A chef today is not the same as a chef 2 or 10 years ago. To be a chef in today’s ever-changing world means you must evolve and transform. When I say evolve, I don’t just mean enhancing your skill set or learning new recipes, I mean your whole brain and thought process must change. It is not enough to just simply know how to cook or use your classically trained knife skills anymore. The pandemic has shown that our industry is shakable and breakable to a certain extent. In my opinion, a complete tragedy that just so happened to secretly offer an amazing opportunity. An opportunity to enhance and innovate the way we look at and offer food.  I believe that to be a chef today, you must be an out of the box thinker, team player, problem solver, fearless, innovative, creative and an advocate for food. From my experience I had to dig a bit deeper, strategize and ask for help. Two minds are always better than one, well unless the one is Einstein! To be a chef today, means you must be a little off your rocker or borderline crazy in your approach to food. It just might take throwing the textbook out the window sometimes and look to the future. Within the last year or so of our emergence from the pandemic, I have witnessed a rebirth of food, trends, and hospitality; I like to think for the better. None of this would be possible without today’s chef who isn’t afraid or scared to test the boundaries and do what needs to be done to stay successful (legally of course *inserts laugh*).