KITCHEN DELIGHTS

May 8, 2024

There's more to it than just the stove

MAY 2024 - TASTE

“I am not trying to be sexy. It’s just the way of expressing myself when I move around.”

Elvis Presley

When I walk around London, during my urban explorations, the kitchens of the restaurants are often in view: showcases of the culinary world among food trucks, izakayas, underground bars, gastropubs and pop-ups. What a satisfaction to steal a glance and an elusive smile from chefs from all over the world, with tattooed arms and super sexy Brit accents. The fiery woks dance, the hands twirl fast, the movements of the pans have a sensual gait, while the aprons sway between the orders.

Male sexyness and cooking? Male sexyness and cooking?

And then, while I’m always walking immersed in my thoughts, come the reflections for this article that link male sexyness and cooking, a topic that is more topical than ever. The big screen comes to my aid and the question arises: “What do Jeremy Allen White, Anthony Bourdain and Bradley Cooper have in common?” Cinema, of course, but also cuisine: a damned personality but also a certain, high dose of male attractiveness. In short, beautiful, damned and in the kitchen. Chefs with a high sex appeal who personify a series of traits that today we would define as “toxic” but absolutely irresistible: emotionally elusive, self-centered, obsessed, a bit alcoholic and drugged, but to whom everything is forgiven.

Jeremy Allen White plays Carmen Berzatto in “The Bear”, the quintessential Italian-American with a heavy family and past, an obsession with perfection and his baggage of fragility. The sharp, shy and reserved gaze is a bit reminiscent of the stars of the past, with a natural and disheveled charm. If you haven’t seen his photos for Calvin Klein yet, please google it.

Bradley Cooper is Adam Jones in the comedy “Burnt,” a renowned chef who plays the simple and eternal story of the artist who has estranged himself from the world to cleanse himself of his addiction to alcohol and is ready to return to be great again. Arrogant, rebellious, charming. The essence of pure cool.

Anthony Bourdin, chef, TV presenter and writer; his story as a chef on the edge is told in “Kitchen Confidential”, the intimate autobiography in which he describes himself in the New York restaurants where he worked his way up from dishwasher to chef, torn between rivers of cocaine, LSD, Vodka and a thirst for revenge and revenge. I look at the photos of Anthony Bourdin in black and white as a young man, the classic boy with the charm of the 80s, apparently tough, irreverent and provocative, complete with an earring.

Side note: it happened recently that my date also turned out to be skilled in the kitchen, tidy, seductive and attentive. In that simple gesture that was to get in the kitchen for me, he showed all his care for me. Or at least that’s how I interpreted it. And please don’t wake me up.

by Francesca Russano

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KITCHEN DELIGHTS