Shola O. Reflection- Lee Lee McNeil

Our visit to Shola was both informative, delicious, and fun. I enjoyed his bright, humorous personality and his obvious love for cooking. The amount of detail and care he puts into even the most simplest dishes, like pizza, which I have made at home, is inspiring and fascinating. He makes the pizza dough and lets it sit to make sure it settles accurately. Every ingredient he gets, he makes sure its the best quality. He has stacks and stacks of cookbooks, which showed me that he is constantly exploring. His meals, even the cornbread without sugar, were delicious and I can see it's so because of precision he applies when choosing ingredients. Even though he has had some issues in the past with pursuing to open a restaurant, I can see that it hasn't weakened his passion. I also was surprised by the creation of Cheese Soufflé which I thought wouldn't taste great. Yet, he created a perfect consistency, and the sweetness was due to his careful timing of the bakings and mixing/whipping. His homemade pasta was soft and tasty, as well as his homemade pizza which was perfectly oiled and fresh. Overall, Shola helped me realize the importance of choosing fresh, healthy ingredients, of exploration with recipes, and of doings precise, careful measurements and cook time for a positive outcome.

 I would describe Shola as a chef because he has dedicated his life to cuisine and is very informative in the subject matter of cooking. Unlike the term cook, which I see as less definitive and more hobby-like, the term chef is more professional and definitive. When people hear chef, they assume a job or profession, while hearing cook formulates a more vague impression. Cook sounds familiar, for example, I call my dad a "good cook" because he can make pretty good dinners, however, I wouldn't ever call him a chef because that wasn't his career, and he hadn't ever studied cooking formally. Hola, on the other hand, studied in Paris and has worked in cooking. He also has continued to explore, research, and share his meals, as well as pursue a career in cooking through books and other ways. Due to him continuously pursuing cooking as his career, Shola can be defined as a chef.