The film showcases the unfortunate lives of Hispanic "kitchen workers" in America. It reminds us of an unpleasant truth that--despite America's creed and mission statements--Americans underpay minorities to routinely do their menial tasks.
Years ago, the mayor of New York City publicly stated that (as a modern, first-world metropolis) the city's restaurant business could not survive without undocumented workers. !!
That's idiotically inane. Sadly, citizens don't expect much better from urban American mayors--who are puppets of Big Business. Business owners--both large and small--treat their underlings like "things". Many gladly utilize "day laborers", rather than pay full salaries/benefits.
Regardless of how pricey a hotel is, they undoubtedly have underpaid housecleaning staff. Many are part-time, so companies avoid paying medical benefits.
If those hotels charge more, they can certainly pay more... but they refuse... just like hugely-profitable McDonalds declined to pay its workers beyond minimum wage.
The film shames Americans by reflecting their reprehensible attitudes: they lure minority workers to relocate to America to do their bidding...
then they treat them like second-class people.
In truth, even high-end eateries in NYC fail to give their delivery boys "weather gear". Instead, those workers make their own ponchos and mittens out of plastic bags... as portrayed in the film. In one scene, a snarky gay office worker disregards the Latino delivery boy: no greeting, no courtesy... he merely talks "past" the boy, "Food is here for whoever ordered." The delivery boy's boss has no qualms about demanding long hours and overtime from him--oftentimes last minute--ignoring the fact that the delivery boy has a life outside of work.
Such things haven't changed during the last 30 years in America; in fact, things got worse.
I boycott places that treat their employees poorly. I've seen it too often. Sadly, most people don't care. Some like seeing others in misery. Unfortunately, cushy self-privileged Americans enjoy watching people get yelled at.
No, they certainly don't want to be yelled at... but they watch TV programs and online videos of other people getting screamed at. Hence, the latest American president, who had such a TV show.
That segues into the culinary world's long-lasting tolerance and encouragement of toxic work environments. For as long as I can remember, it was socially acceptable for chefs and owners to rampage, curse at, threaten, and shout at their kitchen staffs. You cannot talk to employees like that, yet pompous windbags like Gordon Ramsey found a home on American TV, because he panders to lowest common denominator of behavior...
which was a natural progression from trashy television shows like Judge Judy, Jerry Springer, Real Housewives, and MTV "reality" shows.
It seems forgivable that such human beings have to work in hellish kitchens: ugly, hot, out-of-date, wet, tedious, and often designed like windowless cells.
"Staff meals" in America are usually meager, cheap, and forcibly "eaten in a hurry"... as if having lunch breaks is unheard of for them. Oftentimes, the meals are mostly pasta or rice, which offers no nutritional value to the stressed workers. Meanwhile, wealthy owners squander profits on more yachts, cars, homes, prostitutes, and vacations... instead of re-investing into their staff. Because of America's never-ending immigrant migration, owners treat employees like disposable items, instead of human beings.
Twenty years ago, when I worked at a prominent Long Island catering hall, the millionaire owners actually owned two houses that they FILLED with Latino workers. The workers slept "in shifts", while the other half labored at the catering hall. That kind of miserable life should've been outlawed. Instead, it lingers from the turn-of-the-century, when underpaid factory workers slaved 80-hour-per-week for robber-barons. Such is America.
Who would actually WANT TO enter such a hell-like job?
Therefore, I was absolutely thrilled to watch an online interview with Danish chef, René Redzepi. A native Copenhagener, he grew up immersed in a wonderful society that excels in so many ways. In 2004, a restaurant named Noma opened in Copenhagen, with him as the Head Chef. It was awarded 2 Michelin stars. Redzepi became co-owner. For four years, Noma was named "Best Restaurant in the World"! Clearly, his formula for success works.
As a culinary pioneer, Chef Redzepi recently relocated Noma to new buildings, with a kitchen that was gloriously designed by Copenhagen-based architects: Bjarke Ingels Group. Finally, the world sees a restauranteur investing in making a comfortable kitchen to work in--with kitchen items that were as carefully crafted as the ones in the dining room (which is seen below).
Obviously, the chef respects his employees as highly as his clients... as it should be (just as a coach respects his athletes). Danes know how to value Life. Noma's "back of house" area includes attractive communal spaces for staff meals and team meetings. Such a warm sanctuary breeds team spirit, intuitive accuracy, and strong loyalty.
It has windows! It has see-through openness. It feels airy.
It gives the kitchen--the heart of every restaurant--a priority of space! If you treat the "heart" (your kitchen team) beautifully, you'll have a higher retention rate of talented employees and a better output of top-quality cuisine.
Too often, restaurants squeeze the kitchen into undersized spaces, so they can squeeze profits from customers by squeezing as many tables as possible in the "front of house". (Just as retail businesses waste floorspace for nonsense, while allocating tiny "behind the scenes" spaces for employees to eat/work in... like 17th-century Lords of the Manor had "closets" for their footmen to sleep in).
Here's another big difference about how people are treated in Denmark. Knowing the discriminatory habits of the American food industry, if you saw this darker-skinned man in the kitchen, you might assume that he was a dishwasher.
In reality, David Zilber is the chef of Noma's fermentation lab! Equal opportunity.
In Copenhagen, businesses do not engage in "human trafficking" to get "cheaply-affordable workers", like America does. Copenhageners do all of the work that needs doing, by themselves. It is an esteemed and respectable job to be a waitress, cook, mailman, gardener, or farm worker. Nobody at Noma is treated like a second-class citizen--not even the people doing the "dirty work".
Chef Redzepi stated his dislike of how the restaurant industry became too toxic. He described his new kitchen, "The feeling is away from the traditional steel cage." He said the old ways of being a chef are thankfully disappearing. Oppressive chefs nearly ruined their own trade by making it too toxic, crude, macho, and too hard. Having gone through such a milieu, he wants less harshness for future generations. I agree. After all, cooking should be an organic energetic experience, not a menial chore. Chef Redzepi concluded, "We want less of the militaristic dictatorships that I grew up with, where it was common to see people thrown around. We need to be inspiring, like a family--a tight team." Triumphantly, he "put his money where his mouth is" and "led by example".
In their part of the world, living well and being respectful is inbred and natural. From our own week in Copenhagen, last month, Lewis and I were charmed with their sense of "doing right" and being good to each other and being decent in their communities. Chef Redzepi's former chef de cuisine, Matthew Orlando, did a global circuit of Michelin-starred restaurants before opening his own: Amass. Last month, we dined there (see it here):
https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2019/04/our-trip-to-copenhagen-part-7.html
As you'll see via that link, Chef Orlando gave his "open kitchen" a prime space in the building (where a "heart" would be). It was full of windows and views into the dining room. In fact, customers enter and climb a staircase to go over the kitchen and then descend again to the dining room--because the kitchen's sun-lit space is so important. Even more impressive, Chef Orlando invests so much in his staff, food waste reduction, public education, and organic methods, yet his prices are a better value than American pompous chefs'. He is less greedy than they are, and he wins in that regard, too. Both chefs treat their teams far better than affluent restauranteurs in America, who have the chance to do it but refuse (like slumlords). Congratulations to both of them, but it's shameful for capitalistic America's "free enterprise".
Hopefully, being the best in the world will encourage others to follow their example. As for me, I will avoid flying to Las Vegas for Gordon Ramsey restaurants, and instead fly to Copenhagen to support better/more humane organizations.
