by Melinda Joe
While I was attending a gathering of the world’s top chefs at the “G9 World Summit of Gastronomy” in Tokyo in September, at least half a dozen strangers asked me to photograph them next to their favorite star chefs.
The G9 chefs were chosen by Ferran Adria, of the now-defunct, triple-Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant elBulli, and the group had been scheduled to give a presentation on the topic of gastronomy and social responsibility.
The event drew a surprisingly large crowd.
After last year’s G9 meeting, in Lima, Peru, a scathing piece by British food writer Jay Rayner described the group’s mission statement, entitled “Open letter to the chefs of tomorrow,” as “an act of ... such ludicrous self-regard you’d need an oxygen tank to get your breath back.”
That pronouncement delivered a satisfying dose of schadenfreude to those exasperated by the cult of the celebrity chef.
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