A chef at the level of Pepe Rodríguez could not meet Jesús Calleja for no other purpose than a trip to enjoy gastronomy. Thus, both embarked on a culinary adventure for a new Planeta Calleja program, which took them to Naples, cradle of the best Italian cuisine.
A trip in which Calleja took the opportunity to get to know the television chef up close, but also to have him share his opinions regarding the controversies surrounding his profession. For example, many people today call themselves “experts” in cooking and criticize the work of professionals from their blogs or social networks on the Internet. Some new “foodie” critics whom Pepe Rodríguez does not have in good esteem.
Rodríguez told anecdotes and Calleja, along the way, decided to bring up the topic in question. “I watch and follow a lot of food critics, don’t you like them?” The chef changed his gesture, but responded without problems, explaining the reason for his resentment. “I respect everything, but there are these so-called foodies, who have come out like mushrooms, and who are dedicated to eating and who like everything related to gastronomy,” he insisted.
For the chef, there are very few who could qualify as “experts” and write as authentic, knowledgeable food critics. “Someone who writes well about gastronomy, with an argument, with a force, there are only three or four, the rest is all trash. I follow them because they make me laugh, I laugh,” he said.
However, he couldn’t help but become a little indignant. “They allow themselves the luxury of telling the chef who has been in the profession for forty years how or in what way or what they would do,” she laments. “Hey, a little respect for the profession. Nowadays anyone can be a food critic because I have a weapon, which is the mobile phone, and I say that I am.”
Precisely regarding mobile phones, Rodríguez took the opportunity to criticize them, since most of them spend their time tirelessly taking photos while eating, despite the fact that their restaurant warns them that they cannot record. “Then there are others who sometimes spend a lot of money and on top of that they want to monetize it. They post everything they eat and also the bill. It seems like the most vulgar thing to me,” he said.
The chef has always been very critical of detractors of his cuisine and those who try to belittle his work on social networks. “I have networks, but they bring them to my knees,” he confessed on MasterChef Celebrity 6. “I’m very used to criticism since I was little,” he continued, even remembering how he coped with it on the spot.
“When you’re in a bar, they tell you: ‘Kid, give me a little more, the beer will be a little more filling.’ And they’ve always been correcting me. All my life. There are always people who know more than me, so hospitality, I don’t know what… There are still people who say things to me.”
