Ómós Digest #132: Ever too old to stage?

Cúán shares his experience staging in a bakery in Glasgow.

A fortnight ago I travelled to Glasgow to stage in the rarest of bakeries. The word ‘stage’ in French means internship and is a term adopted by the hospitality industry. Up until this point, staging wasn’t something I had done for close to a decade. The run-up to the experience was one of mixed emotions, compounded by doubt, excitement, vulnerability and joy, as I put my thirty-something self into the position of so many young apprentices. Here’s my account. 

I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to have staged all over Europe, mainly thanks to negligible college fees in Ireland and a Culinary Arts course, which prioritised domestic and grant-aided international internships. One might consider this industry norm as a rite of passage - a method of getting a shoe in the door to premier establishments with elite chefs and highly skilled, devout cooks, without requiring the experience for employment. At 17, I travelled to London to get a glimpse of my first 2 Michelin star restaurant. A day’s work there was enough for me to never return to a London kitchen, after witnessing the head chef headbutt his junior.