Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
The Universal Language of Food and Hospitality | Beth Cosgrove
Chef Beth Cosgrove shares her extraordinary journey from culinary school graduate to global chef, exploring how her 17 years abroad shaped her approach to food and leadership at Palmetto Bluff. Her experiences across kitchens in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Dubai, and Amsterdam provide fascinating insights into cultural differences, communication challenges, and the universal language of hospitality.
• Started international career through a chance meeting at a CIA career fair, leading to her first position in Hong Kong at 22
• Immersed herself completely in foreign cultures, learning languages and embracing local customs beyond just the kitchen
• Navigated unique challenges like language barriers by building strong relationships with team members who served as translators
• Recounts entertaining stories of cultural misunderstandings, including a Hindu cook who discarded veal jus and lost lobster bisque in Shanghai
• Emphasizes collaborative approach to menu development, incorporating team members' diverse backgrounds and experiences
• Names Japan as her ideal culinary destination due to the country's incredible respect for ingredients and stimulating food culture
• Believes in building "perfect on perfect" with incredible attention to detail, even in simple dishes
• Describes wellness as finding happiness in work and surrounding yourself with people who make you happy
Next up at Palmetto Bluff: look for the upcoming Korean barbecue experience in the "Around the Table" series this fall!
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. I'm your host, jeff Ford, and today's guest is Beth Cosgrove, a chef whose journey has taken her from the world's most prestigious kitchens to the heart of the low country, from the culinary capitals of Shanghai, amsterdam and Hong Kong to her current role as executive chef here at Palmetto Bluff Club. Beth's career is a master class in creativity, culture and leadership. As a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, she's held top roles at the W Amsterdam, the Abaco Club, the Peninsula Hotels and Alan Wong Shanghai Peninsula Hotels and Alan Wong Shanghai, where she was honored as Time Out Shanghai's Outstanding Chef of the Year in 2017. In this episode, beth shares the lesson she's learned from life in global kitchens about food resilience and the universal language of hospitality. Beth, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Jeff, great to be here. Thanks for having me, and it's good to see you outside of a director's meeting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you are so welcome. I'm happy to have you here and, beth, as I was preparing for our podcast interview, I was blown away by your international experience. I had no clue how much time you spent abroad, and it made me tailor our time together so that I could learn more about what the world has taught you about food leadership and how that has come into play here at Palmetto Bluff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks, jeff. Thanks for the welcome and yeah, you touched on it basically. And my whole journey sort of started in college and I did go to the Culinary Institute or CIA, as we sort of shorten it. After that I spent four years there and then, as part of a career fair that was in the student rec center, I almost didn't go but I thought, okay, maybe I should go and look and see what companies are recruiting and where I could end up after graduation.
Speaker 2:So, um, just sort of walk through the gymnasium there and walk through all the, the um different booths, different booths, yeah, and I came across a booth that said American club, um, hong Kong, and I walked past it and then I, kind of you know, in my my naive 21 year old self, said, geez, where's Hong Kong, right? So then I backpedaled and I went up to the up to the woman who was standing in front of the booth, who was the then executive chef, and she was there recruiting and she was also an alumni of the CIA herself. So she was back doing a recruitment trip and so I spent about 10, 15 minutes with her chatting, got invited the next day for an interview with her, and that went well. She called me that same night and said I'd like to make an offer for you to come to Hong Kong and be a torn-on chef, which is a junior-level sort of entry position into the kitchens, almost as sort of a junior sous chef.
Speaker 2:But in Hong Kong she was looking for more American chefs to help, because it's an American club, so we're not there cooking Chinese food, we were there cooking American food for a private club. So that started my whole international journey. So I went there when I was 22. I had a two-year visa and two suitcases and ended up staying there for four years, and that's what really spitballed my career.
Speaker 2:And when you're 22 and you're a sponge and you're keen and green and everything is absolutely stimulating and you're in Asia and everything is so new and otherworldly. So I was a true sponge and I just loved it, so ended up staying there for four years and then the rest of my career. I just you know as a chef you in a young chef as well. You know as a chef, you in a young chef as well. I think you're not. You're not so better off staying in one place.
Speaker 2:You know it's good to have different chefs, different environments, different kitchens, different cuisine, so you sort of learn what you can at that particular place and then you sort of move on. So, yeah, I'm very fortunate in my career I've spent 17 years overseas and that, in general, has just given me an entirely different life perspective and it's given me and all of my friends that are overseas. It's actually what's just. The whole journey has been. It's been I've worked my butt off for it, but it's been. Some of it's been at the right place at the right time and meeting the right people and just putting in the work and it's gotten me to where I am now.
Speaker 2:So, and that's with career wise, but it's also personal wise.
Speaker 1:So very cool. Yeah, it's wild to hear that. It seems like you weren't even thinking about going international out of school.
