Have A Kitchen That Rocks

     Ah, the hustle and bustle of a busy kitchen. It’s all about energetic and talented people performing purposeful and efficient movements which appear to the outsider like chaos. And the noise(?) – it’s music to my ears.

   To some, the commotion it generates is just a meaningless cacophony of sounds, but in a way, it’s a bit like free jazz. The sounds produced can be discordant, loosely defined, and can lack regular tempos, but if you listen closely and you carefully sort it out, there is orchestration. There’s the rhythm of chopping, the sloshing of a dishwasher, the slamming of oven doors, the metal against metal of whisking, or the rattling of pots and pans when one is needed. 

     In our own little cooking space, when we want to create some energy, we click on a playlist. Our selections are usually those heavy with percussion and are positive and upbeat. This provides an apt association to the music of the kitchen that’s already occurring, and before we know it the pace of our work changes, and it now corresponds to the beat that’s coming through the speakers.

     It also makes our work, especially the tedious work, seem more like recreation. Music provides background accompaniment to the slicing, dicing, and stirring. It not only lifts our spirits, but before we know it we’re doing a kitchen boogie; arms are flailing, bodies are contorting, and we’re getting and doing Snoopy feet.

     All of these positive feelings eventually lead to positive outcomes. We try to put the audible in the edible, and hopefully, the end result is an inspired dish created from all of that musical energy. We want our guests to actually taste the excitement. So, in a sense, it makes everything we cook and bring from our kitchen to our table soul food. It might not be Motown, but because of the music, we think it’s mo’better. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]