Since publishing my pieces on Noma, I have received messages from chefs across the world. Most preferred to remain anonymous – and the fact that they feel they must is itself part of the story. The chef who wrote the following statement has been in the industry for more than fifteen years. He staged at Noma in 2018, saving up to make it happen. He asked not to be named. I am publishing his words without editing them, because they say something that needs to be heard.
“It’s hard for me to put down in words how incredibly saddened I am with what is happening at the moment. This witch hunt, as Puglisi rightly termed it, is beyond disgusting.
I was lucky enough in 2018 to stage at Noma. It was one of 4 stages I have completed in my career. (Just to mention, I don’t come from money; I saved to make these happen).
To say this changed my life is an understatement. What I witnessed there, learned there, and experienced there was no less than inspiring, and to this day it still inspires me. It has opened doors for me that I would have never known existed.
Was it hard? Absolutely! But real development comes from hard work, and this is something that is being lost in the current conversation. To strive for perfection takes real work, real sacrifice, and although it’s not for everyone, it has certainly developed some incredible talent. Listen to anyone who’s made it in any work sector, and they will tell you they worked their ass off to get to where they have.
As far as the abuse, I personally never witnessed any physical abuse during my time there, and I certainly don’t agree with it. But it needs to be said it has been part of our industry since the day Escoffier introduced the Brigade system to professional kitchens, and most probably before. I don’t believe it is right for Rene to be made the poster child for this abuse, when, unfortunately, it’s a systemic problem. As you’ve rightly shown, he has done a lot to make a change for the better and is now unfortunately being dragged back down to the dirt because some people just can’t move on, and need so-called justice in the form of destruction.
Being in the industry for over 15 years, I have witnessed things for sure, but how could you not when it’s been glorified for decades, made sexy by televising things like Hell’s Kitchen. Everyone has known about this for as long as I’ve been a chef, and longer! The media reporting on it now are the same people who have glorified it in the past!
I also can’t believe the lack of people talking about the incredible work in the last decade that has been made to help change from the original narrative, symposiums like Food on the Edge and MAD, to name a couple. Why is no one talking about those?!
I do not want to take away anything from anyone who has unfortunately suffered in kitchens around the world. I believe if they’ve been victims, they have a right to speak about it. But when it’s been so blatantly obvious in the past that this was the norm, how did they go in without expecting it to be hard?
Finally, I’d like to finish by saying this. I wonder if you could ask any of the current Noma employees if they think what’s happening is right? I’m willing to bet no one would agree. Rene sacrificing himself for them was incredible, and just shows the team the respect and love he has for each and everyone of them. I bet not one of them wanted this. That’s the saddest part. This pop-up was supposed to be so special for all of them, and now it’s been tarnished by a handful of humans whipped up into a frenzy.
It’s so sad we now live in a world where a few people on social media can take down a 23-year institution just for the sake of drawing blood.”
This is one voice. But in the past two days, I have heard versions of this same story from chefs across Europe, across different kitchens, different generations. They are not defending abuse; they are defending complexity. They are asking for a conversation that the noise has made impossible. The fact that so many of them feel they cannot say this under their own name tells you everything about the world the mob has built.