In a new video on MADfeed — which relaunched its website today — chef René Redzepi (Noma, Copenhagen) and sushi master Jiro Ono (Jiro Dreams of Sushi) talk about what it means to find your way into cooking. Jiro's main advice, which he has repeated before, is that "you must like your job." He talks about how kids these days don't compare their training to that of previous generations, and aren't eager to practice a craft with their hands. "Machines are more advanced now, and everyone has embraced that direction." Meanwhile, Ono still uses a wooden abacus to calculate the prices on his menus.
Jiro believes that only by working by hand will each generation progress. Watch as Redzepi consumes a meal at Jiro's counter in between the two men's conversation about innovation ("if it's new, it has to be an improvement on what came before..."). When Redzepi asks Jiro how long it took before he believed he was a master, Jiro answers, "50 years." Watch the whole film to see what advice the two culinary masters have for today's generation of cooks and chefs.
