a lot of flavor in it. Cooking with seasonal ingredients does not need overworking with different enhancers as a fresh ingredient by itself contains a lot of packed flavor inside it along with its nutritional aspects. 

“Mother nature is the true artist and as our jobs as cooks is to allow her to shine”

Marco Pierre White

What do I gain from blogging

I do not have much experience in the field of writing or blogging. Therefore, what I wish to learn from this is the experience of expressing something in literature. Along with this, writing about experiences can be a form of self reflection. This will in turn help me understand strengths and weaknesses where i would have to improve. This self reflection will eventually help me to improve not only as a person but also as a chef and further be beneficial for me in my future career.

Reference

As a person wanting to learn and grow in the food industry, I have found a blog that will prove beneficial for not only me but many of my peers. The blogs written on the Chefs Resources website ( http://www.chefs-resources.com/blog/ ) cover a wide range of aspects about the industry from kitchen staff management skills to the changing market in the restaurant industry. It even covers topics for chefs who want to choose a different career path. Only thing that would make the blog better is if it were a little bit more neat and organized. Other than that, it is a very informative and up to date website for anyone who wants to boost their career.