In the Pinnalla podcast, Harri Syrjänen talks about his experience where even serious injuries were close.
Harri Syrjänen says that he got into a fight in the kitchen. Pete Anikari
Chef Harri Syrjänen, 56, talks on the Pinnalla podcast together with Katri Utula and by Iriz Silander with about the working culture of the restaurant industry.
Newly New York Times told how the founder of the world-famous Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, René Redzepi, is accused of violent behavior towards his employees.
Syrjänen recognizes the experiences of well-known chefs’ questionable methods and leading with fear. According to him, there has never been anything similar in Finland.
– When you worked abroad, it was really strange in that way, that it was a complete dictator-likeness. I understand that, the chefs there are big stars and their names are sold. They run the kitchen, but the way they run it is really extreme. It’s a really powerful way of leading by fear and something that focuses on punishment, says Syrjänen.
During the break of the conversation, Syrjänen says that at one time he also got into a physical fistfight with his chef colleague. However, the incident was not related to the chef or the management of the restaurant.
He says in the podcast that he once worked in London, where it was customary to go outside the kitchen for lunch. It was also typical at that time that if you left your own things in the kitchen, they were stolen.
– If you leave anything in the kitchen and when you leave it, those things are always stolen. Colleagues laughed at them, says Syrjänen.
On one occasion, his German chef colleague stole two of Syrjæs’s knives. When Syrjänen came from lunch, he saw the German chef using his knives.
– I told him that the knives are here. He was of the opinion that these are now mine. First it became wordy. I tried to take those knives back, but he refused to give them.
Syrjänen describes the next turn as a situation familiar from, for example, James Bond films.
– We had a big 60-liter pot in which chicken broth boiled. He grabbed my neck and started pressing my head into the boiling broth. He was so enraged that he actually tried. If I hadn’t been able to put it in the combs, he would have dipped my face in the boiling broth, says Syrjänen.
– My God, Katri Utula gasps.
– So this was an attempted assault, says Iriz Silander.
– It wasn’t an attempt, but it was mutual. We fought really well. Then the chef and the others came and we were separated from each other, Syrjänen’s time.
– It wasn’t discussed anyway. I got my knife back and then we got on with the job.
