Executive Chef/ Culinary Content Creator
Fusion Cuisine
Hear it from someone who lived it and came back with something to say. Executive Chef Olivia Cox doesn’t dodge the conversation. She walks straight into it.
So Chef Liv (can we call you Chef Liv?)
Yes, of course,
Can you tell us a little bit about your culinary background and what led you to posting about it on social media?
As I got closer to graduating high school I knew a traditional university or education was not only not a reality for me, but also not something I desired.
But I still very desperately wanted to move out of the house I was living in, and I was at a friend’s house when I watched a commercial for Le Cordon Bleu.
I decided to look into culinary schools near me, and started at the art institute in the fall of 2014.
I started taking pictures of everything I was doing when I was at school. Instagram became a thing when I was a junior in high school, so everyone was posting pictures of their lives, but there were no influencers at that moment in time, and I definitely wasn’t trying to influence anyone.
I just wanted to have something to look back on to see if I progressed at all when it came to my cooking.
-”I didn’t feel satisfied with what I was doing.”
I went to school for two years. During those two years I got a position at Disneyland where I became a cook at Ariel’s grotto, which was considered one of the “fancy” locations of the parks, so I felt like I got really lucky.
I worked a handful of other kitchen jobs, some short order cooking, and some brunch spots. During this time I was still taking pictures, not so many videos at work (because you’re not supposed to be on your phone, let alone filming while working at Disney), but I didn’t feel satisfied with what I was doing.
At this point I was working two jobs, one in Anaheim, CA, one in Claremont, CA,and going to school in Redlands, all while living in Rancho CA, so I was extremely burnt out and not enjoying any aspect of what I was doing. I stopped documenting my journey because I didn’t want to remember it anymore.
Along with struggling in my career, personally I was really struggling. I was supporting myself and my ex fiance at the time, and doing all of this, and feeling like I was also failing at all of this, at twenty years old was very discouraging.
-”My joy for cooking came back and my joy for documenting it flooded back even faster.”
About a year after working at disney I started sending out emails to any fine dining restaurants in the area of anaheim for fullerton. It didn’t matter if they were hiring, I sent them my resume, told them I’d work for practically the experience of being in a fine dining kitchen. A few months went by and I got a phone call that ended up changing my life.
It was Chef Scott Rosales, he had recently been promoted to executive at The Cellar and he had an opening. He had some friends working at the same disney location I was at, if you’ve ever worked at disney you know how small that world is, no pun intended.
I interviewed with him and about a month later I started working at the cellar. Scott re-taught me the fundamentals I had learned in culinary school and he gave me the space to start recording my progress and my journey again. I was recording fabrication of meats, seafood, taking pictures of plating, recording demos with Scott, I think I have a picture of every single dish I saw get sent out the first week I worked at The Cellar. My joy for cooking came back and my joy for documenting it, flooded back even faster.
I remembered that when I started culinary school, what I wanted to eventually become was a food photographer. I remembered why I fell in love with not just cooking but plating. How beautiful the kitchen can be, the ingredients are, what we make as chefs. I wanted to share that with anyone, everyone. If it was just my future self who looked back at these photos and videos then that was good enough for me. I fell in love with it all again and within the first two weeks of working at The Cellar I quit both of my other jobs and school. I was all in for this place and I couldn’t wait to start.
Over the years instagram has obviously changed from a place where a single photo was shared to something much more and I was so insanely happy to see it happen, to see people use photos, videos, music and reels to get across feelings that we all can relate to in different ways. So I just kept documenting my journey, sharing what I thought was funny, or beautiful, posting my little rants, things that pissed me off that day, things my crew were going through, foh and boh dynamics, just everything that applied to my life. And it ended up resonating with a few people.
That’s incredible. Much like many of us, you’ve had quite a rocky road, but found your passion and love through food and the industry.
We heard you just got back from a trip out of the country. Where did you go and how was it?
Yes, I just got back from a two week trip. I went to Japan and it was beautiful. I loved the food, the people, everything except their aversion to tattoos, haha. Traveling is something that I have very recently become passionate about and am extremely grateful that I am able to pursue it.
We saw you post a picture about running into Chef Bobby Flay. How was it meeting him?
It was super random! I was at a shoe store with my friends in Shibuya, Japan. We were in line and I just happened to look up and I recognized him. I had to double check with my friend because I have terrible eyesight but he’s also a face that I’ve seen on tv since I was a child.
My friend confirmed it was him and she insisted I ask him for a picture. I am usually really shy and awkward when it comes to meeting celebrities especially when they’re just out and about. I fully believe they deserve their peace and boundaries, and if they don’t want to be bothered they should be left alone.
So all of these things ran through my head and my friend said, “You gotta get it for your chefs page.” and I kinda laughed inside because, something that I have gotten from having my social media, and I am so grateful words can’t even express, is the courage to share, express, be myself, and be more outgoing.
My friend confirmed it was him and she insisted I ask him for a picture. I am usually really shy and awkward when it comes to meeting celebrities especially when they’re just out and about. I fully believe they deserve their peace and boundaries, and if they don’t want to be bothered they should be left alone.
So I just walked up to him, and as politely as I could, asked “chef, could I get a picture with you?” and he said “yea”. Just like that. No muss, no fuss, a lot of over-thinking on my end, but that’s just my brain, haha.
That is absolutely epic. It’s so great when you hear about celebrities being so cool about things like that. What an amazing experience and opportunity. We’re glad you got that snap shot in! How awesome!
So, kitchen chaos can sometimes leave us forgetting the contributions of our silent partners in the industry. What would you consider to be the most underrated, under utilized kitchen utensil?
