MasterChef judge Anna Haugh once opened up about the years of physical ‘abuse’ she suffered while working in kitchens during the early days of her career.
The star, who is on Saturday Kitchen today (May 9), revealed all during an interview almost a decade ago…
MasterChef star Anna Haugh on ‘abuse’ during early days of her career
Back in 2017, during an appearance at Food On The Edge in 2017, Anna opened up about her experiences with bullying in restaurant kitchens.
She revealed that what she experienced in kitchens inspired her to tackle the culture later in her career.
“I’ve had 16 years of being a witness to behaviours that didn’t encourage a happy mind. I had some really hard days but even after that I would count myself lucky. I was born into a good family…and I have the best friends, and those people were like safety nets for me,” she said.
“In general, I fared pretty well. Of course, I was burned by chefs, I was shoved, had food thrown at my face, plates thrown at my head, and called names, the usual stuff…[but] there was always someone who had it so much worse.”
Anna on wanting to make changes in the kitchen
The star then continued. “I worked a seven-day week, 16 hours a day, but I still think I fared pretty well because I was happy and had good mental health. What helped was when I was going through hard times, I didn’t suffer in silence. I’d tell my friends the worst stories in the world, and they’d tell me I could keep going.”
Anna went on to say how she knew she couldn’t make any changes as a junior chef. But “I went home to my boyfriend one night and said, I can’t change this [now], but one day when I’m in charge, I will not allow a kitchen to be run like this.”
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Anna’s plea to chefs
Anna then continued, saying, “I wish I spoke up more when I was younger. In our industry, we have a serious problem finding staff, and then once we find them, we have a big problem keeping them.”
The chef also imparted advice to her fellow chefs.
“Encourage the team to take care of each other. If you witness bullying, clock it, mention it so everybody can hear. “That’s not how we speak to people here” is a really strong sentence; it’s not aggressive,” she said.
“Some good people do bad things. Respect breeds respect, and bullying breeds bullying, but you can help shape efficient, kind, hard-working chefs. If there are two things I would like to be known for, it’s being kind and being strong. That’s what I think every great chef should be, but it’s up to you what you want to be known for.”
Catch Anna on Saturday Kitchen from 10am on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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