The Real You.  Last week I wrote about the transformation that
happens during service;  cooks stepping out of their own bodies
as adrenaline and stress and heat took over.  A 7 hour ride,
where the barest, most naked emotions came through.  A place
where it was acceptable to cuss violently, but not acceptable to
put up an ugly plate.  It made me start to think about all the
cooks i've worked with over the years--cokeheads, stress cases,
alcoholics, amatuers, and in rare instances bad ass pros.  It
was this mix of personalities that made me start to wonder:  Who
was it that I was seeing?  Is the person in the kitchen, in the
heat of service the real "you"?  Or is it some amalgam of
emotion and circumstance and experience?  Let's take Jake for
instance.  Jake was a 4 year vet of the industry.  He could
throw down on sautee like a four star pro.  I never saw him
freak out.  I did see him do an excessive amount of cocaine, and
i'm not sure that he ever started a shift without smoking a
blunt in his car.  Who was