Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Do Chef's Get Writer's Block?

If they do, does the restaurant close? What causes a chef to get this writer's block? What would you even call it?


Writer's block is fundamentally a lack of creativity in the moment. This is usually due to an inexplicable lack of inspiration or motivation. You aren't aware of it consciously yet, but there is something that just isn’t there anymore. The spark plug that would ignite the engine block is gone, and nothing happens when you try to turn the key.

Lights are dull. Wine has no taste. Food merely keeps us alive.

I was standing a grocery store a few days ago, and realized I couldn’t hear anything. Not in the sense of the ambient sound, but I couldn’t hear the groceries speaking to me. I had no connection to that which I used to bring me so much creative joy. I haven’t even touched a pan for more than 2 months. Why? As a chef, I have always been able to draw from that which moves me to cobble pieces of life together into sustenance, but in my current state, I can't. Even my writing has stopped flowing. I haven't been able to hold a thought long enough to put pen to paper and provide a meal for the mind.

Too much noise in my own head. What I wouldn't give for the smell of sautéing garlic in my own house.

I miss the taste of food. But I cannot create. I am a fridge in a bachelor pad.

Empty

- The UE

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