Turn down the heat: Vancouver sous chef encourages civility in the kitchen
The restaurant industry has a reputation for being filled with big personalities, high expectations, and plenty of stress.
Kym Nguyen has been in the industry since the age of 21. The self-identified non-binary cook — whose preferred pronouns are "they" and "their" — still remembers having hot poached eggs thrown at them by a chef.
Nguyen, now 33, vowed not to behave like this with their own subordinates.
Nguyen will appear on a panel of chefs Monday evening in Vancouver to discuss recent changes in restaurant culture and how to combat the labour shortage in the industry.
Badly behaved chefs
Nguyen, who is the sous chef at Pidgin Restaurant in Gastown, started their career at a pub in London, England. They did not personally encounter anti-LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace, but said they decided to move to Canada because of the discrimination that exists in the British food industry in general.
Nguyen said they have worked with chefs with "bad anger problems" who aggressively shout at subordinates, but many junior cooks and waiters accept and forgive such behaviour.
At Pidgin, Nguyen says they and the head chef do not need their staff to accommodate them this way.
"We're both really chilled out and mellow, and we don't think that you should shout, or need to shout at people to get the message across or teach anyone anything, because sometimes it just makes people shut down," Nguyen told The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn.
But Nguyen admits it can be difficult to control their temper under pressure.
"I've been annoyed and agitated and I've shouted at the servers before … [But] it's not my personality. I've felt awful and gone to apologize to them."
A more inclusive work environment
Nguyen worked in Toronto for almost three years before relocating to Vancouver in 2017.
Most of the cooks Nguyen has worked with in Canada have been women, but they think there is still room for improvement.
"I do still want more female chefs to come out and prove that they can be just as good as or better than the men in the industry. And I've always fought for what I've wanted, and I just feel like everyone else should always just fight for what they want."
Nguyen will join a panel with five other chefs at a Monday evening event titled Chef Life: The Next Generation held at downtown Vancouver's Hotel Belmont.
For those who are new to the hospitality industry, Nguyen has a suggestion when it comes to handling difficult chefs: "Just ignore them, put your head down, and keep working."
To hear the complete interview with Kym Nguyen on The Early Edition, tap the audio link below:
