Assignment 1: Culinary Biography
The Interview Series : Alex Marion of Food for Thought
Today, we interviewed Alex Marion, founder and CEO of Food for Thought, the culinary blog that has recently taken foodie Torontonians by storm. As a newcomer to the local scene, we asked him about his background, his cooking philosophy and his future aspirations, among other things.
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| Alex Marion |
Hello Alex! To start, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure. My name is Alex Marion, I’m 27 years old and I’m originally from Geneva,
in Switzerland. I moved to Toronto in late April to pursue a Diploma of
Culinary Management (Integrated Learning) at George Brown College. Go
Huskies!
Thanks, that’s great. Well, why not start with the most daunting question of
them all: why do you want to be a Chef?
Wait, who told you that? I’m kidding. I’ll start by saying that I need to become a cook before I can even consider becoming a Chef. As you know, a lot of the time people use both words interchangeably, but that's not accurate. "Chef" evokes a different realm, the one that separates working in any food-oriented business as a mere job, to that of not only a lifelong career, but a calling from within. It stirs the imagination with mental images of stern-looking, not-to-be-messed-with men that somehow get to be treated the same as white-collar professionals, even though it remains a manual job for the most part.
For me, it's part fantasy, part pragmatism: I was previously enrolled in university, because "you have to", however had a strong wake up call it really was not for me. I assessed all my options, and realized that truly, the only thing I would keep on doing everyday regardless of becoming a millionaire or of being in the midst of a natural disaster, would be to cook. In addition, with the economic crash from COVID that we still haven't fully felt, it just highlighted the importance of having some form of tangible skill, as all this service economy we operate on has a lot of fluff and things based in the ether in my opinion. By the way, I had planned to start an introductory culinary program at the same time I started university 2 years ago, however there were no more places available. So all in all, it was in the cards all along, but it is only now that it came into fruition.
Are you currently working in or have you ever worked in the industry?
I haven’t worked in the industry as of yet, however, in view of getting any kind of experience I could get my hands on prior to starting the Diploma, I volunteered for 6 months as a Kitchen Aid for 2 organisations in my hometown. One was MATER Fondazione, where each day of the week a rotating chef would be in charge of the menu, and along with other chefs and volunteers, all would prepare 200 ready meals that would be delivered to several shelters across Geneva. The second one was the Salvation Army, through its soup kitchen, and where I really spent the majority of my time. You can see it in the photo I chose to provide you, because not only that's pretty much the only photo of myself I have in some kind of kitchen (I literally need to force myself to take photos of anything, it is so not a habit of mine) and it echoes a fundamental part of what I think cooking is all about.
I'm still in settling mode and I think probably due to the restrictions imposed by lockdown, I'm still confused about life here, even though this is by no means the first time I go abroad. Once I'm settled, I really would like to get a part-time job as a dishwasher.
What you just said before is the perfect segway to our next question. Could you tell us about your philosophy of cooking?
I wouldn’t say I have one yet; after all, I’ve literally just started learning the fundamentals, even if cooking is something I remember doing for the longest time. But I'd say a quintessential aspect of cooking for me is the nurturing part of it. Unless you're trying to poison them, nobody serves food and thinks "gosh I hope they hate it", right? All the time spent buying the right amount of ingredients, cooking everything, making dough from scratch, cleaning up etc, it's all with the aim of pleasing and bringing joy to whoever your audience is. Obviously, when you transition from homely comfort food to a professional restaurant, everything needs to be on point and the process will be manyfold more rigorous, but it has the same idea behind.
Additionally, I am interested in long-term preserving techniques and ways of cooking of the past, such as canning or curing. So in this case, it's more the survival aspect of cooking, which could be exarcebated with possible food shortages in the short term due to COVID regulations greatly disturbing the food supply chain worldwide.
Your blog has been gaining steady traction month after month. What do you wish this process brings you?
