Sightseeing in Beijing:
My Kitchen:
My Apartment:
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Some Photos from the Orient
Here are some of the pictures I've taken of my first week in China...
Sightseeing in Beijing:
My Kitchen:
My Apartment:
Sightseeing in Beijing:
My Kitchen:
My Apartment:
Saturday, June 7, 2008
A Look at ancient China
While people settled present-day Beijing as early as 1,000 BC, it wasn't until 1 October 1949 that the People's Republic of China emerged, after centuries of war and strife. The revered Chairman Mao Zedong struggled to overcome the effects of ancient fuedalism and colonialism to create a new China.
I spent the day visiting part of China's rich history. A was asked to accompany a group to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. An entire day was still not enough to soak in all of the history of this part of China's story. Tianamen Square was the chosen place for many royal ceremonies while the Forbidden City was the center of China's government and home of centuries of China's royal family.
The most significant aspect of today was the events surrounding my tour of the Square. I manage several cooks from culinary schools throughout China. A group of six cooks from Shanghai extended the invitation for me to join them on their tour. This is significant because the Chinese rarely interact with Westerners. This was an expression of deep respect and honor.
The Chinese, according to their culture, live by guanxi - a belief in honor and respect according to status. They seek out the person or people of highest standing and try to draw closer to them by showering them with invitations and gifts. The fact that I was invited to accompany them on this excursion was a mark of guanxi and I feel deeply honored.
I spent the day visiting part of China's rich history. A was asked to accompany a group to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. An entire day was still not enough to soak in all of the history of this part of China's story. Tianamen Square was the chosen place for many royal ceremonies while the Forbidden City was the center of China's government and home of centuries of China's royal family.
The most significant aspect of today was the events surrounding my tour of the Square. I manage several cooks from culinary schools throughout China. A group of six cooks from Shanghai extended the invitation for me to join them on their tour. This is significant because the Chinese rarely interact with Westerners. This was an expression of deep respect and honor.
The Chinese, according to their culture, live by guanxi - a belief in honor and respect according to status. They seek out the person or people of highest standing and try to draw closer to them by showering them with invitations and gifts. The fact that I was invited to accompany them on this excursion was a mark of guanxi and I feel deeply honored.
Friday, June 6, 2008
A Day At A Beijing Hospital
This morning was interesting, to say the least. In order to work in food service in China, one must have a license - a kind of Chinese health permit. So I had to go to one of many local health clinics in Beijing for my health permit physical exam. Blood sample, stool sample, chest x-ray, and more in an ironically less-than-steril environment. I'll have to go back for a renewal in 2 months.
I work with some great chefs - some of the best in China as well as world-class talent from other parts of the world. I work directly under Dan Noonan who works at a resort on Northern Arizona's Lake Powell. We have become really good friends, as we have been able to spend time talking about familiar places around Lake Powell (me and my family spent 5 years in St George - southern Utah).
This is the beauty of working the Olympic Games. The opportunity to soak in the rich cultural diversity of this planet is available no where else like it is at the Olympics. More than 200 countries will come to Beijing, partaking of China's rich history, but also sharing part of their own. The culinary staff is just as diverse as the athletes of the games. I am truly honored to have this opportunity.
I work with some great chefs - some of the best in China as well as world-class talent from other parts of the world. I work directly under Dan Noonan who works at a resort on Northern Arizona's Lake Powell. We have become really good friends, as we have been able to spend time talking about familiar places around Lake Powell (me and my family spent 5 years in St George - southern Utah).
This is the beauty of working the Olympic Games. The opportunity to soak in the rich cultural diversity of this planet is available no where else like it is at the Olympics. More than 200 countries will come to Beijing, partaking of China's rich history, but also sharing part of their own. The culinary staff is just as diverse as the athletes of the games. I am truly honored to have this opportunity.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
A Typical Day
Days at the Olympic Park start around 6 am and end around 4 pm. In a couple of weeks food service will run 24 hours per day. Currently, we only feed the staff (about 1,000 people) and only feed them breakfast and lunch.
The culinary staff is divided into teams, representing food from all over the world - Mediterranian, Western, Chinese. I am working with the Western hot food section, preparing multiple entrees, starch, and vegetables from the United States. The challenge right now (and possibly going forward throughout the whole event) is to prepare and present global cuisine with Chinese ingredients. The availablility of ingredients and the quality of those ingredients is something that requires daily adjustments - but, that's the business we are in.
Soon, we will open additional venues - the Media Press Center and Athletes Village. Soon, we open 24 hours per day. The past several days and the next few days of preparation will start to pay off.
