Night and day...

Sunday, November 19

Wow, started tonight at Pure Food and Wine and I was happily surprised and impressed by everything.

First of all, the head chef Neal took me on a tour of the kitchen, gave me specific tasks with a few others and came in to monitor us, answer questions, and ensure we had water and everything we needed, would let us try things from time to time, and allowed us to order anything from the menu at the end of our shift and we could eat it at the bar. He also was happy to answer any questions and would take time to give thoughtful answers. He's very experienced, calm and mature for his 26 years, though he will take to doing some crazy moves from time to time, like air guitar routines with the music that's usually on in the background and hip hop dance moves with the staff who are mostly in their early 20s, and are all very nice as well. I also hear that on most nights there is a tasting table around 5 pm so all staff get a chance to taste any new items on the menu or items they are thinking of putting on the menu. And, the kitchens are open concept with high ceilings and lots of light. The kitchen prep room we were in faces a street with a floor to celing window so it's like you are in a fish bowl but very nice. Right beside this, there is a counter for fresh juices and take-out food with a small eating area and display area with a variety of products. Tonight, we made a mini version of the Thanksgiving stuffing (they are closed for Thanksgiving but are encouraging people to buy their take out dinners the day more for Thanksgiving) so that staff could try it, which includes carrots, onions, celery in small brunoise pieces (1/16 x 1/16 x 1/16) mixed with cauliflower that is crumbled, mince thyme and rosemary, and then olive oil and salt, etc. We also prepared some fennel tarts. No wonder the students from our school love interning there Besides Neal, who was a graduate, I met another person or two who were recent graduates from our school.

One woman is interning there because she is interested in raw food. She has a full-time career and no experience but wanted to find out more, and the chef took her on and is happy to provide her with the basics like knife cutting skills. I was impressed with this and she said that from her experience the raw food movement has its own culture and is very supportive of raw foodists and people that want to know more about raw food. She has worked at a variety of retreat centres and other places helping to prepare the raw food and learning about it. She said that everyone she has meet has been very supportive and helpful to date. She feels that raw food gives a place and the people a certain energy that is positive and light and people want to be in it. She recommended trying eating only raw food at a retreat centre - there are many in California - to experience first hand what it is like to be on raw food for awhile and the benefits. She admits that it's hard to do it on one's own, especially in the winter, without eating a lot of salads and fruits. She also said that after working in a raw food kitchen you understand why they have to charge higher costs for the food and why it's worth penny. I saw this first hand today. First of all, everything is organic, and as natural and as fresh as possible. No processed foods are used. There are row and rows of dehydrators (my last count was about 30) set at temperatures of 118 degrees F or below to dehydrate food from a few hours to up to 2 days for more dense items such as crusts. It's like a lab with signs on every dehydrator to let people who made something, what it is and when it will be ready. We made some almond fennel tarts that we put in the dehydrators and they will be ready in two days. So, if you're making something like ravioli, the skin starts out out from fresh coconut meat (I hear that they crack open up hundreds of fresh coconuts several times a weeks as it is the foundation for many things) that is pounded with other items into sheets, these sheets are placed in the dehydrator for six hours and turned often, and then these sheets are cut into strips for stuffing with a mixture and cutting.

In order to make the stuffing tonight, a half/small recipe, it took two to three off us a few hours to brunoise carrots, celery and onions very carefully to ensure we had the right size 1/16 x 1/16 x 1/16 cuts. I tried the lasagne tonight after my shift as I was amazed at how one of the kitchen staff prepared, or built is a more appropriate word, each fresh each lasagne that is totally raw... with different layers of zucchini slices, tomato slices, pistachio pesto mixture, nut ricottta mixture, herbs, other vegetables, etc. Very beautiful and delicious as well!

At the end of the day, there were no scallions or kitchen areas in the basement. My seven hour shift passed very quickly and without any pain, and I look forward to returning.