My ears hurt

October 4

I just got my head chewed off by a famous chef downtown because I asked him where I might get my hands on some sodium alginate and calcium chloride.
I wrote an article about sodium alginate in September 2005, interviewed said chef for it but didn't include him in the story.
I didn’t know he even cared until I called him a few weeks later to interview him about unconventional noodles. Boy did he let me have it.
I think what really annoyed him was that when he asked why I didn't use him I said that what he was doing wasn't as interesting as what some other chefs were doing.
Oh, he didn’t like that, especially since in the story I included a few mundane examples of chefs using sodium alginate to make little caviarlike bubbles, which, if you’re one of the half-dozen most avant-garde chefs in the country, is as boring as a cheese sandwich. But for the rest of the restaurant world, you have to explain how it’s done.
I finished the story with chefs doing more creative stuff, including one who just became his new pastry chef, but I guess this chef didn’t get that far into the article, which is fair enough; he’s a busy guy.
To be honest, it’s nice to know that he cares.
Besides, after haranguing me, he did give me the phone number of an alginate supplier.