On November 5 Charlie Trotter died. He was 54. His son found him unconscious at home in Chicago. His wife, Rochelle Trotter, said that in January her husband had been treated for a seizure resulting from a brain aneurysm. This won't mean much to people outside the culinary world, because Charlie Trotter was a chef. But he was also an inspirational man and this week is an opportunity to share a little of his wisdom.

He was, naturally, a ground-breaking chef, though not a 'celebrity” chef in today's parlance. He was not a worldwide household name, yelling at junior workers on a reality series or judging TV cooking competitions. Charlie was a celebrity in the food world but his television appearances were limited to two low-key series he made, not for some ubiquitous Food Network but for PBS
in America.

He didn't launch a string of franchised joints in the world's great shopping cities. But his self-named restaurant in Chicago, opened in 1987, caused ripples across both the American and the world's restaurant culture, because of its food, because it elevated wine service to a level rarely before found in America, and because of its philosophy. Perhaps for any venture to be truly great it needs a philosophy.
Charlie's was excellence.

A devoted fan
I was a follower of Charlie. I even call him by his first name, the affectation of a devoted fan. (And I did meet him once, so I'm sticking with it. Of course, in person I called him 'chef”.) One of the things that attracted me is that his other love, aside from food, was music. Chef Trotter always thought of cooking food as being closely aligned to making music.

Let me quote him for a moment: 'The parallels between cooking and playing music have always been extraordinarily intriguing to me. Both disciplines are grounded in the idea that once you understand classic, time-honoured ways of how things work – ingredient combinations and cooking techniques here, note structure and lyricism there – you arrive at a place where it is more about just 'being in the moment.” The cook or musician who grasps the fundamentals is free to let go of conventions and cook or play in the same flowing way that a conversation unfolds.”

Charlie Trotter's, the restaurant, was renowned for its spontaneity. It presented multi-course degustation meals which would change nightly and were absolutely responsive to any variation a customer may desire. Don't like a particular fish? Try any of these instead. Need a match for an unusual bottle of wine? The sauces will be changed to fit. People talk of eating there over 100 times and never being served the same dish twice. The man liked to jam.

One of his books says in the introduction that it is 'a homage to such masters of musical spontaneity as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Sun Ra, and Bob Dylan. These artists epitomize what creativity is all about. Rather than relying on static ‘set pieces', they approached each bit of music like it was going to be experienced”. I ate at Charlie Trotter's once. I will never forget. Astonishingly, it was even better than I expected. And that's what Charlie was all about – exceeding expectations.

Study and travel
He surprised everyone by closing the restaurant in 2012. He said he wanted to see what else life held and planned to study philosophy at university and travel with his wife. He knew the aneurysm was too deep for treatment.

One more quote. Not from Charlie. But he called it his principal inspiration. It's from the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 'Until there is commitment there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues forth from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it Now!”