Hot Child in the Kitchen
Written By: Alexandra Perez-Urbina on Mon, Jun 2nd 2008
With summer's heat drawing near, I approach kitchens with great caution. Restaurant kitchens can become tortuously hot-- imagine the hottest place you've ever been to, and I guarantee it isn't as hot as a restaurant kitchen in the summer! You've got stress, the blaring heat coming from the grill and salamander, lit ranges, hot ovens, oh, and humidity from the dishwashers! It is not a pleasant environment. One of my instructors told my class about a job he had, and that it was so hot in that kitchen, that he and his co-workers could tell the temperature by how far the sweat traveled down their pants!
It's hard to take care of yourself in these kinds of conditions. I don't usually eat or drink much while I'm cooking. I have to constantly remind myself to drink fluids--not just water, as it is possible to dehydrate drinking only water. Vitamin packs, watered down juice, or the addition of a pinch of salt or sugar in water can make all the difference. When one sweats for five hours or more, electrolytes must be replaced.
Also, in the heat, food has a tendency to become completely nauseating. For example, I love cheese, but I never thought that the smell of cheese could make me feel nauseous! All it took was a night of at least fifty orders of French onion soup, for me to steer clear from Gruyeres for several weeks. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, heating up several onion soups at a time creates a horrific odor--I won't bore you with the details, but the smell of stinky feet was engraved into my poor little nose for hours! I went home that night and ate ice cream for dinner.
I will be happy to report that I have since regained my love for Gruyeres, as the above situation doesn't happen every night, but all this cooking, heat, and food does leave its mark. The restaurant kitchen is anything but glorious and it does hit home sometimes. I don't know about other cooks, but I have a tendency to go on occasional strikes when I'm home. When you spend eight to fourteen hours on your feet in a hot kitchen, take-out, delivery foods, and frozen treats become your best friends. I have no shame in admitting this. After cooking all day at school, or at work, I just don't want to cook anymore. I only want to eat. No mess, no heat, no hassle--only simple shoveling motions from the plate/bowl to my mouth.
This all probably sounds like a dichotomy, as I do love food and cooking, but as all humans, I am prone and entitled to occasional bouts of laziness. I need rest and sometimes, too much is too much... As a matter of fact, I think I'll order Chinese tonight!
Buen provecho!
