They Would Have Been Right

by | Feb 5, 2016

David Thornton, Chef of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter at the University of Arkansas, shares a taste of what it is like having a passion for culinary, service, and hospitality but also knowing there is more to life than working every hour of every day.  Many of our chefs can relate to this.  This is why we do what we do.  

Ten years ago, if anyone had said to me, “You’ll be cooking in a fraternity house in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and you’ll think it is the best job you’ve ever had,” I probably would have told them they were crazy. I would have at least cocked my head sideways a lifted an eyebrow as I stared at them. Ten years ago, I was in my first executive chef position at a destination restaurant that sat between Olympia, Washington, and the coastline. It was a beautiful restaurant surrounded by a wealth of local foods. I was cleaning salmon that had been pulled from the ocean just hours before. I was shaving fresh, wild-grown Washington truffles onto creamy pasta. I had a signature dish and was well on my way to becoming an artist in culinary.

And then, I got homesick.

I missed my family in far-off Arkansas. As an intimate restaurant chef working six days a week, I had no time off, vacation, or way to visit my family. When my parents visited me for a week, I only saw them when they stopped by the restaurant for a meal. The rest of the time, they explored the area without me.

After they left, I realized I had to head back home.

Just across the Mississippi River from Arkansas is Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis offered a new culinary journey that introduced me to a more rustic style of cooking. I learned the art of barbecue and, as executive chef of an American-style restaurant, I learned down-home, southern cooking.

The new techniques and recipes I learned taught me a far more important lesson. I knew that fantastic food is well-cooked, not necessarily fancy. The plating doesn’t have to be a work of art; the food has to be well prepared.

Enter Campus Cooks and the guys at Pi Kappa Alpha at the University of Arkansas. When I lift the top off a lasagna and hear the guys hoot and holler, it gives me the same joy that a good review gave me years ago. When I get to the kitchen in the morning and see they’ve already posted the same dinner from the night before on the craving sheet, I know they loved dinner last night. It gives me great pride to offer great food to them and know it is appreciated. So, while I would have thought they were crazy for saying that I’d love cooking at a fraternity years ago, boy, they would have been right.

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