A Chef

This fourth book in author/illustrator Douglas Florian's "How We Work" series is highlighted by bright dabs of blended color, and details of a chef's work. While not taking place in any particular setting, it's clear that Florian is something of a Francophile. The chef buys her ingredients at an open market so Gaullist that you expect the scent of baguettes to float off the page. The gentlemen patrons and sellers have moustaches and wear nifty Euro-style hats. Nearby is a produce store named "Marie's," although Florian includes "Naomi's for balance. If that's not enough to convince you, even the dedication is written in French. Zuts Alore! Is Florian suggesting that only the French can master the culinary arts? We'll get to that in a minute. First, when the chef returns to her restaurant, FLorian excels at showing all the work done by her many assistants. It's not all glitz and glamour: The chef and her assistants (mostly the assistants) wash and cut fruits and vegetables, trim the fat off the uncooked meat, and take the de-scale the fish (one of which, quite realistically, has a visible bulging eye). Veal is cut and pounded, "potatoes are peeled, cut, and boiled," and a stew is prepared. The visceral images of fish and meat are offset by the bright backgrounds--which show the tools of the trade--and the smiling, intent faces of the assistants. A wise author, FLorian doesn't forget the dessert! Two 4-paneled pages show the pastry chef's step-by-step construction of a "deep-dish blueberry pie," and mixing a giant metal bowl full of chocolate icing! I'm gonna bet that this sequence will result in kids wanting to help make the same foods at home. The food is placed artfully on a plate (other than a page showing a circle of spices available to the chef, this is the book's only image of food creativity), and a waiter calmly picks up the order and delivers it table-side. These are no mere potato-eaters; both customers ordered the fish, left-eye up (poisson a gauche?). Up to this point, the restaurant seems a bit, shall we say, UPSCALE, for its young audience. They serve veal (an unspoken controversy to begin with), wine, those fish, and there's not a kid in the joint. The chef and assistants are dutiful, focused, and seemingly content with their work--but where's a sense of fun? Will a kid feel somewhat declasse when the author's acknowlegements incude associates of "Scarlatti" and "The Savoy?When even the font is set in "Bryn Mawr?" Fortunately, Florian opens the playing field in the last five pages: "In restaurants...and schools...and wherever people eat... [4 panels showing a hospital, hotel, military canteen, and catered party] ...a chef works with food." The last page shows some common cooking utensils (cheese grater, colander, measuring spoons) along with some not-so-common ones(a pastry wheel, a huge soup pot, "a copper pan for omelettes"). These pages bridge haute cuisine with the school cafeteria, and, along with the d

We picked up a few copies of this charming picture book as gifts for the very young children of our food-loving friends, and both kids and parents alike found it a delightful way to look at the life of a chef!