Bloody suffering and durability: How chefs forge embodied identities in elite kitchens

Robin Burrow, Rebecca Scott and David Courpasson ()
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Robin Burrow: Cardiff Business School - Cardiff University
Rebecca Scott: Cardiff Business School - Cardiff University
David Courpasson: EM - EMLyon Business School, Cardiff University

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Abstract: "In this article, we elaborate on the significance of suffering in processes of embodied identity construction. Drawing on interviews with 62 chefs employed in elite kitchens around the world, we make two main contributions. First, we extend our understanding of suffering as a traumatic, alienating experience by theorizing it as a distinctive form of embodied identity work. We show how suffering can function as a mechanism through which people forge an understanding of who they are. Our second contribution extends the first by elaborating on what we call the aesthetics of suffering. We show how suffering can be perversely appreciable, distinguishing and endured in culturally significant, identity-implicative ways. Via this theorization, we progress our understanding of how identities are forged through (and read from) suffering bodies, and add an additional layer of interpretation to research in which matters of embodied identity and suffering are nascent but largely neglected."

Keywords: Aesthetics; Chefs; Durability; Embodied identity work; Embodiment; Fine dining; Suffering (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-01
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04325642
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Published in Human Relations, 2024, 77 (1), 111-139 p. ⟨10.1177/00187267221132936⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04325642

DOI: 10.1177/00187267221132936

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