Yep, you heard me right. If you have 1,000 Euros and a little kitchen know-how, you too could be working right along side me in a French kitchen. Evidently there are several culinary societies out there who are all too happy to take you money and send you to the best kitchens in France.

This week, a fashionable, young French woman appeared in our kitchen. At first I thought she was just a guest until she tied an apron around her waist. I had heard that we were getting a new intern, but I didn’t realize she’d be dressed all in black wearing some rather high heals. She looked like she was a client rather than someone slaving away behind the scenes.

When I made inquiries into who she was, I was floored to find out she was the intern. Then the executive chef dropped the bomb and told me she paid 1,000 Euros to spend a day in the kitchen. Wait a minute. She actually paid to work in this place? I started to laugh uncontrollably. Too bad she didn’t talk to me first, because I could have saved her a lot money.

As the morning wore on, she casually trimmed mushrooms, peeled some carrots and perhaps diced a few potatoes. Little did she know she was missing all the fun. She didn’t get to schlep the leaky garbage up a flight of stairs, clean the less than appealing bathrooms, or mop the floors. Maybe she had to pay extra for that.

When lunch service began, she looked quite awkward as we tried to work around her in the rush. Finally THE Chef came into the kitchen and rescued her. Lunch was part of the package, so he ordered them a seven-course meal and whisked her away to the relative quiet of the dining room. Thank goodness she got to eat. I wouldn’t want her money to go to waste.

Maybe I should drop my sarcastic train of thought and try to see things from her perspective. Perhaps she’s an avid amateur cook wanting to see what a professional kitchen looks like. Maybe she’s curious what service is like during the rush or how the mis en place is prepared. But for 1,000 Euros, she sure didn’t get to do much. Yes, she did get to dine with a very famous chef, but is paying that kind of money really worth it? She didn’t even break a sweat or have to run up and down the stairs 30 times in those high heals of hers.

I guess I’m just jealous. It looks like she had a perfectly wonderful experience. Maybe if I paid for my internship in money instead of blood, sweat and tears, I too could have a beaming smile on my face at the end of the day.

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