We found this recently and were just captivated by the flowing writing style, we have only published an excerpt but after that a link will take you through to the full article. We hope you enjoy reading as much as we have.
There are no books detailing the excitement of a Kitchen Porter’s, or KP’s, life, for there is none. You’ll never see a KP with his own television show or book or irritating advert campaign. It just won’t happen.
Any chef, when pushed, will acknowledge that the KP is important, and that most restaurants couldn’t survive without their own complement of porters. Without that pushing, unfortunately, chefs are content to let us think that their creations come out of a vacuum and that when our dirty plates leave the dining room of the luxurious restaurant they simply disappear.
There is no Kitchen Confidential equivalent for the KP – in fact, if you’re hoping for anything sexy, glamorous or titillating it would be best to stop reading now. Stop reading and run far away.
This book intends to give the humble KP his day in the sun, to finally give the most wretched of all occupations some recognition. And yes, I am aware of Orwell’s Down and out in Paris and London. That book (while undoubtedly entertaining) was at least part fiction and anyway, there was no celebration of the life of the KP – it was more of a cautionary tale. Well, being a KP isn’t always quite so terrible as all that. I was a KP for over four years, and so feel qualified to tell all.
Some stories may seem grim, some humorous, some disgusting and some maybe even touching. Perhaps I’ll even manage to answer the question of why anyone would do this job.
In this first section I’ll explain how I fell into ‘Kping’ (as the job is known in catering circles) and, more to the point, why I stuck with it even after gaining a degree in philosophy. The book will not make anyone want to become a KP, but I’m sure it will make you want to meet some of the characters encountered, and it may even make you feel sympathy, the next time you’re enjoying a meal in a restaurant, for the poor blokes (it’s always blokes) who have to clean up after you.
I first became a KP when I was at college studying for my A-Levels, when I had just turned 17…to continue reading
Our thanks to Richard Wilson for allowing us to publish his thoughts on ‘Kping’ a very enjoyable read indeed.
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