Speaker 2:I wasn't, I just. I mean, I cruised into the and you went for it and the trajectory of your career just took off from there, and I'm with you.
Speaker 1:When you learn from different experts, different mentors, you develop a broader skill set because you expose yourself in your case, to different kitchens, and it's it's cool to hear that that not only impacted you professionally but personally with just how you look at the world.
Speaker 2:It is and it's, and it's the friends you make and it's you're. You're in kitchens with people, I mean, and I, you know, I was four, four years was in Hong Kong and five and a half was in Shanghai. So you're in a kitchen where English is not spoken or it's very little. So you go to a sous chef or you go to, maybe, a chef de cuisine, who are, you know, in terms of the hierarchy, those are kind of the more senior people. Generally, most of them spoke enough English, so those are your translators.
Speaker 2:But you can't just go to a line staff and have a fluent conversation about an ingredient or a recipe, so you're always calling over a translator and so you become close to these people and so you know, especially in Hong Kong, you'd work a 12-hour day with a split shift in the middle, and then you'd go out for drinks afterward. You'd go to these you know street markets and you'd have some noodles and some fried clams and all the rest of it, these wild foods that you're seeing and eating for the first time. But you're also bonding with these coworkers that you've just spent 12 hours with. So you're learning both. I'm learning in both in the kitchens and then both outside as well, and people are people at the end of the day. So we're all. We all want to spend time with each other in and outside of work. Very cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's almost like you were able to immerse yourself in the culture, not just the kitchen and it shaped you in that regard.
Speaker 2:And that's what I tried to do, because you're not. You know, there's no sense in going to another country if you're not going to learn from that country. You know, for me there's no point in going to Hong Kong if I'm going to remain in my American ways.
Speaker 1:Your bubble.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was diving in in all ways, so I even learned a lot of the language. I mean, I was able to get myself to and from my apartment in taxis and I would be able to order food and stuff.
Speaker 1:So I really immersed myself, yeah, and I would write down.
Speaker 2:I mean I would have a notepad all the time and I was you know I would find somebody that I could confide in in the lunchroom, you know, and I say hey, I heard this word today. Like Ceylon pho, what?
Speaker 1:does it mean I'm?
Speaker 2:thinking that people are talking about the.
Speaker 2:You know saying something bad about the foreigner and they're like no, no, no, that just means broccoli. I'm like, oh okay, all right, you know, so nothing to worry about. But yeah, I just was a sponge and I think you just grow from there and then you learn from the people around you whether it's the Western cuisine or whether it's that Asian cuisine or it's the in the Chinese kitchen, when they've got all the walks roaring. There was a fascination with it, for sure, and it just I wanted to know to know more, I wanted to see more places and I just kept growing.
Speaker 1:In that way, I can imagine your openness lended itself to the people and the teammates that you were working with to help you and assist you, and actually probably be thrilled that you were asking those questions and trying to learn, cause I think just in any environment when someone's closed off or not immersing themselves in the way that you've described, we don't truly grow as people.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:And it's so important for us, as professionals trying to provide an incredible member experience, to always be growing.
Speaker 2:And I think, like you said, you are open, you have to be open and you have to ask them questions. And I remember somebody once told me that everyone loves to give advice or everyone loves to be asked for advice.
Speaker 2:So, on a culinary level, I would make a dish, for example. Or you make an item and you bring it to another chef. Hey, chef, what do you think? And even if it's a junior chef, you still call them chef. You give them that sense of pride and that sense of I'm important. So, hey, what do you think of this? I just made this. What are your thoughts? Like, does it have enough salt? Is it crispy enough? You know, oh, yeah, I think this. And then they actually, once you get their buy-in, you've got them, and then they do the same. So then that same chef or that same cook would come to me a week later. Chef, I made this, what do you think?
Speaker 1:So now, you've got that mutual tit for tat, a back and forth communication.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent, and that is what people respect. And I think that's how you start to chip away and win in their, their buy-in, and that's that was what worked for me, just the openness and asking them their opinion. You know, I don't know everything, we don't know everything.
Speaker 1:No, I feel like I still know nothing. Yeah, this is it.
Speaker 2:You have your tail between your legs and you eat your humble pie and you just ask questions and hey, I'm not, I don't know something. And I tell my even my new cooks now I said if I don't know something, I'm going to ask you know, so please don't feel, you know, don't be afraid. If you're unaware of something or if you don't understand what I'm saying, just say, chef. I need to say it again, you know or show me the recipe, or if you show me, then I'll yeah, no problem.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it goes a long way, it does, it does. So I'm interested what's? What's something the average person might not realize about working in kitchens around the world?
