Rising Star Chef Gavin Kaysen Preaches Passion During Commencement Address at The Culinary Institute of America
Thirty-one-year-old Gavin Kaysen, executive chef at the acclaimed Café Boulud in New York City, spoke to graduates at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) about their need to be passionate in their career choice. Kaysen delivered the commencement address at the college on Friday, October 22.
“Passion will not be conferred upon you at some later date. You either have it now or you don't," said Kaysen, who, in the last six years, has been honored as a “Rising Star” and “Best New Chef” by Food & Wine, Restaurant Hospitality, Riviera and Gayot magazines, as well as by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, he represented the United States in the Bocuse d'Or international cooking competition after winning the national finals.
“I was raised in Minnesota at a time when beets came out of a can and green beans from a frozen box. You all were born into a more evolved culinary world,” Kaysen told 49 recipients of CIA associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts. "But, standards keep rising. Customers are more sophisticated and demanding than they have ever been. Do you have the passion to meet their standards and demands? Do you have the passion to want to exceed them?"
Kaysen spoke to the graduates in Farquharson Hall on the CIA's Hyde Park campus—the same hall where, three years ago, he faced the judges as a contestant on the first season of “The Next Iron Chef” on The Food Network. (Michael Symon '90 won the competition.)