Golden Rolling Pin Awarded to Ledbury Restaurant for Guest Defense during London 2011 Riots

Your Culinary World is proud to award a Golden Rolling Pin to Australia's Chef Brett Graham and his staff for their valiant defense of their guests and kitchen during the sadly still occurring London Riots.

Diners were enjoying dinner at The Ledbury in the affluent west London suburb of Notting Hill when 50 to 60 rioters smashed their way into the restaurant with machetes, knives and cricket bats. They demanded that the stunned diners hand over their wallets, cellphones and wedding rings.

As soon as the staff realized what was happening, they charged the looters with rolling pins and any other lethal-looking culinary tool they could find in the kitchen.  

Yelling and screaming they drove the robbers, all 50 plus, from their restaurant back into the street.

They then calmly served glasses of complimentary whisky and champagne to their shaken guests. What style! What composure! For this alone they deserve the Golden Rolling Pin Award.

But the story of their courage and professionalism doesn’t stop there.  When it was realized that the front door had been smashed, making the restaurant’s entrance onto the street unsecured, the staff first sheltered their guests in the restrooms and then the wine cellar, urging them each time to lock themselves safely inside.

Their decision was a wise one. The rioters did return, breaking and smashing everything in sight.

When it was all over, the restaurant’s guests emerged safe and sound to a scene of mob destruction few will ever forget. Yet none of those present could doubt that, first and foremost, the staff had thought only of them during the mayhem that wrecked the once elegant restaurant.

Amazed and thankful, the grateful guests offered to pay for the dinners never served as some small way of saying “thank you” for the staff’s brave efforts that evening. In a gracious response worthy of the great Alexis Soyer himself, the staff declined payment. 

Professionalism, as you known, requires that one never accept payment for a dinner unserved. That would not be honest. What a difference their attitude was to that of the looters outside.  They protected while those outside destroyed.

Bravo, bravo and so well, well done! How truly all those at The Ledbury deserve the Golden Rolling Pin Award for a night of remarkable bravery and professionalism!

One can only hope that one day compassion and hospitality will reign and that all of humanity will feast together at a "table of brotherhood" in mutual peace and understanding.

Post Note, August 26, 2011: Due to the threat of potential harm from the massive approaching Hurricane Irene to the hundreds of thousands expected to attend, the dedication of the Martin Luther King Memorial has been cancelled.

"It is with a heavy heart and enormous disappointment that we announce that, in the interest of public safety, we are forced to change our plans," Mr. Harry Johnson told a news conference today.

Instead, the historic event will be moved to September or October when the skies have cleared and any damage(hopefully minor) to roads and cell towers has been repaired. After years of effort to make the Memorial a reality, the decision to delay the dedication must have been a hard one, but the right one.  Safety always comes first – something every great hotel knows and practices daily.

Post Note, August 22, 2011: As the U.S. begins a week of celebration honoring the memory of Martin Luther King, many visitors to the new King Memorial are delighted that the installation promotes freedom as a universal human right, not merely a singular American occurrence.  Congratulations to the Martin Luther King Memorial designers for their personal courage and global perception.

Post Note, August 12, 2011: Many of Washington DC's leading hotels are working hard to make rooms (and tickets) available for the upcoming August 28th dedication of the Martin Luther King Memorial. If you were not present when King made his famous "I have a dream" speech, here is another choice to be present when history is made. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Isolation and Marginalization Is NOT a Recipe to Govern By

As every chef and hotel professional knows, nothing is achieved in isolation, alone from one’s colleagues within the industry. It takes a team effort that combines many talents and points of view – working together to create, to serve.

No day is perfect – none are. And if one demands perfection, this is, well, simply the wrong planet to be on. But that does not mean one should do nothing. Instead, we do what can be done and then continue to work to address the remaining outstanding issues, be they cuisine or raising the American debt ceiling.

The United States, like an executive chef, holds a position of great responsible to set an example of civility and purpose.

This sometimes is not an easy task. When America was first formed, debate and conflict ruled the day – to the point that the nation, like a great banquet, almost never left the kitchen.

Yet among the lesser men who assembled in 1776 were those individuals such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson who sought not to dominate opinion but to call on each delegate present to reach beyond personal agendas or beliefs to a higher sense of self that embraced universal values and principles.

Was their work in steamy hot Philadelphia perfect? No, of course not. For over 200 years America has worked on, adjusted, and grown into a larger sense and understanding of what democracy means. Today we are struggling again. And today, because of world economic markets and the Internet, that struggle will affect millions of others around the world.

No longer do we stand alone. As the world must work together (like a true professional kitchen does), so must the American Congress – Compromise a little, then work together so that none are excluded and all may join the feast that hopefully one day will include the whole world peacefully seated at one table in mutually understanding and respect.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Coke Reminds Us on July 4th Freedom Has No Borders

In a world embroiled in unsolved problems from the streets of Greece to the corridors of the U.S. Congress, it is often humor that can remind us that with compassion and creativity any problem can be resolved.

Today thoughtful companies, such as Coca-Cola, are linking media and message to reach a world market wearily waiting for answers that acknowledge the waste of war and the poison of pollution.  

