Nowadays chefs aren’t just dicing, sautéing and braising food. They’re immortalizing it by tattooing it on their bodies. Maybe it’s the fact that chefs have been elevated to rock-star status in recent years, or the fact that cooking, like tattoos, is an art form. Chef Matt Marcus has another theory. “We’re all just modern day pirates – we work 16-hour days sweating with big blades and lots of fire,” he smiles.
Regardless the reasons, a growing number of celebrity chefs across the country are getting inked, from Guy Fieri to Michael Symon. Chef Sean Brock of Charleston’s McCrady’s has an entire sleeve of vegetables.
Chattanooga chefs are no exception, displaying everything from a vibrant red beet with beautiful green leaves curling up a forearm to an AK-47 comprised of kitchen implements.
Tattoos have become so popular among food professionals that some view it as rite of passage, much like earning one’s stripes under the French brigade system. (The tradition awards chefs blue aprons with white stripes once promoted to an overseeing position.) Food tattoos represent a small percentage of the body art seen in professional kitchens, but it’s often the most talked about.
“I think it relates more,” says Marcus. “I have more elderly people come up to me and say, ‘Cool tattoos.’ I think if it was a skull and cross bones or the grim reaper, they wouldn’t feel like they could approach me. So it definitely creates a talking point for everyone just because how food is.”