TASTING SPOON. Haha, this probably isn’t the greatest answer, but I do believe everyone, everywhere, in all kitchens, should be applying the tasting spoon more effectively. Taste your food, you gotta know if it’s good and the only way you can know for sure is to taste it. I’ve worked in too many kitchens, mainly corporate where they don’t want the cooks tasting the food and I think that’s an insane policy, I encourage my kitchen to try everything.
That is the greatest answer we’ve heard yet! Hands down. The tasting spoon is definitely under utilized. Yes.
So, in the middle of kitchen chaos, how we handle mistakes has also become an underrated tool. From your experience, what approach leads to correction without breaking down trust from your staff?
When it comes to trust breaking down because of mistakes, I believe it’s because there is no communication from the chef to the cook who is making the mistakes.
Everyone in this industry is learning, so if you make a mistake and you want to learn how not to make that mistake again, or how to fix the mistake yourself, it is discouraging if the person who knows more than you won’t tell you what your mistake was in a constructive way, and give you advice on how to do better moving forward.
Personally I believe handling mistakes depends on the mistake and the severity of the situation. If you have time to explain what the mistake was, then walk them through how to do the right thing so they can learn from the mistake and that’s how it should be handled.
If it’s a situation where you don’t have time to explain what they did wrong you just need it to be fixed and maybe you as the chef need to step in to fix it, I think what needs to be done is you explain that you need a rush fix and that later you’ll explain to them how they can fix their mistake or avoid it in the future.
I think having the open flow of communication is the only way to ensure there is no trust being broken when correcting a mistake.
Agreed. Absolutely. Patience, time management, and creating an environment for teaching, and learning is such an essential aspect of growth in a kitchen.
Since we’re speaking of creating an environment for growth, many cooks were raised in kitchens where yelling, humiliation, or even physical intimidation were considered part of the job. From your experience, what are some practical leadership approaches that build discipline and standards while still maintaining respect and trust within the team?
The biggest things I encourage in my kitchen is communication, understanding that everyone has something to teach you and has something to learn, and to manage burn out/taking care of themselves.
When I’m talking about communication, I’m not just talking about the simple kitchen terms, calling back- communication, but my chef team explaining to the cooks why we were doing something different. And asking their opinions on what we’re doing. I also stress communication with the foh (front of the house). They are an extension of the kitchen, and constantly working like its “us vs them” just puts restaurants behind. I tell my sous chef the same information I tell my prep cook, there is no “stay in your lane” mentality because the more we’re all aware of, the more we’re all prepared and on the same page
-“…there’s nothing great about hoarded knowledge.”
Something I have struggled with too many times to count in this industry is ego. Too many chefs and cooks think they have nothing to learn from anyone and at the same time they don’t want to teach what they know because they don’t want to lose their “edge” in the kitchen. The phrase “do everything so you’re irreplaceable” is something I’ve heard many times.
I tell everyone in the kitchen I don’t know everything, I’m still learning, that’s what I love about this industry. No one will ever know everything. It is constantly changing, and even if there are things that aren’t changing, there are so many types of cuisines, it’s endless.
I am willing to learn something from anyone, and that’s the mentality my cooks need to have. At the same time I am willing to show them what I do know and teach them anything I can because there’s nothing great about hoarded knowledge.
Lastly, something I feel extremely personally tied to, which I’m sure most people can relate to, is managing burnout and health. As I said earlier in this interview when I was younger I was not taking care of myself. Mentally, physically, emotionally really in any way. And I wish that I could say when I started working at The Cellar and found my love for food again I started taking care of myself. But I didn’t.
I was twenty years old when I started working at The Cellar, which came with working crazy hours, because not only did I finally enjoy what I was doing, but I also did not want to be at home. I was either working or out drinking and partying.
For a very long time I put my mental and physical health on the back burner while I pushed through at work. This is something I very frequently remind my kitchen not to do. I remind them that burn out happens when you don’t give yourself a break your body breaks for you. I encourage them to take their sick days to recover, request time off, and to try to balance work with life.
– “But it starts one kitchen at a time, one chef at a time…”
Do you believe the culinary industry is truly moving away from toxic kitchen culture, or do you think the problem is still deeply embedded?
I think the problem is still deeply embedded in the industry. I do believe that there are a lot of people who want to change it, but I believe there are a lot of louder and more powerful voices who want to keep it the same.
I think for so long being in a professional kitchen was looked at as either the best of the best, or the worst of the worst, but either kitchen you looked in you saw someone at the top belittling everyone else around him, whether it got results of michelin star or chilies.
I think it is more of what cooks were you working with, and less of “how much did you scream and berate them”.
I also think there is a false narrative that people in our industry don’t care about themselves, because we have high rates of alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness.
So people feel they can talk and treat most people in this industry however they want because they don’t care enough about themselves to say anything or stand up for themselves.
It is a basic abuser mentality, but hopefully more things keep coming to light and more things keep being exposed. Because there is a clear difference between a hard ass of a boss, and an abusive asshole who gets joy from putting others down.
There’s an opportunity for things to change. Will they? I don’t know. But it starts one kitchen at a time, one chef at a time, and maybe someday we’ll get there.
Chef Liv, it was incredible having you interview with us here today. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to provide us with some priceless words of wisdom, sharing your inspiring experience, and helping to get the truth out about toxic situations we can come across in this industry.
Stories like this are a reminder that growth in this industry doesn’t always come from perfect conditions. It takes persistence, reflection, accountability, and finding your way back to what made you love it in the first place.
– Hear more from the pros on Heard. Our official interviews of cooks, chefs, managers, teachers, and leaders in the industry.
Photos provided by Executive Chef Olivia Cox and ChefLiv1996 media.
All copyrights reserved by the appropriate, original owners of the photo.