Speaker 2:Kitchens are tough, no matter where you go. When you add in a culture barrier, when you add in a language barrier, it makes it that much more difficult. And I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2:I was working in Dubai in some kitchens and Dubai is 70% foreign worker right, the Emiratis are about 30% of the makeup of the population. So you have a lot of foreign help, including myself when I was in Dubai, and a lot of the guys that you have as kitchen line staff are from Pakistan, they're from India, most of them are Muslim and so Muslim culture, you know, women are generally not in positions of authority or of power. So here I was in these kitchens and I was their boss and I was hyper aware that, you know, they don't generally touch, they don't shake hands, you know. So it became this sort of casual fist pump because you know, so you're aware of that, and they were nothing but respectful because of that. So they were always the most, probably the most respectful people that I've worked with. But it took some observation to say, okay, actually, culturally speaking, these guys are not used to touching women outside of their homes and so there's no handshakes when you meet new staff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the body language and the cues were very different. Internationally Correct yeah.
Speaker 2:Here we're a little bit more friendly, right. We hug, we touch we fist pump here. It's kind of you just mind your P's and Q's a little bit more and that goes a long way as well. So they respect that. So you've got to to answer your question. I think you have to again assimilate and be aware of your surroundings. You know, stand your ground in terms of culinary and in terms of you know, the authoritative.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how you want to operate the kitchen.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the day, you're respectful.
Speaker 1:In different ways and in different countries and in different cultures, things go differently, so yeah, yeah, I think I've read in the past that, like in our culture, it's fine to look someone in the eyes, yeah, and for If you don't, when you're talking to someone it's almost rude. But in some different cultures, looking the authoritative figure or the person in the leadership role in the eyes is not something you necessarily want to do. So there's a lot of those hidden variables I could imagine you had to navigate and just learn over time. Correct, and it's kind of fun to hear that y'all adapted to a fist pump for that nonverbal interaction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and which it's because you know again like there's a Y'all adapted to a fist pump for that nonverbal interaction, yeah, and which it's because you know again like there's a high five, you make a great dish. There's a you know a pat on the back and things, but you're just aware that they're not used to that and you're a female and they're, they're male and they're not really meant to be sort of yeah, not used to that celebration together. So just stuff like that.
Speaker 1:I mean, those are the things that you learn just as time goes. So I think kitchens worldwide are tough.
Speaker 2:But I mean, again to answer your question, I think it's just about being aware of your surroundings but still, culinarily speaking, going by the book, you know, and really having your standards and pushing them. Different kitchens you were teaching in or has that been something that's just been drilled into you go to has different. You know DHEC and FDA laws and stuff.
Speaker 1:Serve safe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but by and large there's a general standard of operating a good kitchen. Now there's plenty of kitchens worldwide that are far below the standard right, and they kind of get away with it, but very good establishments. You're meant to be following certain standards and that's everywhere, from just addressing your chefs when you come in in the morning, hey everybody, how's it going?
Speaker 2:and when you walk behind somebody, say behind, because you could be carrying a pot of hot water or a sharp knife and it's these sort of things that are pretty international, um, but then each individual place you, you do sort of learn some, some knickknacks about yeah, yeah, makes complete sense, like when the lead chef, uh, executive chef or sous chef is calling on a dish to prep like herd.
Speaker 1:Is that pretty still common across kitchens? Yeah, I mean, I love that, is it, is it yeah?
Speaker 2:Like wait, I've not heard it overseas. It's usually a yes chef but okay. Herd, I think is very American. I think I remember in culinary school we said heard, yeah, um. So it seems to be very american to me.
Speaker 1:I've just, in the last year that I've been here, I've been hearing that it's it's constant around here because, I I talked to you, know a lot of your counterparts and folks and we'll be just in a random conversation.
Speaker 2:We'll be like heard, yeah even though we have, of course, we have whatsapp groups, you know we have a culinary whatsapp group on property and you'll say something hey, meeting today at 1230 at the farm, and everyone just in line heard. So yeah, I think it's a very American thing. But I think, internationally it's been yes, chef, usually, or yes.
Speaker 1:So, chef, switching gears now. You were overseas for 17 years before coming back to the States. What was the transition like and how did you bring your global perspective here to Palmetto Bluff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, good question. Actually, it's something that I mean just on reflection now. It's something my husband and I talked about because we were sort of ending our time in Amsterdam. I was working at the W, he was working for a logistics company, and we knew we were not going to buy property in Amsterdam. We knew we didn't this great city, but we didn't want to live there any longer. So we just thought, all right, well, do we go back to the States or do we stay in Europe? Do we go to France, where his family is? And um, the decision just came down to us there's just more opportunities here, there's more jobs here, there's more money here. Um, and I was nervous because I had spent so much time overseas, I was kind of nervous to come quote unquote home. But you know, we don't have kids or yet, but we didn't have any particular place in mind. I mean, we had a couple of places that we knew we didn't necessarily want to live in, just based on weather or wherever or just proximity to my family.
