Haitian Beatz

I am very much an eating out type as I am a cook, probably more so the former than the latter. My friends and family wonder why I eat out so much, since I know how to cook. I try to give them the intellectual and smart answer: I want to explore different cuisines in order to challenge my palate and familiarize my

taste buds with worldly flavors. Sounds good right? I almost buy it myself! But if I were to be completely honest, I eat out because I want to experience great food in an environment that offers me nothing but bliss. I want to be catered to and treated nicely in a pleasing environment. That is not to say I am looking for chandeliers, gourmet ingredients, and servers in tuxedoes, but I strongly believe part of the dining experience, let me correct that, the best part of the dining experience is knowing once you go to a restaurant there is a certain expectation in certain areas -food taste, service and physical appearance of the venue- that will be met each and every time you enter through the doors of that particular establishment. I thought it was a well known fact that once you call yourself a restaurant the goal is to try to deliver on the aforementioned categories to the optimum in a way that fits your theme and customer expectations. Hence, why it behooves me that most Haitian restaurants fail in almost all of those categories, yet expect to be successful.

Food Taste
If there is one category where we actually gain some points, it would be here. However, that is not to say you will get the same consistent taste on Monday that you received the previous Thursday. Haitians (for the sake of this article, we will stick with them as the subject, after all, this is the Haitian Times), have this very prideful attitude when it comes to pretty much any task, job or endeavor. They feel that if someone else is doing it, so can they. Which in itself is not a bad attitude: it encourages and reinforces self esteem in us as a people. However, this also can create a lack of respect for a profession or someone’s expertise. And I think this attitude is what prevails in the kitchen of most Haitian restaurants. Many Haitians are great cooks, yes! But it takes a whole different type of skill sets and talent to be a “chef” at a restaurant. Cooking techniques for cooking in mass quantities or for cooking food that will be partially prepared and finished off later, are very different then those used in the home kitchen. In order to ensure food taste and quality is consistent, it is essential we learn the proper preparation techniques and the art of a recipe. We need to learn how to design and execute recipes for our meals, especially at a restaurant, so that no matter what chef, cook or person steps into the kitchen, that the food will be consistent and the taste will remain the same. For a restaurant, your taste is your brand, if you start being ambiguous on the brand, then you will not be able to maintain a lasting impression.