Kitchen potential

Michael Coaker, the man who trained some of the top chefs in UK, tells VIMALA SENEVIRATNE the kitchen is not for anyone who’s not serious about the profession

MICHAEL Coaker has a keen eye for spotting a winner. Many students who trained under him are now flaunting their culinary skills in some of the best kitchens in London while one or two exceptional ones have even acquired celebrity status.

Among the latter is Gordon Ramsay, the fire-breathing, no-nonsense chef of the reality TV programme Hell’s Kitchen.

“Without doubt he was the best student I’d ever trained. And he is still good at what he does best – whipping up a storm in the kitchen,” says Coaker, who is known for taking students with tremendous potential under his wings and turning out master chefs.

Considered a VIP in the hospitality and tourism industry, Coaker is quick to say that he is not in the habit of creating fire-breathing chefs who bark orders laced with unprintable words.

“That Ramsay did all by himself, being a Glasgow boy. But seriously, beneath all that he really is a nice guy and certainly one of the finest chefs, second in the world in terms of Michelin Stars, behind Alain Ducasse.”

Currently the chief lecturer in culinary arts and production at the Thames Valley University, Coaker recently won the Education Chef Of The Year 2008 award.

He was here recently to share his love for food with Malaysians and to offer an insight to what students can expect under him at the university’s London School of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure.

For more than 30 years Coaker made a name for himself preparing menus, hiring, firing, ordering and training his staff at some of the top hotels in England. With him there is no half measure where work is concerned.

The kitchen, he firmly believes, is not the place for anyone who is not serious about the profession. In the beginning, the hours are usually long and one is expected to work nights, weekends and holidays for little pay in a usually highly stressful environment.

While it is true that preparing a dish requires a great deal of thought, a chef also needs to acquire different physical skills that can only be refined by practice.

“It is hard work and I am afraid there is no short cut,” says Coaker who chose this career path even before he completed his formal education.

“I knew what I wanted, even as a 15-year-old schoolboy. I got myself a formal education in this field at Thames Valley University and worked my way up at various hotels in the country and overseas,” he says with a smile.

He began his career as a young chef at provincial hotels before moving to the Portman InterContinental as larder chef. He moved to Switzerland to gain further experience as sauce chef at Le Hotel Penta Geneva and was subsequently employed by Hotel Bristol Paris and the Kulm Hotel in St Moritz. He also worked at the famed Dorchester Hotel in London under Anton Mosimann who was known as the King of the Kitchen. He went on to become the executive chef of the Intercontinental Hotels for 25 years before taking on a lecturer’s role at TVU three years ago.

His international culinary experience includes many promotional tours of the USA as well as British food festivals as far as Bahrain, Manila, Caracas, Japan and Bangkok. “After a while the travelling gets to you. I get more satisfaction now advising students and contributing towards the development of hospitality education.”

With many students worldwide aspiring to become the next three-star Michelin chef, he says there is a growing demand for the study of culinary arts.

“The tourism, hospitality and leisure sector is one of the fastest and largest growing in the world. In UK alone, it employs 4.2 million people, about 10 per cent of the entire workforce. And would you believe it, we are already preparing chefs for the 2012 Olympics!”

As mentor to young chefs, he works tirelessly to advise them and helps place them in some of the best kitchens in London. The students are trained at the university restaurant, Pillars, as part of the academic curriculum. “They get hands-on experience learning about restaurant management, time management, team building and other vital practical skills,” adds Coaker.

He also chairs the “Adopt-A-School” Trust committee, which operates under the auspices of the Academy Of Culinary Arts, and conducts workshops on cookery and healthy eating to primary schoolchildren every week.

“We are introducing children to real food by teaching them how to taste and appreciate the pleasure of eating through the five senses and four tastes.

“I truly believe that children should be involved in cooking, preparing, eating and making choices about healthy food. And they should be trained when they are still young.”

Food, he believes, holds communities together. If children learn from an early age about the food chain — from farm to plate — this would lead to a generation of better informed people who are able to cook and make healthier choices.