Speaker 2:But we were pretty open slate so I sort of threw the proverbial, you know let's look everywhere in the States everywhere and just put everything on the wall and have a look. So I went to to to LinkedIn and did that, and then, um, of course, I saw this job advert and we explored coming here into low country and my family is currently in Florida. So we thought, okay, we're not you know, we're within a six hour drive.
Speaker 2:But I was nervous to come back to the States, just because I've thought, you know, reverse culture shock is a thing and when you live so long in a place that's so stimulating, you know it's. Whether it's Asia or the Middle East or the Bahamas, everything is different. And I thought, coming back to the States it was going to be the same. You know, it was going to be me going back to when I was 18 or 20 and used to everything. But you know, I'm born and raised in Chicago and I didn't know anything about the low country, so that in and of itself was an intrigue to me. And then, of course, when I spoke to Rai, our culinary director, on the phone, I was still sitting in Amsterdam.
Speaker 2:I was in a hotel, waiting to catch a flight out the next day to come back to move here with my family. So when I spoke to him he had talked about our international student program. So that was something that was a big draw for me, because I wasn't just going to be working with again quote unquote only Americans. I was going to be stimulated culturally by the people that I worked with and who were in the kitchens with me. And you see that now I mean we've got kids from South Africa, kenya, india, so they bring that cultural aspect as well, which I love.
Speaker 1:The J-1 program is incredible here it is.
Speaker 2:It is and those guys are great in what they bring to the table in terms of their, like I said, their culture and their experiences, and they share. You know we encourage them to share. But yeah, I didn't know anything about the low country, so I think that was kind of what helped appease the decision to move here. It was just okay cool, it's a new place and I can learn about low country and the cuisine and being beyond the coast and get myself in the water sometimes. So, yeah, we're we're very happy here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it seems like it tracks with your entire career, even though you've moved back to the States. You've moved to a part of the country that you're unfamiliar with and you still get to learn. Like I'm just hearing, you enjoy learning, you enjoy having different perspectives around you and how important is that in building the restaurants here at Palmetto Bluff, building the menus, having the different perspectives from our entire team.
Speaker 2:It's vital. It's. I mean, I think you know there's, there's, everyone has to buy into it. In a way, like we all have to agree on a menu. I mean I can dictate it, but I want the chefs involved as well. I want them to have their, their sense of ownership into that menu. So I mean I oversee them, for example. I mean just to be very specific, it's when we do a menu change, of course I have my ideas and I eat out. I go on Instagram, I have a tons of cookbooks. I mean you're, you're studying still. I'm studying still every day as a journey of of, of still learning.
Speaker 2:But you know, you'll see something on TV or you'll see something on Instagram and you're like, oh, I want to try that. Or I have a good idea, I want to do a riff on that and let's put on a cole's menu, for example. So then I'll tell the chef to cuisine about that and then we'll do it together. And then he'll have his own ideas, because he went to brazil recently and he came back with some ideas about steaks or whatever it might be. So, um, it's a collaborative effort. Um, again, within the standard, we still have to have, you know, right menu mixes and all that. We don't want to have three of the same item on the menu. But it has to be a collective effort, whether it's menus, whether it's the kitchen standard, whether it's organization for a large event like 4th of July. I mean you want everyone's buy-in. It's got to be.
Speaker 1:Well, it's almost when you can get as many ideas out on the drawing board and be able to tailor those to how we want the specific event to operate or the menu to operate, based off what we're going for. I can imagine that's that's where, like, the best ideas come from everybody buying into making it the best it can be. It's always like it's. It's hard if you think you're always right from the perspective of if, if that's the place we take in life, or in just our teams, it doesn't usually go well because there's so many more ideas in the room and so many more ways of doing things. Just, I mean, I can only imagine the experience that you've had overseas that that's given you just a vast collection of approaches that you can take.
Speaker 2:Approaches stories. Funny it's been fun it's been awesome. Yeah, actually, one thing that made me smile just now is just another story.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you a story, love it.
Speaker 2:Again. One time in Dubai I was working at a Marco Pierre White branded seafood restaurant. Marco Pierre White's a pretty famous British chef, so we had a seafood restaurant there and we had a couple of steak dishes on the menu, of course. So generally with steak you serve it with an au jus, or we don't call it a gravy, we call it a jus. And to make that jus you have to roast off a lot of veal bones and caramelize a lot of vegetables and then you put it in a big pot and that cooks down for hours.
Speaker 2:I mean up to 12 hours, even overnight sometimes. So you start off with a ton of water and what you end up with is sometimes only a gallon right, because it's a concentrated liquid right, and so it takes usually a two-day, three-day process. So we're in Dubai and we're making this, and myself and the executive chef at the time we go it was a split shift, meaning you come in the morning to open up lunch, you're closed in the afternoon and then you come back for dinner. So generally this is when you go home or you go work out or something. So we came back around 4 o'clock, the jus. You know there was a couple of boys still in the kitchen, the chefs, and they had told a Komi three. Now Komi three is in the kitchen hierarchy. The Komi three is on the bottom of the tadpole.