The Chinese prep cooks and line cooks are great to work with. They all come from cooking schools from all over China. They have a strong work ethic and are eager to learn. It is a chore to work with them all day long, though. It is much easier in the Chinese section because they are already familiar with the cuisine. As a western chef working in the western section, I spend most of my time teaching, training, and micro-managing the cooks; as one would expect, they have no experience with western cuisine and have to be taught methods, techniques, use of ingredients, presentation, etc. The language barrier makes it even greater challenge.
I like to teach; that adds to my daily job satisfaction and enjoyment of this project.
The culinary staff is divided into teams, representing food from all over the world - Mediterranian, Western, Chinese. I am working with the Western hot food section, preparing multiple entrees, starch, and vegetables from the United States. The challenge right now (and possibly going forward throughout the whole event) is to prepare and present global cuisine with Chinese ingredients. The availablility of ingredients and the quality of those ingredients is something that requires daily adjustments - but, that's the business we are in.
Soon, we will open additional venues - the Media Press Center and Athletes Village. Soon, we open 24 hours per day. The past several days and the next few days of preparation will start to pay off.
The Chinese prep cooks and line cooks are great to work with. They all come from cooking schools from all over China. They have a strong work ethic and are eager to learn. It is a chore to work with them all day long, though. It is much easier in the Chinese section because they are already familiar with the cuisine. As a western chef working in the western section, I spend most of my time teaching, training, and micro-managing the cooks; as one would expect, they have no experience with western cuisine and have to be taught methods, techniques, use of ingredients, presentation, etc. The language barrier makes it even greater challenge.
I like to teach; that adds to my daily job satisfaction and enjoyment of this project.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A Soft Opening
In restaurant terms, food service for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is going through what we would call a "soft opening." During a time when very few people need to be served the entire culinary team opens the kitchen. Since very few people are being served, the kitchen crew, with all of its support systems, can work out all the wrinkles before serving the larger, main group of customers expected to arrive. When a restaurant goes through a 'soft opening,' the staff generally serves employees and family while keeping the doors closed to general public. After a week or so of this they are ready to open to the public, with everything running smoothly.
In a manner of speaking, we are going through a 'soft opening' and gradually building the staff, a little each day, until next month, when most of the media will be in China and the athletes are expected to start arriving.
There are two main challenges facing the culinary team at this Olympic Games - the language barrier created by the multi-national/multi-linguistic staff and working with the Beijing Health Bureau in the kitchen during all hours of operation. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done with either situation. I am making every effort to pick as much Chinese as I can, but fluency in a second language takes years.
As for working with the health inspectors... Well, that is a challenge. All we can do is our best to comply with their requests and try to educate them when their requests are unreasonable. Just yestarday we had to throw away alomst 100 pounds of frozen bread, beacause the original freezer case had be opened 4 days ago. Chinese standard for the Olympics is to discard all product on the third day ofter opening, in addition to discarding all leftovers. It is difficult to understand how we can discard clearly usable product with millions of people starving just a few miles away. However, I did not come here to get involved with political matters; I'm here simply to cook for athletes, trainers, broadcasters, journalists, etc.
In a manner of speaking, we are going through a 'soft opening' and gradually building the staff, a little each day, until next month, when most of the media will be in China and the athletes are expected to start arriving.
There are two main challenges facing the culinary team at this Olympic Games - the language barrier created by the multi-national/multi-linguistic staff and working with the Beijing Health Bureau in the kitchen during all hours of operation. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done with either situation. I am making every effort to pick as much Chinese as I can, but fluency in a second language takes years.
As for working with the health inspectors... Well, that is a challenge. All we can do is our best to comply with their requests and try to educate them when their requests are unreasonable. Just yestarday we had to throw away alomst 100 pounds of frozen bread, beacause the original freezer case had be opened 4 days ago. Chinese standard for the Olympics is to discard all product on the third day ofter opening, in addition to discarding all leftovers. It is difficult to understand how we can discard clearly usable product with millions of people starving just a few miles away. However, I did not come here to get involved with political matters; I'm here simply to cook for athletes, trainers, broadcasters, journalists, etc.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Preparations for the games continue. The International Broadcast Center is open and serving. The Media Press Center will open next week, or at least it is scheduled to open next week; that all depends on the completion of a few minor construction projects.
The construction that has gone on and continues for these Olympic Games is impressive and almost unbelievable. State-of-the-art high-rise apartments have been built for athletes and trainers and construction continues, with only a few weeks before athletes start arriving. The Chinese are working literally around the clock to get everything finished. They are working at a record-setting pace to prepare for an event that will set records.
