Peter Dumke, the former senior sous-chef at Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel, recently became MIT’s executive chef of dining and catering.
He no longer serves on china under crystal chandeliers, but the two jobs are not entirely different, he says.
“MIT has its own prestige. Before I was feeding the kings and queens. Now I’m feeding their children.”
Even though he serves more tuna fish now than caviar soup, he says that first class work is first class work.
“I respect the food. I respect the flavors. And I try to make the quality the same as it would be in a Four Seasons Hotel.”
Perhaps the big difference between the two jobs is that a meal at the Four Seasons costs about 12 times more than a $5 lunch at MIT.