Speaker 1:Okay, totem pole Komi three.
Speaker 2:Komi three, a cook three, cook three got it. So there was a cook three who had been told to strain the veal, jus, meaning strain it into a colander, and of course collect the liquid, and you of course collect the liquid and you usually discard the bones and the the, the vegetables that are overcooked.
Speaker 2:Um, so we all come back with myself and the exec chef come back from our split shift and the air in the kitchen was awkward and it was like something happened. Right, we're like looking around everyone's being sheepish no one's really no one's looking you in the eyes.
Speaker 2:No, one's looking us in the eyes so we're like, all right, what happened? What's going on? So finally one of the sous chefs works up enough courage and he's like, yeah, chef, janish strain the veal jus. I'm like, okay, so well, he strained it into the sink and I was like, okay, what do you mean? So we go over the sink he's talking about and literally we have a cook three yeah who's from india, who's hindu. Again, culturally. Culturally speaking, they don't eat cow. Right Cow is sacred in that culture.
Speaker 2:So this is a boy who has not grown up in or around steaks or, you know, cooking, anything having to do with steaks or veal jus. So when he was told and unsupervised, he was told to strain the jus, which is a cook three job really he literally strained the jus, but is a cook three job really. He literally strained the jus but he strained it down the sink.
Speaker 2:So in his mind, he was straining the liquid and saving the solids, when actually he was meant to be saving the jus and discarding the solids. But again, that's a cultural thing that we discovered. That was well, he did literally what you told him to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's your fault. So at the end of the day, it wasn't nobody got. You know, janice didn't get in trouble. It was the chef to parties and the higher sous chefs who were like, well, you told him to strain it. You didn't supervise him. What does he know? You know? So we lost all the jus, and it was. It became a joke after that. Done that before and took your words literally and strain it. So it was, uh, we had to run to the restaurant next door, uh, to to borrow some beef shoe for the night and then hustle up on the orders.
Speaker 2:But we laughed about it afterwards. It was one of those powerful lessons. Yeah, it was just one of those stories that don't take for granted your instructions, because he did exactly what you told him to do. It's just you missed out on a few steps of the instruction, you know? Yeah, well, and I like a couple of the things like that.
Speaker 1:You kind of explain it as, like the, the ownership of the leader too, of just being there to check. You got to check the process, smoke a cigarette and came back and the Jew is gone. The Jew is gone.
Speaker 2:The Jew is in the drain. So yeah, just a couple of I mean just again, throughout so many years overseas was a couple of a couple of lessons like that that you'll learn whether it was me making my own mistakes like that, or, um, or just seeing them, and you know, just things get lost in translation and things happen. And you just got to pivot and, uh, another one. I was in shanghai, we it was a saturday we had a big banquet in the ballroom. It was probably 200, 250 people, and one of the courses was like a lobster bisque.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So we put the lobster bisque in a big we call it a steam kettle. It's a massive pot, if you will, but it's fixed into the structure of your hotline and it's got a crank handle, an automatic crank handle that you would strain, so once you're done cooking a soup, for example, you could crank the handle and discard all the solids and transfer your soup. So we had a banquet that evening for 250 people and so, again, everything was set up.
Speaker 2:The boys go to the cafeteria to get an early dinner and some of the stewarding ladies. They looked into the steam kettle. Now, before you finish a lobster bisque, it looks like kind of cloudy brown water.
Speaker 1:Oh, I had no clue that that's what it would look like.
Speaker 2:Well, so you roast the lobster shells and you add the vegetables, and so, before you add cream and tomato paste, it's not really meant to look pink, it's meant to be sort of a darkish reduction of the lobster and some vegetables and some tomato paste. So this base was sitting in the tilt skillet of the steam kettle waiting to be finished before the banquet. So one of the stewarding ladies came around with a dishwasher and she thought it was dirty, so she wanted to get ahead on her evening duties before the banquet started. So she dumped almost half of the steam kettle away before somebody in the kitchen one of the boys had seen it and said no, no, no, stop, stop, stop.
Speaker 2:So again it was one of these moments where she took something for granted, didn't know what it was, and again this was a Western dish right, lobster bisque, this was in.
Speaker 1:China she doesn't know what it is Not familiar.
Speaker 2:Not familiar. So she dumps probably half of what we were meant to have for this 250-person banquet down the drain. And then we had to hustle the next two hours. We took every shrimp and every seafood shellfish that we could. This was a five-star hotel so we had several restaurants but it took us two I mean it was a hustle for two hours to get enough shellfish reduction to kind of blow back this batch of lobster bass.
Speaker 1:And you all were successful that evening.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean, it was pressure.
Speaker 1:It was definitely fresh, I was sweating my butt off on that one, because if we had.
