Interesting Hell's Kitchen tonight - let's converse about creativity

[Rabrrrrrr]

Virginia, on Hell's Kitchen, has won almost all the challenges, meaning she has great creativity to make delicious and incredible food and a phenomenal palate; and yet, she has constantly fucked up in the kitchen and been on the chopping block I think six times.

In the challenge tonight, the last three contestants had to produce a dish that Ramsay had made. Virginia was the only one who got the fish type correct (some kind of sea bass; the other two chose a different kind of sea bass), who got the puree correct (white beans; the other two went for potatoes); and who got the sauce right (grapefruit and basil; the others went for cilantro and other stuff).

But Virginia simply cannot handle herself in the kitchen under the stress of service.

There are so many kinds of creativity and excellence - Virginia is clearly able to make incredible and new things, and could be easily go down as one of the great creative voices in cooking. Except that I don't think she could ever handle having a restaurant, which is a necessity for her being one of the great creative voices.

Much of me, as a fellow creative type, really wants her to win - but I also think that if she wins, she will destroy her restaurant within weeks, if not days.

Hers is the creative type that exists, I would assume, solely at the creative level, and not at the practical or useful level. I know creative people like that - and not just creative, but genius in their creativity - but who can't function beyond creating amazing things. A few of these type of people are smart enough to hire people to manage the rest of their lives, and they do amazingly well. Sadly, most just can't make that step to find the people they need to fill their weaknesses, and the world will forever be denied the fulness of their genius.

And then there are the others who are maybe not quite genius creative, but who are creative enough AND who are able to live in the normal workaday world - these guys tend to do very well. Probably most of the great chefs (and musicians and painters and writers and etc.) out there are in this category.

And then there are those who are creative AND have the practical stuff, but suffer from self-questioning/lack of confidence. Which reminds me that these categories even apply to sports people. Sadly, I also know some people like this: who have so much that they could contribute to the world if they would just take the initiative to say "Fuck those people - I'm making this art (or going for this sport, or whatever)" or who have the confidence to say "This is the decision I'm making, so live with it". It's so sad to see people of high caliber suffer from feelings of unworthiness. I can think of a couple people I know who fall into this category, who would, if not for the shitty fearmongering of their parents, or their friends, or just themselves, would absolutely have a stellar chance to be famous and well known today.

Sad.

God, this was long and rambling. My thanks and apologies to anyone who sorts this out and is able to start a discussion that makes sense.

[GOPisEvil]

1. Just off the top of my head, I'd say Virginia needs one of two things.

Option 1: Doing work of a more limited scope such as catering, teaching, writing, etc.

Option 2: Have a partner who can handle the stress leaving Virginia time to create.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Fuck Virginia

...as much as I *hate* Keith's attitude, she in no way deserved to be in the top 2...I can only hope that Heather beats her sorry ass :)

[jpgray]

3. The most brilliant thoughts are pretty worthless if one can't express them

[SOteric]

4. I don't watch the show, but I'd offer the following:

Creative Menu planning is but an amazingly small part of the requirements for running a successful restaurant. Handling the stress is a vastly more important factor.

When most guests come to an establishment on a repeat basis, they're coming to recapture a favourite taste, texture and experience. Only a small handful of dining guests are coming out of a sense of adventure and trust in a kitchen's offerings.

That doesn't mean Virgina would be relegated to a peripheral career. A great many larger houses employ Chefs and/or sous chefs specifically to formulate new and creative recipes, while others at the property deal with the articulation, menu engineering, food cost, purchasing, managing of staff...etc. Small properties never have this luxury. But a large dining and banquet facility most certainly could.