For starters, it has allowed me to connect to new people I wouldn't meet otherwise. There has been a consistent interest in food from the public for probably a decade now, however I think most people are kinda intimidated by what they perceive to be the elitism from the food world, where you're either flipping burgers at McDonalds, a 3-star Michelin Chef or an "amateur cook", which I think is such a slap in the face to what people have been doing since humanity began. I hope I can bridge the gap between both worlds as I try to make my way from one side to the other.
Moreover, the future IS digital; people might still think you can just pop down to your local government building to ask a question about a form, or that a local business that's been around forever doesn't need to invest in any form of digital advertising, however those days are numbered. Not thinking of myself as an IT person, I relish any opportunity to become more tech-savvy in this increasingly contactless world.
Do you have a favorite kitchen quote?
One that springs to mind and which I find myself repeating is from Gordon Ramsay, where in an interview he states "the minute you start cutting corners in food, time out"1. I find it rings true because in any domain, you get out of it what you put in; and sure you will get tired and bored of doing the same tasks, but you need to force yourself to do things properly and not deliver an inferior experience just to save a few bucks, otherwise it will come back to haunt you.
We’ve asked you to show our readers 2 images. Can you explain what they are?
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| Recipes don't always turn out the way they're supposed to! |
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| Manitoba farmer Chuck Fassey dealing with record-breaking drought in the Prairies2 |
The first one is a recent experiment I tried with long-term preserving techniques, which unfortunately was not successful. It was to make pickled cucumbers by slicing cucumbers and leaving them to marinate for 5 days in salty water. I did follow the recipe and made sure the cucumbers stayed underwater, but I just ended up with swamp water which was unfit for consumption. I'll try something else another day.
The second one shows a farmer concerned with the drought taking place at the moment in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I originally thought the disturbance of the supply chain because of COVID was more relevant, however, upon hearing that more and more the climate of the Prairies, aka the breadbasket of Canada, was becoming arid (and who knows how many tonnes of food were not going to be able to grow this year), made me realize this was a more pressing issue from a national point of view. Because of both factors, restaurants and other actors might need to innovate or find alternatives to food supplies that are normally readily available.
Do you have a favorite food blog? What do you like about it and what advice
would you give their writers?
I don't really follow blogs as much as I do social media posts, however one blog I really like is Taste Toronto (TasteToronto | Discover your city’s best food, together.), as they offer a lot of varied materials with appealing design. I'm also very interested in the founder, Bradley Wishen, as he initiated 4 different food-related events, namely Taco Fest, Brunch Fest, Pizza Fest and Beer, Bourbon & BBQ, and I find incredible a single person would materialize an idea in their mind so successfully.
However, I'm not really sure I see a lot of Toronto Taste on social media. So my advice to them would be to use social media to "hook" their audience in, even if restaurants and events are closed: those people might use the website for restaurant recommendations once lockdown is over, so you don't want to miss on that market.
Thanks you for your time Alex. Before we finish, do you have any word of advice for our readers?
I follow Restaurants Canada on LinkedIn and would advise anyone to follow them on social media. They regularly publish statistics and reports and I've attended 2 free webinars they organized. Overall, I'd say they bring a lot of value and applicable data for people in the trade.
If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! Have a great Victoria Day and tune in again in 2 weeks where we’ll be talking about soup and I’ll be reviewing one of my liquid creations. I leave you with the Question of the week
and the answer to last week’s question. Until then, stay crispy!
Alex
1Bizonline, P. [Paul Bizonline]. (2014, January 7). Career
Advice - Gordon Ramsay [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kn7HHSvjK8
2MacIntosh, C. & Pauls, K. (2021, May 15). “Extreme drought” is threatening parts of the Prairies, says Agriculture Canada [Photograph]. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/agriculture-canada-farming-drought-rainfall-cattle-praries-1.6026782
MATER Fondazione: Home — fondazione MATER (materfondazione.com)
Contrary to popular belief, the world’s largest producer of caviar is not Russia but China, with a national production accounting for a third of the world supply3.
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