Challenging the Performance Narrative
Life Stories of Michelin-starred Executive Chefs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/sjsep.v8i.157344Keywords:
Career development, Self-fulfillment, Narrative types, Narrative inquiry, Culinary artsAbstract
Within high-performance sport, elite athletes typically story their careers after the performance narrative type, which may be problematic as it can lead to the justification of extreme performance enhancement strategies like excessive eating restrictions and poor mental health. Although previous research has indicated that people in other high-performance domains have a strong performance focus, no study to our knowledge has formally explored the underlying narrative of how they story their careers. To this end, we set out to explore how people in other high-performance domains story their careers, choosing to explore the careers of Michelin starred executive chefs. Two executive chefs, who both met the criteria of being executive chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants, participated in the study. Life story interviews (M=101 minutes) were conducted and subsequently explored through the principles of a holistic-form structural analysis. The findings revealed that the chefs crafted their career stories around a largely
progressive self-fulfilment narrative type, rather than the performance narrative type, which seems to be dominant in elite sports and other high-performance domains. The study contributes a new narrative type that could be applicable in sports, facilitating a more balanced career development for elite athletes than the performance narrative type.
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