This is Moto/iNG chef/owner Homaro Cantu's candid account on Facebook of why he decided to cook for a living:
"Did I ever tell you why I went to culinary school?
"In 1996, I was living in my car. A 1985 Ford Capri 5.0 that I bought from my Uncle Robert for 400 bucks. It had been about 2 weeks since I slept in a bed. This was not a situation I was unfamiliar with. It would be the second and last fucking time I would allow this to happen to me. I mean, it really wasn't my fault I was in this situation. Sometimes life tells you to fuck off and you either fuck off or you figure it out.
"The only thing I had going for me was I landed a job at some high volume fish and steak house called Newport Bay.
"I was working the fry station and really doing a horrific job of it. To my right this guy named Charlie Harisson started to talk to me. I was a quiet kid, 17 years old, no parental guidance, didn’t know what I really wanted to do in life, didn't do drugs, didn't drink. I mean, I should have been shooting up heroin and drinking myself silly considering what had happened over the past 17 years of my life. I really had no self esteem, felt like I could disappear and nobody would notice. So I could have met anyone at that point and would have been game to rob a bank, do drugs, whatever. Had Charlie been one of those guys that was handing out crack like candy, I probably would have done it, because life was getting shittier by the day. But he wasn't.
"So he keeps talking, while I am trying to focus on frying 300 orders of fish and chips. I'm not really paying to much attention to him but he says - "Hey, what are you doing after work tonight? I have this thing at my house, it's called care group, want to check it out? I live with this great couple named Bill and Jan. They're really good people.
"So it's after midnight and we arrive at Bill and Jan’s. We step to the backyard and there's like 25 people speaking in tongues with their hands in the air asking The Lord for forgiveness.
"By the next day, after being awake all night listening to people talk to the sky and pass out, Bill and Jan asked if I needed a place to sleep. They could tell I was looking a bit rough and it seemed like they took in a lot of screwed of people. Everyone there was an ex addict, alcoholic, ex convict or had something about them that drew them to Bill and Jan for help. I realized that all of these misfits were pretty much staying in this home on Bill and Jan’s dime. Surround myself with a bunch of ex criminals that could flip out and start passing out in the holy spirit while they speak a language nobody can understand? Sound like a plan.
"After living with Bill and Jan for one year, they would become my biggest influence and why I would become fixated with helping people. They would convince me to go to culinary school, they told me repeatedly that I had potential, that there was a greater plan for me and all I had to do was believe it was true. For the first time in my life, someone believed in me and I knew they would never leave me. They would convince me that anything I set my mind to, I would do, and I believed it. For the first time, I felt indestructible. I had a lot of anger from many of the things I went through as a child. It had been infuriating me for years. While I appeared normal on the outside, I had a fire that wouldn’t stop burning. It was a raging sensation that I was certain would me break the law or do something volatile to my self. I didn't know how to channel it, didn't know if I had a future, and was growing tired of living in fear and uncertainty.
"That is, until I met Bill and Jan and they taught me the best remedy to turning your life around was to help others. They would convince me that if I thought far ahead, I could prevent anyone or anything from doing harm to me. I would learn that forecasting the future was everything, and as long as I imagined good things, they will materialize.
"No more fear and uncertainty. It was time to take full control of a fucked up situation called me."
Wow. This is incredible and RAW.
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