Cooking not same at home and restaurant

by Müge Akgün - Referans

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A woman in a male-dominated industry, the owner and chef of Kantin restaurant in Istanbul’s Nişantaşı district, has been maintaining the quality and stamina it takes to run a restaurant for nearly 10 years.

Şemsa Denizsel thinks the physical conditions are the most important factors preventing women from entering professional cooking careers. When cooking is in question, Denizsel stands against discrimination. She is angry about sayings such as, "It is clear that a woman’s hand touched this dish." According to her, cooking is a matter of talent Ğ it has nothing to do with being a man or woman. And she says its physical conditions are really tough for women.

"Cooking in a restaurant kitchen is not the same as cooking at home. It is a very difficult job to be a chef. Working in a kitchen requires physical power. You sometimes need to work 14 hours a day. Any woman who can cook very good dishes in her home cannot necessarily be a chef. A woman may host 14 guests for dinner every night, but that doesn’t mean she can do the job in a professional kitchen," said Denizsel.

Big ego and power

"Running a professional kitchen requires coordinated work with others," said Denizsel. She thinks that male hegemony in the past makes it difficult for women to work in the kitchen. "Maybe this will change in the next generation. You must have a big ego but at the same time you must have the power to keep under control," she said.

"Young people who study abroad thanks to the fine economic situation of their families think they can become chefs as soon as they return, but they are disappointed. They think that they became masters when they graduated from the famous The Culinary Institute, where the annual fee is $40,000. Even if you are a graduate of the best school with the highest degree, it doesn’t mean that you can become a chef.

"A 25-year-old woman or man cannot manage a kitchen. Experience is very important and it is acquired by working. A kitchen needs extraordinary order and hierarchy is very important. The chef has the last word in the kitchen; he or she is the owner of the kitchen. Talent and passion are a must in a kitchen. Technique is learned but talent either exists or not. But even if the chef cooks the world’s best meals, they must know how to manage people," she said.

Like many other chefs, Denizsel’s interest in cooking started in the family kitchen. She grew up in a house where fresh meals were cooked everyday. She is the daughter of an architect father and antique dealer mother. Her mother was a very good cook. She cooked her first pilaf at the age of 11 under the help of her mother.

She worked as her mother’s assistant in the kitchen even before plans to become a future chef. The family was pleased with their daughter’s ability to cook but they just laughed when she wanted to study cooking after finishing Austrian High School. She studied media and public relations in England and she worked for restaurant kitchens as a dishwasher and kitchen maid while studying. When she returned to Istanbul, she worked for a magazine and later started taking photos of food.

In 1998 she decided to make one of her dreams come true and undertook the operation of the Bosphorus Graduates Association. Although it was very difficult for her, she never gave up cooking. Two years later she opened Kantin in Nişantaşı on Akkavak Street. Kantin has not become a trendy place and it doesn’t want to be. "If you become popular one day, there will be times when you will lose your popularity. My prior goal was always to be a classic place serving its customers all the time. Kantin opened as a classic Turkish-style restaurant and I want it to be so," Denizsel said. But the restaurant offers Denizsel’s special recipes rather than typical Turkish-style foods.

Kantin does not serve food after 7 p.m. When the restaurant is out of the day’s dishes, new ones are not cooked. Bayram Usta has assisted Denizsel in the restaurant since the opening.

On Kantin’s lower floor there is a take away delicatessen that is open until 8:30 p.m. It sells salads, olive oil dishes, meat dishes, cakes and breads. This area is used for parties at night, as well.

Address: Akkavak sok No: 30 Tel: 0212 219 3114