The way to become a chef after he suddenly turned his future perspectives
Please tell me the story to think about becoming a chef.
Mr. Tanaka:
My father was a Western-style chef, both my uncle and my grandfather worked as chefs in their each restaurant.Under these circumstances, sometimes I was helping my father’s restaurant, so entering the curinary world was a natural choice.
I was thinking of becoming a Western-style chef or soccer player when I was a child. When I was a high school student, I wanted to become a football player. I played football until the summer of high school third grader at Higashi Fukuoka High School. My room was full of football materials. However, I understood that I would not become a football player at that summer. Then, I decided immediately to become a cook which I knew from my childhood. I threw away all football related books, posters, etc., instead I put the cookbooks my father had on a bookshelf in my room, I read that and aimed for a cook.
I went to the job interview without any appointment with ‘Apicius’, Tokyo. I decided to sit down and to say “I will not return” till I was hired. In fact, by just an interview, I could get a job without a resume. The reason why I got a job was because I was studying the chef’s cooking and his history. Even though an old tale came out, I prepared conversation beforehand so that I could talk about that story. It was possible to do it because I was reading perfectly about 50 books handed down from my father. These were a book about the life of an old great cook.
Speaking of Higashi Fukuoka High School, it is a famous high scholl for football. That was a drastic change in your life. Didn’t you hesitate ?
Mr. Tanaka:
Once I decide it, I never hasitate to do it. When I was playing football I was just thinking about football. If I decide to cook, I just think about cooking.
Hard days with part-time job and full-time job to save money for training in France.
Please tell us about the era of training in Japan and France.
Mr. Tanaka:
Since I started to have French cuisine, I decided to go to France, so I calculated backwards from going to France and decided my career here, here, here and there.
First of all, I thought that I needed money for traveling to France, I just worked on saving expenses to go to France and worked hard on saving money.
At “Apisius” I worked for about 1 year and 2 months, but at the same time “Yoshinoya” at the same time I worked at night for about 4 days a week. At “Yoshinoya” I was studying sommelier in a quiet time. Customers from 1 o’clock to 3 o’clock in the midnight are few hours after completing preparations, preparations and cleaning. I think that the security cameras were sitting all the time (laugh).
I stayed at the desk all the time until preparation of breakfast meal started, at that time I slept only 9 hours per week. I thought “It is strong with humans” (laugh).
Junior who did the same thing collapsed in three months. When I was working, the condition continued that the body was cold and my head was hot. After all, it fell to the examination of the wine expert, but since I had the experience of doing that unreasonableness, now I think that it is easy to do anything.
I will not forget the date of travel, May 6th, 2003. I bought a cheap Korean Air air ticket of 68,000 yen the next day of Golden Week.
I remembered well since I did not have a house for about a month. Actually, in the last month before traveling, I also had to withdraw my house. It was unnecessary because there was almost no time going home with workmanship.
