EDITOR’S FOREWORD (Daniel Clarke-Serret):
Today is quite a day. An important turning point in the dreams of this publication. For today, the Guerre and Shalom Publishing House has the honour of welcoming Richard Neat to serialise his sparkling memoir — a work decades in the making. Over the coming 13 weeks, every week, Richard will present a new chapter of his highly original Magnum Opus OBSERVATIONS FROM THE KITCHEN.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Richard was the youngest recipient of 2 Michelin stars for his establishment Pied à Terre in London’s Charlotte Street. His second recognition by Michelin in 1999 was for his restaurant in Cannes where he became the first Englishman to receive the honour in France. Richard honed his talents under the mentorship of Raymond Blanc at Manoir Quatre Saisons in Oxfordshire, Joel Robouchon at Jamin in Paris and Marco Pierre White at Harveys in London.
His years in London were followed by “a nomadic life”, the very subject of this much awaited book. Having lived five years in Cannes, he went on to spend two years in India, two years in Moscow, two years in Marrakech, Morocco and the last eighteen years in Costa Rica where he is currently on cheffing duties at the Park Café, San Jose.
Outside of food, Richard has many interests from photography to art to politics to philosophy to chess which he plays at just below Masters level. All of these - particularly philosophy and chess - will be very much on display in “Observations from the Kitchen”. Needless to say, he is a highly accomplished writer.
BLURB: Of course I had to write a book like “Observations from the Kitchen”. It is a synthesis of the many themes that have obsessed me, given me the greatest pleasure (and greatest suffering) over the years and provided me with a partial explanation for getting up in the morning: gastronomy, travel, grown-up conversation and a curiosity for the abstract ideas that drive us as individuals. And of course, chess, a game that has awarded me hours and days of welcome distraction from the burden and horrors of life.
The book is set over twelve chapters, each in a different country where I have had the privilege to live and showcase some of my best dishes —what someone once described as ‘the hero-dishes’. The book involves twelve friends and personalities who, in some way, have influenced me over the course of a life, and these characters converse with The Cook (me) as we wrestle with important themes that have obliged me to think over the years.
A chess game weaves its way through the story, the game being a great metaphor for life.
PRICE: As per Guerre and Shalom policy, all new published book chapters are behind a paywall. Where the author is someone other than the editor, there is a 50-50 split. So if you subscribe to Guerre and Shalom from one of Richard’s chapters, Richard will receive 50% and Daniel will receive 50%, giving you the right to to this Substack’s material for the entire year.
So get a cup of tea, subscribe and let the adventure begin….
OBSERVATIONS FROM THE KITCHEN - Introduction
by Richard Neat
“How can you tell, Bakhmutov, what significance such a communion of one individual with another will have in the latter’s destiny? For here, you have a whole lifetime, with an infinity of ramifications, which are hidden from us. The best chess player, the very cleverest, can think only a few moves ahead; a French player who could calculate ten moves ahead was written about as a marvel.” Dostoyevsky.
The Cook had sat peering over chessboards for the better part of four decades. Initially as a rapt observer watching grown-ups with their thoughtfully knitted brows pondering their options and planning their strategies, then, as soon as he could convince someone to indulge him, as a player himself. The sixty-four squares held a hypnotic fascination for The Cook, offering an alternative world, inhabited by characters he imagined as real as the players who actually breathed life into their iconic, wooden bodies. The concentration required became an escapist retreat, while the strategies and tactical considerations of the game appealed to every boy’s Napoleonic pretensions.
Over the following years, it seemed perfectly natural to The Cook, as he blundered through his own adventures and occasional disappointments, to apply its rich metaphoric language to qualify and explain the events of his life that would otherwise have perplexed him. After all, the game is not lost until the surrender of the king!
Firstly the squares; like the places we occupy, and the places we would like to get to if only we were able. A good player will have already recognised the spaces he wants to dominate during the chaotic opening flux. Apparently, a similar decisiveness in life is just as important!
Then the colours; Black and White, polar opposites that permit no ambiguity. This or that, one or the other. A schizophrenic colour scheme as bold as the different moods and responses we are capable of assuming.
