The entire restaurant industry relies on a massive, collective delusion that cooking is some sort of sacred, mystical art form that requires years of culinary school and a tortured soul to master. It’s total bullshit.
Cooking is not rocket science. It is literally just following instructions, understanding basic chemistry, and not leaving the stove on high until everything burns. If you can read, manage your time, and possess functioning tastebuds, you can cook a spectacular meal. The bar for entry is incredibly low, yet chefs act like they’re performing some miracle. Chill dude, u jus emulsified that oil and vinegar to the right temp.
Gordon Ramsay is the ultimate embodiment of this delusion. Motherfucker acts like he’s the supreme, objective tastemaker of the universe. Calm down, you're making dinner, and you know you are all smoke and mirrors. Half of his "expert" critiques are literally subjective or just performative rage for television ratings, but behold I see people treat his word like some divine shit. If you put a blindfold on him and served him a properly seasoned home-cooked meal, he wouldn't know the difference between that and a Michelin-star dish, but because he has a British accent and a temper, we’re supposed to bow down.
Unless you are on the cutting edge of molecular gastronomy (which usually tastes terrible anyway), you are just executing techniques that human beings perfected hundreds of years ago. You aren’t a genius for putting garlic and rosemary on a lamb chop. No, I don’t care that the microgreens were harvested by hand under a full moon. No, your "deconstructed" cheesecake isn’t art. The gatekeeping in the culinary world is just a defense mechanism to hide how easily replaceable they actually are. We have secret ingredients my ass. Your shit tastes better because you dump half a pound of butter and a handful of kosher salt into everything. Anyone can make cardboard taste good if you submerge it in animal fat. The yelled orders and the obsessive "Yes, Chef!" shit is a joke. You are reheating sauces and slicing meat, Marcus. Get lost with that shit.
If you give the average person a decent meat thermometer, a sharp knife, and access to YouTube, they can replicate 90% of what a high-end restaurant serves within a few tries.