Rick Tramonto has lived a pretty exciting life, as chronicled in Scars of a Chef. Rick's father was jailed for embezzling from the Union he worked for. His mother was an unstable, violent woman who sometimes terrified her son without ever laying a hand on him. Rick's behavior sent him spiraling down the school system as he was sent to ever-worsening high schools in an effort to straighten him out. Eventually he dropped out. To escape from the chaos of his life, he threw himself into drugs and cooking.
He worked his way up from a cook at Wendy's to his own acclaimed restaurants. Along the way he lost himself too often in drugs and partying or just working too many hours a day. He floundered for years, sometimes gravitating toward Christianity, but always delving again into self-destruction and the pursuit of culinary skill over all else.
When Rick finally found something to truly bring him comfort and peace, he gave himself over to it with the same single-minded focus he had previously directed at cooking. He had finally established a relationship with God. Now, Rick balances his love of food with his devotion to Christ. He and his family attend church several times a week and Rick turns to prayer instead of drugs.
Rick Tramonto's story is very readable and it's easy to see that his new-found inner peace has now healed over much of a past that would drag some people down forever. His journey to maturity has been full of potholes, mostly of his own creation. But the basic message of Scars of a Chef is that if someone like Rick can salvage a life marked by family problems and personal darkness, anyone can find their way to success and spirituality.
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