Speaker 2:I mean, you can't not serve it, you've got to come up with something you know. So you've got 250 people come in. They've paid you know a high price to come and have their banquet here, so you've got to provide. So that was another close call, but by something culturally different to somebody who had seen it. So that was a close call.
Speaker 1:It's just a lesson in being as detailed minded as you can be, and clarity is king. And communication Write a message on it or close the lid on it and say don't touch something like this.
Speaker 2:Always in retrospect, it's a lot easier.
Speaker 1:And then you always laugh about it.
Speaker 2:Right, it's still raw for about a week, but then two weeks go by and you start making jokes about lobster bisque. But that also goes a lot in terms of team togetherness, you know what I mean. Like even though that one person did that two weeks from now, we can laugh about it, and that that sort of jokiness um goes a long way. It's it's, yes, we're, we're colleagues. I'm your boss, but we're also. We can joke about it and be friendly, you know human mistakes are going to happen.
Speaker 1:We all make them every day. We all make Every single day. Yeah, yeah. Well, thanks for sharing both of those stories. I think that highlights the heart of how some of the international experiences with the different cultures and how it could have been a bit confusing at times, sure, even for me, I mean there's things that you got to learn on the fly, but those are the.
Speaker 2:I mean, the stories are endless. You know it's just. In the kitchen is a is a funny place. You know it's it. We're not. We're not working in a library. There's a lot of stuff that happens. There's a lot of different characters, um, and not everyone has gone to a culinary school, right, not everyone. This is my, this is my career and it's my passion, but not everyone in a kitchen is there for a career. It's a job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is spot on, Beth. So if you could take the Palmetto Bluff Club on a culinary tour of one country, which would it be, and why?
Speaker 2:Japan. Okay, I say that without hesitation. Japan is incredibly efficient. It's the the emphasis they put in food, not just in the dishes that are made, but just the ingredients. I've never seen it before in my life. Um, they have an incredible respect for, for food and ingredients. Um, and the cuisine is just fantastic. I mean, it's not just sushi, right, sushi is the most cliche um.
Speaker 1:Japanese food out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it well it's. I guess it's the most prominent right.
Speaker 2:When you when you think about in the States, japanese food out there, chef cooks, let's say, a 12 course meal, but you're not choosing from an a la carte menu. It's what he has off the boat that day and it's just a fantastic city. Well, I say city, but the country in general. I've been to Kyoto and I've been to Tokyo and they're both ultra stimulating. And it's just when it's so foreign, right Even sometimes you can't read what an item is right. Everything is in Japanese characters. But that's also part of the intrigue.
Speaker 2:And if you go there with an open mind, and this is just anywhere in Asia. To be honest, I have a. I have a special place in my heart for Asia. I think it's probably the most stimulating part of the world.
Speaker 1:You can use the word stimulating a lot. What do you? What do you mean by that?
Speaker 2:Bamboozling Kind of you know. It's just you grow up with one thing again. I'm from Chicago, so I grew up with meat and potatoes and sort of the Midwest um style of life. And then you go overseas and you go to Asia and everything is so new, um, everything is so different, and that's, I guess that's why I say stimulating, because you're just you're always curious, like say stimulating, because you're just you're always curious, like you're always like what is?
Speaker 2:that Like. Even just now, I watch your eyebrows like furrowing. It's like you're doing that all the time, like what is that ingredient, what is that dish? Even what is that temple? Right, you're just, you're not used to it. So it's, it's I, that's how I can describe it. It's stimulate, bamboozling. You go to a place that you've like the, in the heart of the city center and you're just surrounded by all these neon lights and little Mario carts that are actually driving on the city streets and you've got cat cafes and you've got toilet cafes and you've got stuff. That's so weird and wacky but it's lovely, like you're just like. This is so bizarre.
Speaker 1:The unexpected is everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, very, very adventurous place, it sounds like yeah, so go there with an open mind and just suck in the experience.
Speaker 1:And show up to the restaurants and don't worry about what the chef is bringing out.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be tough for someone like me. I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, are you a picky one, yeah, and I'm.
Speaker 1:what is really cool with my limited experience in Asia is I was able to immerse myself in the culture for like literally a weekend in Seoul Korea. Oh cool, yeah. And um, I was pleasantly surprised how I took to the bamboozling like the surprise of the restaurants, because it it, it felt like that. I mean I had our hosts ordering all the food and then went to their house and didn't sit at a table, sat on the floor.
Speaker 2:Love it. Yeah, so did you have barbecue, korean barbecue, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And they, they cook it all in front of you, just like the stories and you know video show.
Speaker 2:It was amazing and so fresh Everything is.
Speaker 1:it's a different level of just ingredients. There.
