Creating deluxe cuisine is like playing a sport. Always competitive. Always challenging. And if you slow down a bit, you can no longer return to the top level.
Joel RobuchonRead
From the age of 15 to 50, I'd hardly stepped out of a kitchen. I just wanted to live a little, to spend time with my wife and children. The first time I saw snow was when I was 50, because I'd never had the time before.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the idea of prioritizing family and simple pleasures over work.
Joel Robuchon's quote highlights the importance of family and personal experiences, suggesting that despite a successful career, one can miss out on life’s simple joys. It serves as a reminder that time spent with loved ones and embracing new experiences are vital components of a fulfilling life, emphasizing the balance between work and personal life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about work-life balance.
Creating deluxe cuisine is like playing a sport. Always competitive. Always challenging. And if you slow down a bit, you can no longer return to the top level.
When new cooks come to work for me, they obviously make mistakes at the beginning or there's some messiness to the presentation. What I always say to them is: 'If you were cooking this for your mother or your girlfriend, would you make those mistakes?'
The older I get, the more I realize the truth is the simpler the food, the more exceptional it can be.
I am very honored for all the distinctions and accolades, but what I am most sensitive to is my clientele and the fact they are pleased with my food and my restaurants.
When a dish works, it works for everyone, whether you're Asian, European, African, American or anybody else.
Suddenly it wasn't only a personal thing to me. I could picture hundreds and hundreds of boys living on the wrong sides of cities, boys with black eyes who jumped at their own shadows. Hundreds of boys who maybe watched sunsets and looked at stars and ached for something better. I could see boys going down under street lights because they were mean and tough and hated the world, and it was too late to tell them that there was still good in it, and they wouldn't believe you if you did.
Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly.
If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's.
When you're 40, you can't ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.
Tears unnumbered ye shall shed.
I was born in London in England in 1934. I went through, as a child, the horrors of World War II, through a time when food was rationed and we learned to be very careful, and we never had more to eat than what we needed to eat. There was no waste. Everything was used.
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