You went to culinary school at age 51, an age when the physical toll of the culinary profession often pushes chefs out of the kitchen. How did you make that decision?
I worked for a management consulting firm for 18 years and we built a bunch of businesses. At around 50 years old we sold those businesses and it was time to figure out what to do next. I was offered a corporate position, but one morning as I was literally putting my pantyhose on–with one leg in and one leg out–I thought, “I just can’t do this.”
My mother asked me what was the thing that I always wanted to do that I never got to. And the answer was to go to cooking school. So, at 51 years old, I picked up the phone and called the Culinary Institute of America and asked them, “Am I too old to come to school there?” And they said, “You know, we’ve never had anybody your age. So maybe, maybe not.”
What was the experience like at CIA?
I love learning and school. I have a couple of master’s degrees and had finished my Ph.D. work when I left to start a business.
I was very nervous about going to CIA, but a therapist I know said to me that the difference between decision-making as an adult versus being a child is that as a child you make life plan decisions in a linear fashion. Each decision begets the next that begets that begets the next. But as we get older, your life becomes more like a constellation. You hop on a star, and if that one doesn’t work for you, you hop on another star to find what works for you and what doesn’t. If you’re a curious person, every experience brings you to the next one.
What’s great about culinary school is that when you put on a toque (the chef’s hat) and your chef’s whites, the only thing that instructors can see is a small part of your face. So, they didn’t know if I was 19 or 50, and we were all working tirelessly.
And I just loved the subject matter and was studying day and night.
How did you become Oceania’s Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Enrichment?
I had been on only two cruises in my life, so I never thought of myself as a cruiser. Oceania had contacted the Culinary Institute of America and said that they were starting a hands-on cooking school as a part of a program with Jacques Pépin. I’d been interested in adult education and wasn’t interested in working in a restaurant or owning a restaurant in my 50s. I asked CIA if I could take a three-month leave and come down to Florida to set up the cooking school. That was 15 years ago so I’m still on my leave from CIA.
When I first started working here I realized that I loved how this job combined my love of food, teaching, travel and working with adults. I’m now 70 years old and I don’t know what I’m going to do when I’m 80 yet. But you know, I’ll still be curious. And it might be something I haven’t even thought of yet.
