Cooking Authentically: Creativity vs. Craft

Being creative, having fun, and discovering your own style as a chef is a formidable journey—and not an easy one. You can always tell the difference between a young chef and a seasoned vet. One has contemplated, failed, and built a strong foundation of understanding, while the other is still figuring things out.

There are peaks and valleys, ups and downs, and sometimes you have to start over. But a chef dedicated to the craft almost always finds the uniqueness that belongs to them. They become able to speak through their food and tell their own story, after years of learning and following the path paved by those before them (and sometimes beating their heads against the wall because they're out of ideas for asparagus).

The way you cook reveals who you are: your understanding of ingredients, sourcing, technique, seasoning, and palate. But it also shows where you came from, how you think, and, in the deepest sense, what you value. In many ways, it shows how you view the world and whether you care about the people you serve.

Creativity for its own sake, however, without skill and a framework, is aimless—and it can have consequences if you're the chef in charge and you don't know what you're doing. It's like throwing things against the wall to see what sticks; even if something does, you might still end up with a mess. Creativity comes with responsibility; otherwise, it can't be truly meaningful.

In the social media and AI era, it's harder to know what's real and what's fake. A lot of dishes are posted just for attention, leading you to wonder if anyone is actually eating this stuff—and if they are, are they enjoying it? You can look at food and know if it's cooked well, or if it’s just “art” with food as the medium.

Creativity in cooking keeps your restaurant from becoming stale and your career from becoming stagnant. But it's a balance of many things, including your guests' expectations, your team's ability to execute, and your restaurant's concept. Above all, your ability to create must be supported by time-tested technique and consistency. That's the hard part.

Here are a few principles that should be followed to bolster creativity.

1. Creativity Must Have Purpose

"What inspired you?" is a question non-chefs often ask, and it can be annoying. But "why" is absolutely crucial in defining what you're trying to achieve. Was it a seasonal ingredient, like peaches in the summer? A great fisherman who had one amazing halibut left? Or perhaps you wanted to rethink a classic Italian dish? Food needs a thought process to push standards forward, which should always be the goal. This is especially true if you're working with a long list of seasonal ingredients on your menu and need to make sense of it all. You don’t need a noble reason, but creativity does need a purpose. Even the most avant-garde chefs understand this because they know that ultimately, the food needs to connect with people on some level.

2. Creativity Must Have Roots

Food is deeply rooted in cultures around the world. Due to religion, historical events, economic differences, climate, and countless other human factors, people have learned to cook certain ingredients in specific ways. It’s important as a chef to understand this human component before you begin to create, so you don't mistakenly misrepresent something that is culturally significant. There’s a reason why many American chefs travel to Bologna to learn the craft of making tortellini. Food is also alive; it’s a real-life reflection of the beauty and brutality of the world we live in. Someone grew it, and they have names and families. It’s our duty as chefs to understand this and pay it the utmost respect.

3. Creativity Must Show Proper Technique

Technique is the foundation of deliciousness. If you cook in a good restaurant or went to culinary school, you should have been taught to think about the result of each cooking technique, as opposed to just going through the motions. What does this mean? It means you didn't just take an amazingly marbled steak, throw some salt at a corner, and "sort of" gray-sear it in a "kind of" hot pan—because that would be a terrible act. No, you would know that the desired outcome is a thick, deep brown, caramelized crust, making every motion and step critically important. The same is true for blanching vegetables, making sauces, or anything else you cook. This is a truth understood by every culture across the world. French chefs, Italian Nonnas, and Filipino Lolas all understand this.

4. Your Final Product Must Be Consistent

Instagrammers and influencers may not need to replicate what took them hours to prepare and plate, but real chefs do. People are paying you for your work, and that comes with a lot of pressure. In service, a single dish can become a thousand steps that could go wrong at any moment, so it’s important to safeguard your food with excellent training, constant tasting, and foresight to prevent problems. You wouldn't want your new grill cook to think it’s standard to cook duck breast to a chewy well-done, would you? Or for your tempura to be soggy? You have to be committed to ensuring that each dish is the same, up to standard, over and over again.

5. Your Cooking Must Fulfill You and Your Guest

If you don't want to cook it and they don't want to eat it, nobody wins. The best place to be as a chef is where you can make people happy doing what you love—where you can challenge yourself and have paying guests be happy that you did. This is a challenging position to find in the midst of Burgertown, USA, and every new trend Eater tries to push for clicks. But it can be done, even if it takes time. After all, if you can’t push a bit here and there, the light goes away, energy fades, and it becomes just another cooking gig throwing meat on a hot surface. Fulfillment is the core of being creative and the reason why chefs should pursue new ideas and experiences within their own craft. Just do it.

In conclusion, just remember that there is no end to the journey of cooking. Something will always come along and disrupt your routine, making you try harder and, at times, even look back and cringe at some things you created. But you have to find your own way, through mistakes and awesome dishes that you never knew you’d think of, that fill you with pride.

It takes time, dedication, and a whole lot of feedback, and you should slow down and listen. But while it’s important to listen to feedback, be sure to remain your own guide. Otherwise, you may not develop the awareness you need to reach the level you deserve. Keep going.