Feb. 02–The apparent suicide Monday of one of the most acclaimed chefs of Europe has thrown a spotlight on the pressurized world of elite culinary professionals, and comes as no surprise to a local certified chef and former instructor.
"The chefs in the high-profile positions are under the gun all the time," said Ed Stanziano of Englewood, an executive chef certified by the American Culinary Federation and a retired culinary arts instructor. "In these three-star restaurants, everything has to be exact. There is no such thing as 'good enough' when you're shooting for stars for your restaurant."
The death that shocked the culinary world came only two months after Benoît Violier's establishment, the Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, Switzerland, was singled out as the best restaurant in the world in La Liste, rankings commissioned by the French Foreign Ministry to evaluate 1,000 restaurants in 48 countries, according to the New York Times. The Swiss restaurant had already been bestowed with the highest three-star ranking that the Michelin guide awards.
Violier, 44, apparently shot himself to death over the weekend at his home in Crissier, and his body was found Monday.
In April in the U.S., Homaro Cantu, 38, the innovative chef behind Moto, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago, hanged himself.
Stanziano said chefs, often by their nature, feel the need to be in control, but when others evaluate their restaurants, chefs have to rely on others on their staff to make the best impression. And there's the constant financial pressures of cutting food costs and squeezing out additional profits, an issue critical to all restaurants, but especially to independent eateries that don't have the deep pockets of restaurant chains, he said.
