Toronto Tales - Passion

As much as I love to nerd out about social media traffic and all things ads related, I am also a lover of reading. My “To-Do” list of books is long and is a mish mash of classics, business themed memoirs, and works of fiction. All of these books are housed in an antique school desk that my Mom gifted me over a decade ago, and in the centre lies the most recent copy of The Merck Manual. In my previous life I worked in critical care, and my Merck Manual certainly was put through its paces as I looked up and studied pathologies both related and unrelated to my field of Respiratory Therapy.

This past October, I began reading a book which has been staring at me for a number of months now, the very famous “Kitchen Confidential” by the late Anthony Bourdain. Anthony Bourdain, as you know, left this world earlier in the year; and by his own hand. So it was that I picked up his book and began reading with a heavy heart. For those of you who have read this fine book, I would love to hear about the lessons that you took from it. I think that of all of the things that I learned by reading his interesting stories one aspect stood out more than the others. Anthony Bourdain had an undeniable passion for food and the making of it.

The ways in which Bourdain described his experiences with cuisine made you feel like you were there beside him slurping oysters, eating fresh warm bread, and smelling the aroma of garlic and butter at the start of a full meal service. His words on paper transported you to the humid kitchens of New York, the sun kissed coasts of France, and the nightmare of cooking school. The resounding feeling that I got from this beautiful book was that Anthony Bourdain had such PASSION for what he did. He loved every minute of it, whether it was eating a delicious meal or fighting through a sleepless night preparing a banquet for a client. Tired, hungry, sore, angry, happy, drunk, hungover, stoned, sick : Bourdain’s passion stayed true.

This begs the question: what are you that passionate about? What is your reason for waking up in the morning, your vocation? Are you pursuing your passion? If you aren’t, why not? If you are, how did you get there? Who helped you along the way? Who inspired and mentored you? How can you instill this inspiration in a younger mentee?

These should be some questions that you ask yourself, as I asked them of myself after reading this fine book. Bourdain loved food just as much at the beginning of his career, when he was the bottom rung of the ladder, just as much as he did at the end of his life. No matter the income, no matter the job description, no matter the working conditions he loved what he did. Can you say the same?