04 November 2013

BEIRUT: The handcrafted lion chef Maroun Chedid brought home from Lyon, France, last month was as much a trophy for Lebanese cuisine as it was a symbol of his personal success. It was proof, he said, validation of a culinary heritage he has known, quite literally, since birth: It was in the milk I was breast fed.

Chedid was awarded last Monday the highest international culinary honor ever bestowed on a Lebanese: a Toques Blanches for international chef of the year. The ceremony took place at the stock exchange in Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, where Chedid was the fourth chef outside of France to receive a Toques Blanches award and the first Lebanese. Previous non-French winners included an American, a Turk and a Monacan.

Lyon Mayor and Senator Grard Collomb and award-winning restaurateur Dominique Loiseau presented the award to Chedid.

In Lebanon, Chedid is perhaps best known from his MTV cooking show. Nowadays, that show is run mostly by his students, though he still makes guest appearances, and it is just one example of Chedids dedication to passing his torch to the next generation of Lebanese chefs.

Mentorship is as second nature to Chedid as cooking. Chatting at a booth in Paul bakery, Chedid could as easily rattle off motivational adages as he could critique the chicken salad:

You need dreams, vision, ambition ... attitude. You need mentors.

Chedid was born and raised in the Western Bekaa Valley during the Civil War. It was there that he learned to appreciate the raw ingredients. Tomatoes, pears, milk, kishik were all grown, produced or made fresh on his familys land.

I learned to valorize the product, Chedid says in chef speak. Just make it tastier.

Becoming a chef was not a childhood dream. Chedid entered hospitality school to avoid the strenuous classwork mainly math that would come with most other postsecondary degrees.

Working his first job at Faqra Club, Chedid learned the importance of finding realistic mentors. He told the story of how, at the very bottom of the kitchen caste system, he found a chef du partie up several rungs from him whom he looked to for inspiration.

He was very, very good. I said to myself, I want to be like him, he said.

To satiate his love of teaching, Chedid founded and now leads the culinary school at St. Joseph University. The program brings together aspiring prodigies that Chedid takes under his wing.

Twenty-five years in the industry and Chedid still has his own mentors ones like Michelin-star chef Alain Ducasse whose careers he draws from when setting personal goals. Ducasse has also placed teaching and mentorship at the center of his culinary career.

When I die, do I take all of it with me? I think how can I transfer this know-how ... transfer this to young, Lebanese chefs, he asked.

This newly won Toques Blanches is further motivation to prove not only to himself, but to young chefs, that the Lebanese and their cuisine can compete on the international stage, he said.

Its very hard here. It can take 10 years for a Lebanese to achieve what takes one year to do in France, he said.

And the advice he has for young chefs is the kind of wisdom translatable to most competitive fields.

Study, work hard, get properly trained and have no consideration for money, wealth will happen later, he said. Have respect and loyalty for senior chefs and be modest, he advised.

Love what youre doing. ... Talk less and do more.

Self-reflection is a lifelong burden for those with ambition, and Chedid is no exception.

Every day I question myself: Am I doing it the right way? Every day you should question yourself, he said. Its all about cooking, cooking and cooking.

Copyright The Daily Star 2013.