AN UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH AWARD-WINNING CHEF VINCENT TROPEPE
Anthony Nonjai
The next generation of chefs is extremely fortunate to have someone like Chef Vincent Tropepe in the hospitality industry. In a very rare sit-down interview back in April, shortly after I heard of a new book release, Chef Tropepe candidly discusses the range of motivations that led him to author what will be his fifth published book titled The Other Five Senses: Understanding The Art of Hospitality.
“Many people do not understand what it truly means to be a chef. Today social media has a population of people that are “restaurant critics” “bosses” and “kings and queens” The truth is if you ask them to make you a piece of toast they can’t. The food world has become very gimmicky thanks to this white noise we see and it takes away from the true art of being a chef and what it means to be in the hospitality industry.” Tropepe said.
Chef Tropepe’s resume without any doubt screams high standards from his work history working in prime restaurants like SD26 with Tony May, The 21 Club, The Rainbow Room, Sardi’s, and Mr. K’s to name a few, to his long list of private chef clients that range from Hall of Fame sports figures, singer, actors and high ranking political figures. “When I think of the books I wrote, the restaurants I cooked in, the events I catered, the high-profile people I cooked for I can sit here and say that I don’t think I did anything special. I was smart enough at an early age to know that the vocation of chef requires a dedication to lifelong learning, and reading, and is a practice-oriented profession and that is what I did and continue to do.”
Tropepe said. “The knowledge, the skill that I have was gained over twenty years of cooking.” Tropepe continued.
The Other Five Senses: Understanding The Art of Hospitality discusses what Chef Tropepe calls “the other five senses” the five other important ingredients a culinary professional or food service operator needs to cultivate to succeed in the hospitality industry. These chapters emphasize, for example, a sense of hospitality, a sense of timing, a sense of culinary identity, a sense of focus and discipline to name a few chapters in the book. “The other five senses I
write about are the senses and qualities needed that go beyond the actual act of cooking or operating a restaurant. What is equally as important is that this book is also written with the dining public in mind. When patrons go out to dine, they see the food they ordered in front of them, they have no idea what is required to make that dining experience happen.” Tropepe said.
Chef Tropepe’s culinary interpretations throughout numerous cultural denominations have always been well received no matter what he decided to cook because of the balance and precision he demonstrates throughout each part of a dish he is preparing. At times, polar opposites become harmonious, familiar foods become rediscovered, and common ingredients become manipulated yet still respected.
Having read the book, it is also very motivating and encouraging for those aspiring to be in such a difficult field as hospitality. When I went to dig a little deeper, as Chef Tropepe instills in us in this literary work he spoke openly and said in a very reflective way, “I did not have a support network of people, I had nobody to reassure me that I was doing a good job, I had no friends and I have a long difficult family life, the only way I was doing good was when plates came back clean. I had to motivate myself – this book represents something far more than how to julienne a carrot, it makes people reflect deeply, and ask themselves more serious self-examining questions. To know who you are and what you want to cook or bake all plays a part in our personal and culinary identity you cannot have one without the other” as he used the chapter on culinary identity as an example.
In the past twenty years, Tropepe has gained not just the respect and admiration of the dining public but also the thousands of employees, and students he has hired and trained in restaurants and culinary schools all across the United States. Some former employees have called him “the Miranda Priestly of the food world” while other publications called him “the American-born Gordon Ramsey”, but no matter how one wishes to characterize him the two
things in common those two personalities have is the first have non-negotiable high standards and second, they push the people around them to reach a higher level of their craft. Those who recognize those two characteristics are the smart ones because he wants them to surpass him someday. “You want to know one of the reasons why I am so rough in the kitchen… being rough in the kitchen is my own way of showing the people around me they matter. If I
negotiate standards in cooking, and execution then they will carry that as a normal way of practice in their careers. I am not in the kitchen to negotiate my standards. To show someone they matter is the single most profound thing you can give to someone and by my rough nature, I am showing them through cooking, and through food that their career matters, they as a person matter they should not negotiate their personal standards just like I show and teach
them not to negotiate their professional standards.” Tropepe said. “I’m giving to them what I did not have,” Tropepe concluded.
Between my interview with Chef Tropepe and reading the book together, it was like a religious experience, one that made me feel reborn. Chef Tropepe is a true example of what a chef is and all those aspire to be one. He will forever be known as the chef who defined the other five senses with a one-of-a-kind career, personality, and insight that the entire world gets the privilege of getting a taste of an inspiring, innovative, and true original we call Chef Vincent
Tropepe
