Dreaming of being a chef ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Becca. Do you enjoy cooking Neil? Yes, I do enjoy cooking. I think it's quite relaxing, especially after a busy day. How about you, Becca? I enjoy cooking when I'm feeding other people, but usually after a busy day at work, I don't enjoy cooking for myself. Well, we're talking about cooking today, and most of us can at least boil an egg, but not everyone could make it as a professional chef in a world-famous restaurant. Mmm. Being a top chef requires passion, dedication, and hard work. Many chefs work 15 hours a day, six days a week, and busy kitchens cooking expensive food are very stressful places to work. So, why do they do it? In this episode, we'll hear from one South African chef who started her own award-winning restaurant in the country known as the home of fine dining – France. As usual, we'll be learning some useful new words and phrases. And remember, you'll find all this episode's vocabulary, along with a transcript, on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. But first, I have a question for you, Neil. The top prizes for any professional chef are Michelin stars, awards given to restaurants offering outstanding cooking. But who is the winner of the most Michelin stars ever? Is it: a) Italian chef Enrico Bartolini, b) French chef Joël Robuchon, or c) British chef Gordon Ramsay? I'm going to say a) the Italian chef, Enrico Bartolini, because I went to Italy recently and the food was amazing! Mmm! OK. We'll find out the answer later in this episode. Born in South Africa, chef Chantel Dartnall started her culinary career at a three-Michelin-star restaurant in the exclusive Mayfair area of London. Here, she tells Ruth Alexander, presenter of BBC World Service programme The Food Chain, how it all got started: What happened is I had graduated from the Prue Leith College of Food and Wine and decided to send my CV to all the three-Michelin-star restaurants that I could find at that moment in the Michelin Guide. So, you aimed high from the off. I aimed high. The only thing that they could say was no, and what would I lose?