Cooking is just a vehicle to express yourself, like painting and acting... The reason why we're cooking is not because we want to put something on the plate. It's so much more complex than that.
Dominique CrennRead
I don't want people to look at my menu and see just the ingredients. I want to take them on a journey.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of storytelling in culinary experiences beyond just the food itself.
Dominique Crenn expresses her desire for dining to be more than just a meal; she wants it to be an experience that engages the senses and emotions, transporting guests on a journey through her menu. This reflects a broader philosophy that art and creativity in cooking can create meaningful connections and memories rather than merely focusing on the components of a dish.
In practice
In a food blog discussing innovative culinary arts.
Cooking is just a vehicle to express yourself, like painting and acting... The reason why we're cooking is not because we want to put something on the plate. It's so much more complex than that.
Eating is an act of activism for me; it's politics.
My restaurant is an expression of myself - my fantasies. Where I've been, and where I want to be. I think of my cooking as very emotional.
When I interview people that want to work with us, I often disregard their resume, because a piece of paper, it doesn't tell me really who they are. I'm looking for honesty, vulnerability. I'm looking for strength, I'm looking for weakness. I'm looking also for someone that wants to learn and is excited about learning.
My grandmother was kind, but she knew what she wanted and she wasn't afraid to give a command. When, eventually, I ran my own kitchen, I realized I had a leadership model reaching back into my earliest memories.
Early in my career, I was told I shouldn't try to work in a kitchen, that I should consider serving or managing instead. It was a sad narrative that was given to me, and it came from a society that didn't know better.
Maybe, as a Chinese woman, I was never told I would be a filmmaker, so I didn't have the ego set up.
There is no need to create. Genius comes only to those who know how to use their eyes and their intelligence.
Films might get to you and your subconscious and make a little difference, but when the vigilante drum beats, the mob screams and the conformists go along with it. There have to be people who are non-conformists.
After a while, the characters I'm writing begin to feel real to me. That's when I know I'm heading in the right direction
Expression for me does not reside in passions glowing in a human face or manifested by violent movement. The entire arrangement of my picture is expressive; the place occupied by my figures, the empty space around them, the proportions, everything has its share.
Governments have always been wary of the arts because they're wayward and ambiguous and because they deal with feelings rather than facts.
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