The Perfectionist

There is so much to say about the The Perfectionist, a book written about the life of three star Michelin chef Bernard Loiseau.  It's hard to know where to start.

In fact, I almost find it virtually impossible to discuss the complicated personality of Bernard Loiseau, who committed suicide in 2003.  It's an uncomfortable book because Loiseau's drive, ambition and personality are admirable and inspiring yet also the cause of his deterioration.  The way he personally laid himself on the line each time he preached "his" cuisine to the media, it's not hard to understand how his entire life, his entire being was called into question when it appeared "his" expression of classic French cuisine had fallen out of fashion.

That's the part of becoming a celebrity chef that is incredibly scary.  If the cuisine that has brought you into fame is marginalized, found to be out of style, or even just OK, it's hard to reinvent yourself.   If you are known for classical French cuisine, it's hard to just say you are a global fusionist on the drop of a dime. But more to the point, if your cuisine falls out of favor or slips a notch, it's you who the critics rail against.  It's your name that is tarnished.  It's not a faceless, nameless company or a CEO who can just get another job at another company after resigning.  This is personal. Your food sucks.  All of those years to reach this point - down the drain. You are good but not great.  There are very few professions outside of the entertainment or sports industries like this.

Author Rudolph Chelminski pieces Loiseau's personality together in a very revealing light.  The book is so rich with thought provoking, emotional, psychological stories of chef Loiseau's character that it's a worthy read on that aspect alone.  But what takes it over the top is the historical account of the evolution of the high-end French restaurant landscape over the 20th century into the 21st and the liniage/cooking style into which all of these important chefs were born into and eventually inspired by.   Can't recommend this book enough (even though I find the book a bit repetitive a times).