Speaker 2:It felt like yeah, and the marinades they put. Actually, as a matter of fact, maybe this is a sneak peek, but we just had our summer around the table here it was a Greek style, sorry, greek cuisine last week I heard rave reviews about it. And so it's around. The table is the series that we're doing, but in the fall we've just I mean, I'm still talking with the girls about it, but we're going to do Korean for that Nice, so it will be like a Korean barbecue experience.
Speaker 1:Yes, that Nice, so it will be like a Korean barbecue experience.
Speaker 2:Yes, That'll be lights out. So we're going to have those Japanese grills on the table and we're hoping we still have to devise it, but we're hoping to have everybody sort of grill their own meats that we'll marinate and have all the small plates, the banchan yeah.
Speaker 1:I remember the big tray that comes out with all the accompaniments.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the kimchi and all that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I's that's exciting. Yeah, sneak peek. So, beth, after all your experiences around the world and now leading the kitchen here at Palmetto Bluff, what's the most important lesson about food and the life that you want our listeners to carry with them?
Speaker 2:I think, um, and again this goes back to sort of what we were talking about with how you change throughout. I mean, you get older, of course, but then you go through different kitchens and you know, I mean I'm still pretty type A and I want things done a certain way and at the end of the day, we're putting something in people's mouths, literally, so we can't make mistakes because you'll know it right, I mean, there's other facets of hospitality where sort of those slips and falls and those mistakes will fall under the radar, but we are literally putting a material thing in front of your face. So your eyes are seeing it, your nose is smelling it, your palate is tasting it, even sometimes your ears are hearing it. Right, the sizzle of something. So in saying that, I realize that we're not rocket scientists. Right, the sizzle of something. So in saying that, I realized that we're not rocket scientists, right, we're not putting spaceships on the moon, but we're doing something very, very basic and comforting.
Speaker 2:But you have to build perfect on perfect on perfect. So something as simple as a burger, right, it is a very simple thing. We can all cook one at home. But is the bun perfectly toasted? Is the lettuce super crisp and the right lettuce. Is the tomato sliced on a slicer. So that's the same, you know. Same width throughout the entire slice, same with the onion. Is the burger cooked perfectly? Is the cheese melted into the burger like it should be, and is the top bun also like? All of those elements make a fantastic burger or they break a very average burger.
Speaker 2:So, to answer your question, I think as I got older and as I progressed throughout my career, I realized that, like I said, we're not putting rocket ships in space. We're doing something very rudimentary and basic, but all of those components and all of those details come together. So that's something that I've been trying to impress upon our culinary crew here is details matter, right, and we're building on something that is literally going to go in front of someone's plate that they're paying for. And then sometimes it's as simple as you know if I don't see something that's up to par, if I see something that's not up to scratch, I'll go over to the chef or the cook and I'll just say hey, just do you know how much that dish is on the menu? And they're like no, chef, okay, it's $21. Okay, would you pay $21 for that? And they're like oh no, I'm like right, so make it, let's make it again, let's make it a little bit better, or or maybe it's a portion size or something.
Speaker 2:So you just try to paint a bigger picture of them, like in the grand scheme of things, look around like we're in a luxury place, we're in an absolutely beautiful, stunning environment. People are paying a lot of money for their dues, people are paying a lot of money for their houses. We're giving them a value add, we're giving them something. They're coming here for our food and for our hospitality. So I'd sometimes paint the bigger picture of them Like we're not doing complicated food. We're doing sometimes very basic food, but we do it right.
Speaker 1:And that's what we're going for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and food is so personal to people and the comfort that it provides when they have a great experience with a plate that's put out for them, or the anger that it provides, or the anger that it provides emotions emotions can be extremely high with nutrition, because, you're right, it is.
Speaker 1:We're putting something in someone's bodies and we all have personal experiences, whether it's been in other restaurants or just the foods that we ate growing up, that are central to our being, and you kind of triggered for me there a phrase that I'll jokingly say it, but I really believe in it is every second you have with a member or another human being is a chance to change their life. Yeah, is a chance to give them something unexpected, something that they didn't see coming, and to make an impact. And I think that's so cool how you described it, with the philosophy of a dish where the little things matter.
Speaker 2:You build upon it and you build upon it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't have the video podcast here, but the way you layered it and described it it makes so much sense that each layer is important to the outcome and the experience that that person has through what they put in their mouth.
Speaker 2:Right, and that's it. I mean, that's not just it's from the member side, but then also teaching the cook that right, Because it's something that I've learned. So you work in a place where details matter and then you're in an environment with a chef like me who is pretty type A and say, hey, details do matter and I'd like to hold you accountable on building this perfect burger, and then they're going to take that away to their next place. Okay, yeah, she's right. Or I see the difference between that burger and this burger. There is a monumental change in it. And, okay, I'm going to take that sense of accountability and attention to detail to my next place, wherever it might work or we're back home to South Africa, wherever it might be.
Speaker 1:So there's that sort of it's a disservice to your teammate if you don't teach them that level, or if you ignore it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, you gotta say something.