We may smile and yet, within the hospitality industry, there is also a great responsibility for we are the ‘living room of the world’.  It is within our workspace that the world gathers to dine and discuss the concerns of today and tomorrow.

And yes, sadly, there are those, whose creed is violence instead of service, who enter our open ‘living room’ bent on destruction and death. 

Yet we go on, believing that meeting together, whether in the foyer of the hotel or in the dining room, is critical to a common understanding that no line should divide us from our true self and from each other ever. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

How Lemonade Lucy Saved the White House Easter Egg Roll

While staffers all over London are busy fine tuning the last details of the upcoming royal wedding, the chefs at the U.S. White House have just finished arranging the boiling and dyeing over 14,500 eggs (yes, 14,500 eggs!) for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

This delightful child-centered event is an annual pleasure that everyone in Washington DC looks forward to - yet few people know how the Easter Egg Roll almost didn’t happen.    

America’s beloved very first First Lady Dolley Madison (1808 – 1817) started the tradition of rolling Easter eggs, not at the White House, but on the grounds surrounding the U.S. Capitol Building.

At that time much of Washington DC was either under construction or still a swampy marsh so the elevated grassy area around the Capitol Building was simply the best spot available for a dry egg hunt on the Monday after Easter Sunday.

Indeed, these Easter events proved so popular that pre and post Civil War thousands upon thousands of children and adults marched across the Capitol lawns looking for colored eggs.

By 1876 Congress had had enough of all these laughing children messing up their congressional lawn, not to mention their legislative dignity.

So in one of the nation’s less than child-loving moods, Congress passed the Turf Protection Act, banning all Easter egg rolling, hunting or carrying on the velvet green lawns that surrounded the oh so sartorial Capitol Dome.

But take heart, First Lady Lucy Hayes (also known as “Lemonade Lucy” as she would not serve demon rum or the like at her White House events) had a kinder heart. She invited the local children (yes, one needed to be invited – no more free-for-all as before) to come and celebrate on the White House's even more meticulously manicured lawns. Well done, Lucy!

World Wars and sometimes weather have caused the event to be cancelled or delayed but on the whole it is one of the most delightful annual events any President and First Lady can look forward to.

Over the years a costumed ‘rabbit’ had been added, along with music and healthy treats (thanks the nation’s present first lady, Michelle Obama). Admission tickets are still required but no longer to a chosen special few.

Thanks again to Michele Obama, they are issued nationwide now through a far more democratic website lottery. And oh yes, no adult may enter WITHOUT a child.

Perhaps that will teach any congressman who longs for the dictatorial powers of the past not to be so hard-hearted about sharing a little of their 'green' with any nation's greatest treasure -the children, the children - always the children. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011

Update on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 8:07PM by Ana Kinkaid

Chef Jacques Pepin cooks very healthy crepes at White House Easter Egg Roll! 

Shackleton's Mystery Whisky Now Recreated by Whyte & Mackay

If you had a chance to keep up on all matters whisky, you know that bottles belonging to the famed Artic explorer Ernest Shackleton were discovered in 2006 by members of the Antarctic Heritage Trust while clearing out over a century’s worth of ice from under Shackleton's hut.

The three aged crates that they found were carefully transported back to New Zealand and slowly thawed under controlled laboratory conditions. Additional staff research discovered that the original distillery which crafted the whisky was now owned by Whyte & Mackay of Glasgow, Scotland.

Once restored to room temperature, Dr Vijay Mallya. the present owner of Whyte & Mackay, sent his private plane and Master Blender Richard Paterson (known in the profession as “The Nose”) to escort three precious bottles back to the home distillery in Scotland.

After carefully sampling the treasured whisky, Paterson and his staff have created “an exact replica” of the original. Unlike the standard heavy and rather peaty late century whisky favored by the Victorians, they found that Shackleton’s whisky was accented by the delicate aroma of crushed apples, pears and fresh pineapples with a gentle trace of marmalade, cinnamon and a whisper of smoke, ginger and muscovado sugar.

Based on Paterson’s success, Whyte & Mackay is now planning to market 50,000 bottles of the recrafted whisky in two to eight weeks starting first in the United Kingdom according to Rob Bruce, the firm’s head of global public relations. After that release Shackleton’s whisky will then be available to the rest of Europe, the United States, Australia and finally New Zealand.

Due to rare nature of the whisky, each bottle is expected to cost about £100 or $160 with 5% of the purchase price supporting the Antarctic Heritage Trust who are responsible for conserving Shackleton’s hut, among other polar restoration duties. The New Zealand nonprofit organization is hoping to receive as a result over £250,000 or $400,000 plus from the offering.

Shackleton was a remarkable person, a leader who never sacrificed his men for the goal of glory or gold. Though famous now, during his lifetime he struggled to find the funding for his polar expeditions and to purchase the proper equipment for his team. He must be smiling that the sale of his recreated abandoned whisky will now be protecting the beauty of the Artic that he dedicated his life to documenting and to sharing with others.

What a legacy – courage, style, flare…and now great whisky.  Well done!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2011