Meet Me in the Cool Room is the street credible autobiography of Andrew ‘Red’ Ovenden, who started off as a young chef & slowly worked his way through the hospitality industry in Australia and overseas. In a time, way before the culinary revolution fueled by food bloggers, social media and endless celebrity cooking shows on television; when equal opportunities and rights were rare, and racism and sexism were nothing but a dirty tea towel left on a cross contaminated prep bench, chefs were seen as the blue-collar workers and hospitality was a forgotten industry where employee opportunities favoured the socially inept and career challenged individuals. In a time where change was considered dangerous, ingredients were abundant, wages were anything but digestible and customer palettes were predictable & pretentious, one man stood between a serving of rocket with a pub schnitzel. Meet Me in the Cool Room is a memoir based on part rock ‘n’ roll, part coming-of-age and part travel diary. It is a memoir of life in the fast lane, where youth is a mere ingredient in the attainment of credentials and culinary achievements in the cutthroat world of chefs. Like a temporary emulsion of defrosted memories, this book reflects on the life of a man dedicated to his craft and work, and how he found agnostic redemption, sobriety, and personal freedom after travelling a long road of self-destruction.
