For the record Lynn Crawford has, and always will be, one of my greatest idols of the cooking world. Her belief that food is an expression of art, and that Chef's are artists, is an embodiment of everything that I stand for. I believe that beauty should be worked into everything you do, it's in my writing, in my eloquence when I talk, and in the food that I create. But of all these ways of creating beauty, food is by far the most powerful. Food is subtle in ways that words and speeches could never be, each layer is like getting hit with a tiny bullet, you are inexorably effected by each tiny flavour and in this, food is powerful. Lynn and I share this belief, and so it was with no small amount of humility and sheer awe that I met Lynn Crawford, at my school this afternoon. Executive Chef of the Four Seasons in New York, having worked with some of the worlds most talented professionals, Lynn was awe inspiring, to say the least.
Lynn had such energy and such passion, traits that are undeniably linked. She draws energy from her passion, and it's obvious that she cares about food the way few other people can say that they care. "Go to bed with a cookbook" she says, and you can tell that it's that kind of passion which had driven her to the places that she's been.
There are so many things to say about this encounter, so many messages to convey that she had for the students at SAIT. But I won't bore you with all of them, oh no, you should go out there and live them for yourself, go meet her and see what she has to say! If you care about food that much, it won't be hard.
