I’ve watched Ratatouille before, and saw it again during dinner time. It was one of the most memorable movies I’ve seen, being the first movie I saw outside the Philippines, specifically in Odeon Theater, and it has probably one of the best lines so far that simply struck a chord in my heart.
Anton Ego is everyone’s nightmare. He’s the boss breathing down your neck, a colleague spitting fire at you, or a bank running after you. Whatever the case may be, the rains won’t totally ruin your wedding day. A bouquet of flowers would be tossed, everyone would still be sipping champagne and dancing merrily until the wee hours in the morning. There will always be that someone, a family or friend, who’d back you up every step of the way. Your personal Ego can’t torture you unless you allow him to.
Let me share what the all-time harsh food critic Anton Ego wrote down his learnings on the paper:
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.
The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends.
Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more.
