Chef Rüzgar Sünbül with special flavor presentations from palace cuisine
Interview: Özge Zeki
Within the scope of our Casi Paped Family&Friends project, our new guest was the famous chef Rüzgar Sünbül. Sünbül, who currently organizes trainings and workshops for gastronomy students at Gastro Sanat affiliated to Fatih Municipality, also participates in fairs and festivals in various cities in Turkey. He works as a chef for special invitations and events and organizes Chef's Table events.
Casi Paped prepared flavors from Mediterranean and Palace cuisine with presentation and service designs. The presentations he prepared by considering the color harmony of the dishes and the platters were appealing to both the eye and the palate. After our pleasant shoot, we talked to him about his culinary journey.
How did your passion for the kitchen begin? Did you dream of being a chef since you were little?
I have loved cooking since I was a child. 30 years ago, I started this adventure both for the love of food and the hope of making money. I can say that my master Kasim Yilmaz "kneaded me like dough". I came to my current situation step by step by washing dishes and chopping onions. After working as a chef in Marmaris, Ankara and Adana, I felt that something was missing, so I went abroad. I also learned about their food culture. When I returned to Turkey, I started to reap the fruits of this step. I worked as a food consultant for famous artists. I participated in a cooking competition that everyone watched and got a prize. Then I got offers from channels and presented a cooking program for two years. I support young people through conferences, panels and trainings at universities. I take an active role in social responsibility projects. I am still continuing special shootings and organizations with many corporate companies. At the same time, I am still writing for many newspapers and magazines. I continue to work as a lecturer at Istanbul Aydin University Gastronomy Department and Gastro Sanat affiliated to Fatih Municipality. Since 2019, I continue to contribute to organizations as a chef and speaker at Cooking Theatre and various fairs.
Gastronomy has become an increasingly popular field. Based on your students, what advice would you give to those who are thinking of studying in this field, what should their road map look like?
Today, gastronomy has become a very popular field. To be a real chef, you need to be equipped in different areas of specialization in terms of general culture. There is a situation here where a distinction can be made between the educated and the schooled. If you want to be a regimented person, you need to start as a busboy and work your way up, so you can learn everything more clearly. The school offers additional opportunities such as language learning. As a result, when you go abroad, you learn about different cultures and cooking techniques. There is a mistake made by young people here. They see themselves as chiefs as soon as they graduate from school. Wherever you start, gaining experience is the most important point. And it's not just about making the food, you have to pay attention to every detail, right down to the plate you serve it on. For example, everything needs to be taken care of according to the target audience and the region where the restaurant you cook for appeals to. For example, if the platen, which is the most important element that shows the food, is handmade, it shows that you put your passion into the food you make and make it look like a work of art.
What are the qualities a good chef should have?
First of all, he/she must be disciplined, constantly research and improve himself/herself by reading and following the gastronomic changes in the country and the world, master cost-cost calculations, provide personnel management with a sweet-hard authority, be fair, and master the entire kitchen like an orchestra conductor. For example, they should know which drink to serve with which meal or which dessert to serve afterwards. In short, it should be a real chief, not a bloated social media chief.
What are the difficult and tricky parts of the kitchen?
There are many important considerations for chefs in the kitchen, affecting both safety and food quality; food safety requires separating raw and cooked food, storing it at the right temperature and preparing it in hygienic conditions to avoid contamination. Knives are chefs' most important tools and care must be taken when using them. With the right cuffing techniques, productivity is increased and the risk of injury is reduced. It is necessary to be prepared for accidents that may occur in the kitchen, such as oil fires, and to have appropriate fire extinguishing equipment. It is important to get the right ingredients, fresh and of good quality, and to store them correctly. The kitchen is a team effort. A good chef must ensure that the kitchen team works in harmony and maintain an open channel of communication. The kitchen environment can be quite stressful. If chefs have the ability to manage this stress and keep their cool, it positively affects the atmosphere in the kitchen. Flavor and presentation are very important for customers. Paying attention to the visual and taste of the food is one of the priorities of a good chef. Chefs must manage time effectively in the kitchen. Serving each dish on time and at its best is critical to culinary success.
What are your predictions for the future of the profession?
As in every profession, technological innovations will be effective in the culinary profession. Robotics, smart kitchen appliances and artificial intelligence can make kitchen operations more efficient. Increased automation of food preparation and cooking processes is expected. Environmental awareness and sustainability will continue to play an important role in cooking. Issues such as the use of local and seasonal materials, waste management and energy saving will come to the fore. Interest in vegan and vegetarian diets is growing. Plant-based cuisine and meat alternatives are expected to become more widespread in the future. The preparation of personalized diets and menus based on individuals' health data could become possible with the help of technology. Areas such as molecular gastronomy are expected to attract more attention. Chefs will present more creative and different flavors inspired by world cuisines. Online training platforms and virtual reality applications will transform the way chefs train and develop talent.
What are your projects?
I am currently writing a book that is very close to completion, and we also have a cooking school project. We are working on a festival that has never been done before in Turkey. We also have a program project in the signing phase with a private channel.
