By Jill Fraser
Australian master chef, Neil Perry, is relaxed being a nice guy with a big culinary vision.
It´s been dubbed the cult of the celebrity chef and it continues to grow as the public´s appetite for the theatrics, antics, preaching, flirting, swearing and... oh yes, culinary skills of these superstars of the kitchen, proves to be insatiable.
The great challenge facing these high profile, much fawned-over cooks, whose products, restaurant chains and media exposure have made them household identities, is to avoid becoming a caricature of their slickly packaged respective brands.
Many, such as Jamie Olivier and Nigella Lawson walk a fine line. Others such as Gordon Ramsay seem to have succumbed to their publicity, flaunting their one-dimensional TV alter egos.
But along with the celebrities there are the more low key articles such as Aussie chef, restaurateur, author, TV presenter and all-round decent guy, Neil Perry.
Perry, 51, the pony tailed son of a butcher, has helped change the national food landscape and define the new Australian cuisine.
Perry on Ramsay
NP: There are two basic types of chefs, the pan throwers like Gordon and the other sort like me who don’t get into all that. I know Gordon and he is actually quite a decent bloke but essentially he is now known more as an entertainer than for his food and he has a public persona which is about a 'you're a f…. idiot, I want to smash your head in' type of attitude.
TB: Could you work in that environment?
NP: No, no!
TB: Do you think that chefs like Gordon Ramsay are doing your industry a disservice?
NP: I think it potentially turns young people off the industry. You don’t see someone like Jamie Durie talking to a young apprentice with his boots and beating the crap out of him. I think a lot of parents wouldn’t like what they see and would encourage their kids to do something else.
TB: Do you believe that the food that comes out of a kitchen in which there is balance and harmony as opposed to conflict has a different vibe to it?
NP: Yes. It has energy whereas if you have people in your kitchen who you have beaten ragged they’re all grey and have nothing to give and that would be reflected in the food. I know kids who have gone to work in Ramsay’s kitchens in London and they work from 7am until midnight, five days a week and they have no life left in them. I can’t imagine how people like that can cook beautiful food. Perry’s third cookbook, Balance and Harmony, (Murdoch Books), a celebration of Asian food in the form of a cooking course conducted by the Rockpool master chef, is now available.
His celebrity status was established in the early 90s through his highly acclaimed and much awarded Rockpool restaurant in Sydney´s The Rocks and he is certainly no slouch in the business stakes – Neil Perry Fresh food products are available through Woolworths supermarkets and he is the coordinator for Qantas Flight Catering International for First and Business Class travelers. Yet the seduction of fame and fortune has never caused him to digress from his original passion, to "always make the produce king" and create great dishes from fresh, quality ingredients.
That might sound like a clichéd mission statement but Perry speaks it with all the enthusiasm and fervour of a young, apprentice chef who views his career path as a calling.
Perry´s love of high quality, fresh food stems from a childhood spent gardening and cooking with his father in suburban Sydney and fishing with him in northern NSW.
He started out in hairdressing but refers to this as "just a blip on the radar". "My whole background was set up by my father and his great love of fantastic produce. I think I was destined to be in the food business," he says.
Memories of digging up spuds, picking zucchinis, tomatoes and eggplant and his father bringing home whole rumps or aged ribs and cutting them up in front of him before throwing them onto the barbecue, still influence the philosophy that dictates his choice of produce and menus in his restaurants – Rockpool, Sydney and Rockpool Bar & Grill, Melbourne.
Perry plans two new Sydney openings early next year: Rockpool Bar & Grill and Spice Temple. A $35 million investment.
His restaurants adhere to a "humanity to animals" philosophy and the majority of ingredients are organic. He is adamantly opposed to the use of genetically modified (GM) food and despairs over Australia´s failure to capitalise on its "clean, green" image.
"I don´t understand why Australia wants to be out there flogging GM commodities along with the rest of the world. It adds no value to the endeavour.
"To take away Australia´s clean green tag by cultivating genetically modified crops is compromising this very saleable image, which is insanity," he declares.
Stating that he has never solicited any of the corporate work that has come his way (his 11 year relationship with Qantas and more recently his collaboration with Woolworths) he notes that he was the first restaurateur approached by James Packer and John Fizgerald to blaze the frontier in the Crown Casino Complex.
"I don´t believe that the right opportunities come your way if you are running around looking for them," he says chuckling at the suggestion that these days he must spend more time in a suit than a chef´s coat.
Insisting that he only dons a coat and tie when he is attending Qantas meetings he says that he is still handson in his restaurants, retaining creative control of the menus before handing them over to a team of chefs who bring his ideas to life.
His advice for upcoming chefs is "first and foremost to ensure that you possess great passion because this business will consume your life and you have to be ready to sacrifice everything, including your family life, for it".
"No cook, no matter how talented, can work just Monday to Friday nine to five and rise to any prominence. It´s simply not possible," he says.
"Secondly, you have to have a really great eye for detail because a lot happens in a restaurant – on the plate and in relation to staff´s needs – that is not about food. So you need to cultivate an eye for both the big picture and the small details."
