To think Marcus Wareing really needs to get his priorities right

[Janeatthebarre]

He was on Masterchef last night saying that he has sacrificed family and friends for cooking; if he had to take off his chef's coat right now he would be absolutely nothing; cooking is his life etc etc etc.

AIBU to think he just prepares fancy food, he is not saving lives or undertaking ground breaking research or writing great literary novels... he is just preparing fancy food?

He's a prick with an over-inflated sense of importance, like a lot of chefs.

The world won't end if you're not here with your veloutes, Marcus.

Miserable git. I watched last night and thought how awful it would be to be in his family.

YANBU
I commented to DH that it was very sad when he said that he'd sacrificed his friends and family for his career. Not really something to be proud of imo.

He's a charmless, humourless bell-end.

His beard looked good though.

I dunno, I think I'd also feel the same about someone who said they'd sacrificed family and friends to writing novels, and possibly doing groundbreaking research (depends what it's in). Novels are nice but to me, it's the same sort of thing as making lovely food: if you're good at that's your talent and people get enjoyment out of what you do.

I find it a pretty self-congratulating thing to say, TBH.

YANBU. I read an interview with him a few months ago in a food magazine and he said he's hardly ever had a night off work. He's never been in a pub...EVER, as from the age of 16 he's worked in kitchens and never had a night off since then. I though it was a gross exaggaration, but perhaps not. How can anybody live like this?!

Yabu, I think. Just because his priorities aren't right for you, doesn't make them wrong. He's trying to do something a bit special.

Saying that, I would not like to be trapped in a lift with him. He is scarily intense.

He seemed very focused and if that makes you happy....

He had the most piercing eyes!

I think he was laying it on with a trowel. I got the mores skin that he wasn't a Mr Nasty but was channeling Gordon Ramsey.

LRD while I don't think someone should sacrifice their family to write a great novel, I think its a bit different to preparing food. Food is going to be eaten in a few minutes, however beautiful it looks or amazing it tastes. A great novel will live on for centuries and provide a record of how people lived/thought at a certain time in history.
I just don['t get this obsession with making food look like a picasso painting. I love cooking and am considered to be very good at it. But to me the whole point of being a good cook is to make delicious tasting food for people to eat, not to faff around with splodges of this and swirls of that.

But isn't his way of putting it the problem?

If he'd say that unfortunately he finds it hard to have a family life because of his work, or simply that for him, work is the top priority, that wouldn't be so arrogant. Saying he 'sacrificed' friends and family makes it sound like they were all cooing around him wanting to spend more time with him, but he saw them as surplus baggage. A bit shite, I think!

Sorry, cross posted.

How would you know yours was the novel that would be great/would last for centuries, though? And some chefs do do things that last, as ideas at least, for centuries, after all.

I'm not bigging up his food (I've no idea what it's like), but I reckon if someone thinks they've got a talent and people seem to be enjoying the results, it doesn't matter what it is.

YANBU. I assumed when he said it he meant he had sacrificed having a family, but I read today he has a wife and three children. Can't see anything suggesting he has got divorced since even which might explain a comment like that. If I was his wife and children I would be pretty upset to hear him say he would be nothing if he took off his chef's whites. Reminds me of that old saying about nobosy ever saying on their deathbed they wished they had spent more time at the office.

My Dh is just like this. He's a chef & thinks the world really does need his fucking foam of frogs or whatever. He has sacrificed any social life he might have had. He really doesn't see it as a sacrifice though. He loves cooking. It's all he knows.

I, however, routinely take part in life-saving surgery. He thnks my job is much, much less important.

Couldn't agree more OP, I watched last night and thought the same. He also said (I'm paraphrasing here) "life is too short to dream" and I remarked to DH that my thinking is the complete opposite, life is too short not to dream.

LRD Well that's true. I can't think of many things that are worth sacrificing family and friends for. But preparing food in exotic ways just seems such a ridiculous thing to get so precious and fanatical about.

Yeah, I take your point jane.

It's odd, I usually quite like him when he's talking about food but maybe he should stick to talking about food, not half-baked philosophies of life.

In other interviews I've seen him in, he's always come across as quite nice. Just catching up on MC and I can totally see what everyone is saying! Very intense.

I thought he sounded like a prick when he said that. I really liked him up to that moment.

And I think the beard is horrific.

More importantly, Broccoli cooked FOUR WAYS?!

Only four?

Clearly need to up my game, boiling just won't cut it anymore.

We usually end up shouting at the tv - 'it's only bloody food for gods sake!' And wonder if anyone has ever been whacked with a frying pan. The chef who went out came back with some pretty nasty injuries to both hands...

It wasn't boiled it was POACHED!! I remember that because I yelled at DH 'He's boiling it FFS' why is he saying poached??

Sounds like a complete Knobber IMO and that beard makes him look extremely shifty!