Many Culinary Students and Chefs Smoke
China Millman
Posted Feb 8, 2010
Culinary students standing outside and smoking cigarettes are such a common sight on Downtown's Liberty Avenue that they're practically a city landmark.
Dressed in their kitchen whites, the Le Cordon Bleu students stand out among the other smokers in business or casual garb who cluster outdoors on their breaks. They're also a vivid and troubling symbol of an industry where smoking has long been accepted.
Forty percent of the people employed in the food and beverage industry smoke -- nearly twice the national average, according to the 2000 U.S. census numbers.
"Hospitality workers have three times the [average] risk of lung cancer, which is 50 percent higher than any other industry," said Stacy Kriedeman, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
These health disparities helped motivate Pennsylvania's September 2008 ban on smoking in most restaurants and bars as well as other businesses and public places. Numerous cities and states have enacted similar bans, although they vary in scope and often contain exemptions.
According to the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, 470,000 people are employed by restaurants and bars in the state. The ban eliminated a primary source of secondhand smoke in the lives of these workers and may already have saved the lives of approximately 75 Pennsylvania hospitality workers, state health officials estimate.
Still, the high rates of smoking persist within the industry.
Workers in hectic restaurant kitchens often attribute the prevalence of smoking to a fast-paced, stressful environment and a culture that long has tolerated cigarette breaks but not breathers for fresh air or mental health.
Also, smoking traditionally has accompanied a certain image of the chef lifestyle.
Even after he became a father and purportedly quit smoking, original bad-boy chef, author and television host Anthony Bourdain continued to preach a pro-smoking gospel.
"I'm amused by food nerds who say, 'I'd never eat at a restaurant where the chef smokes.' Almost all the chefs I know smoke. ... I don't want to encourage anyone to quit smoking. In my experience, it really does make you cool," Mr. Bourdain told Time magazine during a 2007 interview.
Contestants on the Bravo reality show "Top Chef," which includes some of the most successful young chefs in the industry, are frequently seen smoking on the air. Questions about them smoking often come up on fan discussion boards, and people most often are curious about whether it impairs the chefs' crucial ability to taste and smell.
Kevin Sousa, who's made a name for himself locally for his creative, often cutting-edge food, plans to open the new Salt of the Earth restaurant in Garfield this year. He has never smoked.
"I think that smoking affects your palate, absolutely," he said. "It affects your taste for salt, especially some of the subtleties. The balance of a dish is affected if you smoked four cigarettes that day."
Not everyone in the culinary world agrees. "If anything, [smoking] makes me more conscious of what I put on the plate," said Rick Salensky, a line cook at Solstice Restaurant in Greensburg.
Mr. Salensky has worked in the culinary industry for more than 15 years, and he's been a smoker for almost as long. He's confident that it hasn't harmed his palate. "I've never had anyone tell me I over season or under season," he said.
Most research on smoking has dealt with its deadlier effects, and only a few studies have examined its relationship to taste and smell. But some recent studies have concluded that along with other health hazards, smoking does significantly increase chances of experiencing a serious problem with smell, while heavy smoking increases risks to both smell and taste.
Ryan Soose, assistant professor of otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh, cited the results of a 2008 study in Germany in which 1,312people were given standardized taste and smell tests. Comprehensive health surveys were used to determine the relationship between smoking and impairment of smell or taste.
The results concluded that smoking is bad for the sense of smell and taste, and "... the more you smoke, the worse your risk is," Dr. Soose said. But the results also indicated that people can restore taste and smell nearly to their original state if they quit smoking, he said.
He also cautioned that just as every smoker does not get lung cancer, not every smoker will experience a problem with the sense of smell or taste.
This information is still relatively new, so it's no surprise it hasn't filtered down to the general population -- or even to the future chefs who should find it most worrisome. Culinary schools may stress the damage smoking can do to palates, but students and cooks tend to believe what they've experienced.
"I tend to over spice things because [smoking] kills your taste buds," said Dave Hrycik, a student at Le Cordon Bleu (formerly Pennsylvania Culinary Institute), Downtown. Yet Mr. Hrycik, 31, said that conviction hasn't made it any easier for him to quit smoking.
Cordon Bleu student Joe Hammer, 21, of Bellevue, however, said he does not believe smoking has affected his palate, calling that fear "an old wives' tale."
The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., the nation's largest and one of its best known culinary schools, participates in educational events such as the National Cancer Society's Smoke Out November. Its students services department also provides smoking cessation information at health fairs.
But chef-instructor Mark Ainsworth emphasized informal classroom discussions of smoking's effect on the palate as an essential tool for influencing students. School officials don't track the number of students who smoke, so it's not clear if their efforts to educate the students are a significant deterrent.
Smoking is still common enough that the school has built smoking gazebos on the campus to contain litter and keep students from congregating near doorways. And it's a common joke at culinary schools that students who crave a cigarette volunteer to take out the trash, Mr. Ainsworth said.
In Pittsburgh, Le Cordon Bleu's William Hunt, dean of culinary arts, emphasized that school officials look down on smoking and that few of its instructors smoke. But he acknowledged that the school offers no programs or support groups to discourage smoking.
Whole Foods Market has adopted a smoking-cessation program as part of its health insurance coverage for workers.
Participants in the six-month program receive educational materials online or through the mail and up to eight telephone coaching sessions with trained cessation specialists, as well as unlimited calls to the specialists when they have questions. Over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapy is included in prescription drug coverage.
Eat'n Park Hospitality Group also offers access to a similar program for employees who qualify for health care by working more than 32 hours each week.
Some small companies offer more informal incentives.
Jeff Cohen, outgoing president of the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the National Restaurant Association, has offered small quit-smoking bonuses to his employees at the Smallman Street Deli "just to give them the extra incentive." While not all participants were able to quit successfully, Mr. Cohen said the program was worth it, primarily because of the long-term health impact on employees who did.
Such programs still seem to be relatively rare in the culinary industry, however, and especially so for workers in small restaurants and bars.
Mr. Salensky of Greensburg started smoking at age 15 when he got his first job as a dishwasher. When he took breaks, he said, everyone around him was smoking, and he wanted to fit in.
He's tried to quit, he said, but "all it takes is that one Saturday rush where you want to pull your hair out, and you revert back to what you know." He believes that more programs or support from employers might spur more workers to quit, saying that at a previous job where a high proportion of cooks smoked, they spent their entire break complaining about how they wished they didn't.
Le Cordon Bleu student Dean Orner has noticed that at the Eat'n Park restaurant where he works, his employers are cracking down on smoking.
"They don't want you standing outside smoking or anything like that," he said.
Tobacco Free Allegheny, a nonprofit organization dedicated to decreasing tobacco use, has sent representatives to health fairs at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Downtown, and to the Bidwell Training Center on the North Side, both of which have culinary programs, hoping to educate the students about the risks of smoking.
> Executive director Cindy Thomas said Tobacco Free Allegheny would like to offer moreto culinary and other technical schools but budget cuts have made it difficult to staff programs. Still, she said, "we would try to work with anybody [who] called us [for help]."
Ms. Thomas encouraged hospitality workers and anyone else who wants to quit smoking to call the Pennsylvania free Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW, calling it "a good option for people who have irregular schedules and work shifts."
For a limited time, people who call and commit to a quit date will receive a free kit containing a four-week supply of nicotine patches as well as other information aimed at helping them succeed.
Sara Bauknecht contributed. China Millman: 412-263-1198 or cmillman@post-gazette.com. Follow China on Twitter at http://twitter.com/chinamillman.
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