The food for the games is very good. As one would imagine, it all has a Chinese flare, though food from all over the world is featured. We are offering traditional Chinese, Mediterranian, Western, Italian, French, and Latin, to name a few.
The food is being prepared by an army of Chinese culinary students and their teachers, with a team of international managers leading the crew. They are eager to learn and have a strong work ethic. They are very professional and do everything asked of them.
The language barrier is evident but managable. Those who have been here for a while (a month or so) have picked up enough Chinese to give directions to cab drivers and basic instructions to their Chinese student cooks. I look forward to at least that amount of language proficiency and hope it happens soon.
The construction that has gone on and continues for these Olympic Games is impressive and almost unbelievable. State-of-the-art high-rise apartments have been built for athletes and trainers and construction continues, with only a few weeks before athletes start arriving. The Chinese are working literally around the clock to get everything finished. They are working at a record-setting pace to prepare for an event that will set records.
The food for the games is very good. As one would imagine, it all has a Chinese flare, though food from all over the world is featured. We are offering traditional Chinese, Mediterranian, Western, Italian, French, and Latin, to name a few.
The food is being prepared by an army of Chinese culinary students and their teachers, with a team of international managers leading the crew. They are eager to learn and have a strong work ethic. They are very professional and do everything asked of them.
The language barrier is evident but managable. Those who have been here for a while (a month or so) have picked up enough Chinese to give directions to cab drivers and basic instructions to their Chinese student cooks. I look forward to at least that amount of language proficiency and hope it happens soon.
Monday, June 2, 2008
No Time For Rest
I left Arkansas Saturday morning, May 31st and didn't arrive in China until Sunday afternoon, June 1st. The flight was long and uneventful. I thought I would be flying west; however, it seems that almost due north is the quickest and shortest way to Beijing from Arkansas. I left Little Rock and flew to Chicago. After changing planes and going through a customs and visa check I left Chicago and we flew north, crossing over Canada, passing within 150 miles of the North Pole, passing Siberia and a small part of Mongolia, before entering China.
My first impression of China is very positive. The people are very friendly and helpful. It seems they are already prepared for the influx of foriegn athletes, trainers, media, and spectators as they are very patient with the language barrier.
It will take some time to get used to the food. Nothing has made me sick, fortunately. However, rice and a noodle bowl (much like the Ramen noodles we eat in the US) at every meal, even breakfast, will take some adjusting. Likewise, the Chinese don't eat very much dairy or sweets; so, it will be a while before I get a good piece of chocolate or an ice cold glass of milk. These are things I have to look forward to when I return home.
My current assignment is the IBC (International Broadcast Center), serving broadcast media from all over the world. No media has arrived yet; we are only feeding staff and set-up crews. Most of the Olympic kitchens and venues are still under construction; it is a 24-hour-day 7-day-week endeavor to get everything ready for all the visitors expected to arrive within the next month or so. My work during this time will be to become familiar with the menu and recipes, the health inspectors of the Beijing Olympic Committee, all of the kitchens, and get settled in with the kitchen crew - and there's not much time to get it all done.
I am part of a very diverse management team, with culinarians from all over the world. Today, my first day, I have met chefs from several parts of the US, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Japan, Ireland, England, and, of course, China. This is truly a global experience - one I am very honored to participate in.
My first impression of China is very positive. The people are very friendly and helpful. It seems they are already prepared for the influx of foriegn athletes, trainers, media, and spectators as they are very patient with the language barrier.
It will take some time to get used to the food. Nothing has made me sick, fortunately. However, rice and a noodle bowl (much like the Ramen noodles we eat in the US) at every meal, even breakfast, will take some adjusting. Likewise, the Chinese don't eat very much dairy or sweets; so, it will be a while before I get a good piece of chocolate or an ice cold glass of milk. These are things I have to look forward to when I return home.
My current assignment is the IBC (International Broadcast Center), serving broadcast media from all over the world. No media has arrived yet; we are only feeding staff and set-up crews. Most of the Olympic kitchens and venues are still under construction; it is a 24-hour-day 7-day-week endeavor to get everything ready for all the visitors expected to arrive within the next month or so. My work during this time will be to become familiar with the menu and recipes, the health inspectors of the Beijing Olympic Committee, all of the kitchens, and get settled in with the kitchen crew - and there's not much time to get it all done.
I am part of a very diverse management team, with culinarians from all over the world. Today, my first day, I have met chefs from several parts of the US, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Japan, Ireland, England, and, of course, China. This is truly a global experience - one I am very honored to participate in.
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