Speaker 1:And for a lot of people, conflict's hard but but the best concepts and improvements come from healthy conflict, and it's it's just something that I think a lot of our leaders do really well. Here is they they have their standards and they try to teach those standards to everyone on their team so that we can have an incredible member experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, beth. Well, this has been a lot of fun. Um, I'm hopeful that I can get some some more off air stories about some international things that have happened to you. Uh, final question, Beth what does wellness mean to you?
Speaker 2:Wellness, I mean, obviously there's wellness in the sense of health, I think there's that. But then there's also the wellness that is how you surround yourself, whether it's your hobbies, whether it it's the overall I think it's overall happiness, obviously. But into that, in my perspective, it's. You know, I cook professionally but I also cook personally, so it happens to be my hobby as well. So food and cooking is something that makes me very well, and when I'm in the kitchen at home or even in here, um it's, it's amazing, it's. That's my place, that's where I was meant to be. Um, so for me, wellness is um doing things that you were meant to do and um things that make you happy with the people that, um, well, also make you happy.
Speaker 2:And I think at work you're spending as much well, if not more you know time with your colleagues than you are at home with your family. And I've worked in plenty of places where I haven't liked my colleagues or you know you have too many conflicts or there's too many issues or there's just the dynamic of the corporate life or what have you. But I think it's just as important to be surrounded by people at your place of work that you like just as much as you are at home and in your personal life. So for me that's paramount. And I do love it here professionally, here at Palmetto Bluff. It's probably the first and only place I've worked where it's clicked in terms of the culture, the people, culture.
Speaker 2:So, to answer your question. I think wellness is is being happy.
Speaker 1:Well said, beth. Well, we didn't dive into your responsibilities and everything you do here as the executive chef Just want to well, you know where to find me, yeah, that could just be a very long episode if we went through everything, but thank you for all you do for our chefs here, for leading the program and helping to make the culinary experience here Amazing.
Speaker 2:Thanks to you as well. Thanks, Jeff. Thanks for having me. It was fun.
Speaker 1:You are very welcome Listeners. Feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week. Beth's life experiences abroad are vast and she made me think about how, for each of us, we carry life experiences with us. It's like we all have a life experience suitcase and the suitcase is filled with lessons learned. And as we go, month after month, year after year, decade after decade, this suitcase continues to fill up. And it's a suitcase full of wisdom. It's a suitcase full of reminders and it's something that is not only carried with us but something that we can access as we grow and learn and become better humans.
Speaker 1:And I find that within this suitcase, there's three main things we can find. Number one we can look back at our successes. Even though we learn a lot from our mistakes, there are a lot of successes in your suitcase that you and I both could reflect on more often and leverage to use in different life situations. And secondly, there are those failures. There are those mistakes in there. I find that the failure of me personally leaving my car running at the Savannah airport while I traveled to Boston last year was an epic $1,500 mistake, given the tow and the lack of gas that the vehicle had when I arrived back. I now triple check that my vehicle is turned off. To play devil's advocate here, this is the first time I've had a car where you push a button versus turn a key. So I get a little tripped up and you may often find a Honda hybrid CRV running at times. I'm just kidding. That is not happening now because of the mistake. And then also in this suitcase there are challenges, memories of hard things that you went through that have built resilience, things that you went through that have built resilience, and I like to share this analogy in today's episode because it really triggered for me that we have to unzip our suitcase. From time to time. We have to go back to these experiences we've had in life so that we can show respect to them and acknowledge them.
Speaker 1:A very surface level example is Lindsay and I have two dogs, and one of our dogs is what we would term a food mongerer. If you're a dog person and have dogs, you might have a dog like this as well. If we don't protect our plates of food when sitting down at the dinner table, she will jump up and snatch them. So my daughter, mia's food is always very much protected. We lock her into her seat, we don't lock her just playing, but we ensure that we always have eyes on our food and we're pushing things back. I mean, greta has once jumped up into our sink and eaten a raw whole pound of bacon. That's how food mongering she can become. But a simple lesson like that we've got to protect our food when we prepare it, and I think these are the types of things that help us become better people.
Speaker 1:The more we have a lot of marks in our life, things that have left a mark in our life, the more wisdom we can share with others, the more we can approach unique situations with holding our suitcase by our side. So for this week's healthy momentum, let's keep in mind that we all have life lessons that are carried with us. This increase our instincts, it builds our resilience and it gives us wisdom so that we can move in a better direction in the future. That brings us to the end of this week's episode. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen this week and if you haven't had the chance yet, please scroll down on your podcast app, wherever you're listening to podcasts, and rate us. We'd love for more folks to find our content, even if they don't live here at the Bluff. We believe a lot of these episodes could be positively impactful to those in the low country area and beyond. As always, remember to actively participate in life on your terms. Have a great week, thank you.
