Great piece - interesting that in different political structures, where patronage and espionage are still rife, the Chef still plays a more Medieval role, and accordingly can become a powerful actor - thinking of Yevgeny Prigozhin, and of Putin's own grandfather.
Garret, thanks so much for reading and leaving this message. It has given me enormous food for thought (!) over the last couple of weeks regarding the role of chefs in China, Russia and other political economies and their specific hierarchies of roles. I haven't fully digested (!) what this means for how I think about it yet, but as I think it through and hopefully land on a stronger opinion I will certainly aim to write about it in more depth, once I've done the research! Thank you. Such a provocative thought!
Very interesting introduction to the history of haute cuisine!
Great piece - interesting that in different political structures, where patronage and espionage are still rife, the Chef still plays a more Medieval role, and accordingly can become a powerful actor - thinking of Yevgeny Prigozhin, and of Putin's own grandfather.
Garret, thanks so much for reading and leaving this message. It has given me enormous food for thought (!) over the last couple of weeks regarding the role of chefs in China, Russia and other political economies and their specific hierarchies of roles. I haven't fully digested (!) what this means for how I think about it yet, but as I think it through and hopefully land on a stronger opinion I will certainly aim to write about it in more depth, once I've done the research! Thank you. Such a provocative thought!