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Failed chef threatens to kill himself at cooking school
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter5 Jun 2008
Perhaps his souffle failed to rise, or he mistakenly cooked his steak tartare. Whatever the reason, the 28-year-old trainee chef at Le Cordon Bleu, the world's most famous cookery school, failed his exam - and he wasn't happy.
In the true tradition of great, temperamental chefs, the Gordon Ramsay-wannabe did not take his failure on the chin. Instead he returned to the cookery school the day after flunking his test and demanded to retake it.
What happened next remains unclear but the student cook clearly began to steam. Coming to boiling point, he grabbed a knife from the kitchen classroom and threatened to kill himself if he could not resit the exam, presumably there and then.
Police were called and negotiators spent the next four hours - roughly the time it takes to cook the Christmas turkey - trying to calm him down.
Finally, at about 9pm yesterday, officers in full riot protection gear stormed the premises, stunned him with a Taser gun and arrested the knifeman before taking him away for questioning.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said today: "We were called at 5.24pm after receiving reports of man armed with a knife threatening to self-harm at a commercial premises in Marylebone. A negotiator attended the scene and was talking to the male and subsequently territorial support group officers entered the catering school at 20.55. The 28-year-old man was Tasered and arrested. He suffered no apparent injury but was treated anyway by paramedics. It is thought he had failed a training course."
One source (as opposed to sauce) said today the trainee chef - believed to be of French Algerian origin - had spent £4,000, which amounted to much of his savings, on the Intermediate Cuisine course at the prestigious cookery school in Marylebone Lane.
The course, which runs for 10 weeks, teaches classic French regional dishes including an introduction to charcuterie.
After the student threatened to test his kitchen skills on himself, the street outside the cookery school was cordoned off by police.
Officers armed with riot shields and full protective clothing eventually moved in to disarm the man.
Le Cordon Bleu was founded in Paris in 1895 and has since spread to 29 schools across the world. It derives its name from the blue ribbon upon which hung the Cross of the Holy Spirit, a high ranking French order which became synonymous with gastronomic feasts.
Chefs from the UK who have studied at Le Cordon Bleu include Prue Leith, Sally Clarke, who runs Clarke's restaurant in Kensington, and Allegra McEvedy, who founded the Leon healthy fast food chain.
