4th February 2016
“Death of a Chef”
Many of the chefs who I knew personally from working on the island of Skye over the years did not have the choice of putting a gun to their head at the age of 44 as did Benoit Violier the Head Chef at the three Michelin star Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in a suburb of Lausanne.
He leaves a 12 year old son Romain and his wife Brigitte.
I do not know what demons are at play in a man’s head that would force him to take his own life. We all, at some point in our lives have low moments.
I do think that the adulation that some chefs receive for what is food is over the top.
Can we compare the daily creation of food to works of art or literature such as Vincent Van Gogh or Henry Miller? There is a lot of talk propagated on television programmes such as Master Chefs The Professionals and which filters through into the industry of “taking the food to the next level” which always seems to entail working endless hours in a kitchen which would often appear to be to the detriment of the individual chef’s well-being and health.
Can food be perfect?
It can be precisely cooked and presented and seasoned well and full of strong individual flavours. But surely food is subjective not objective? What may be to one person, a three Michelin Star meal may be to another a small portion of pretentiousness. One man or woman may prefer the simplicity of some langoustines caught off the island of Skye and cooked in boiling water and served with garlic mayonnaise, a wedge of lemon and some daily home- made bread.
Big Andy was a messy big chef who worked up at The Isles Inn in Portree and also at The Royal in Portree back in 1999 / 2000. He worked and was born locally on Skye. He ambled along and put lots of lettuce on the plates and had a big bushy beard. He loved a game of pool in the Camanachd Bar. He was aged about 25 when the car he and his parents as travelling in was in an accident on the windy Skye roads down towards Broadford. He was killed out-right.
Des Dillon was in his early forties when he pitched up and took a temporary job at The Cuillin Hills overlooking the harbour in Portree. Prior to that, Des had worked in Perthshire for a few years. He got on well and took the full-time sous chef position and stayed on Skye for the rest of his life. Married with a dog. Des worked his last season at Sconser Lodge before dying of a heart attack in November 2010.
Colin was the head chef at The Royal Hotel in Portree, an amiable man from Ayrshire in his mid thirties. He had been there for some four years and kept himself to himself, working hard and on his days off pitching up to the Bosville Hotel to the modern Merchant bar where a few of the chefs such as Martain Irvine, Jim Quinn, Cameron Donaldson and myself would quaff a couple of beers of an evening. Sadly Colin was found dead in the staff accommodation.
There was the guy from south England who worked at The Isles who was implicated in an attempted murder back in about 2003. He was found dead up north of Inverness. We didn’t place him but I remember meeting him at The Isles in Portree, a young man of 25 with large ear piercings.
Stewart Taylor from Aberdeen came over from Ballater with his Labrador in 2006 and took over the head chef job at The Portree Hotel in Somerled Square. Stewart had owned his own pub down south and was a good chef, a nice man from Aberdeen. Stewart was good jovial company who had worked in some nice places. He had split up with his partner and was making his way on Skye.
I had had enough of chef recruitment that summer in 2006 and was doing a few shifts at Sligachan and would then meet up in Portree for a few beers with the other chefs, Bobo, Bruce and Billy and Stewart. I enjoyed the camaraderie. A few years later Stewart came down to Moffat and stayed over and we went out for an Indian meal before we placed him down here at Balcary Bay. Sadly, that was the last time I met up as Stewart was killed in Edinburgh in a fire, murder, in 2011.
There are plenty parts of the world where life is vulnerable; Syria, parts of Africa and the many who find themselves homeless as they are forced to flee their native land in fear of persecution.
If the food doesn’t quite sit right on the plate, take a break, get a seasonal job in the Highlands of Scotland and enjoy the craic and a couple of beers.
Luckily Billy and Bruce are still going strong and with both having spent time in the army, they have a fairly relaxed attitude to life and the workings of Hospitality.
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