Bringing food alive with your loving presence. To have compassion, to have respect for fresh food, for broken bowls, for dirty napkins and little bugs.

 - Edward Espe Brown

This quote is a great understanding of what a chef needs in order to "bring the food alive". A chef needs to have compassion, without compassion they are no longer a chef, they're one who cooks for nothing. A respect for fresh food is key now of days, especially locally provided. Fresh food makes a huge difference in making a masterpiece to the pallet. As for the last three things; "broken bowls, for dirty napkins, and little bugs." Meaning nothing comes easy: there will be times a bowl or two will drop but one must pick that bowl up, dust themselves off and get back to work. You cannot have dirty napkins without working hard, and that is exactly what a chef must do, not afraid to get dirty or possibly even injure themselves, napkins will only get dirty with hard work and they will only get cleaned with care. As far as little bugs, there will always be little bugs that may interfere, but in order to be successful one must have experience with these bugs and learn how to maintain and prevent these bugs from coming back. A chef in the making must understand that a great chef must put their heart and soul into their food.