On my first morning in the kitchen at La Fleur de Lys, I wasn't exactly feeling confident.

Even though I love spending time in the kitchen at home, stepping into a professional kitchen was completely different.

I was ready to observe, help... and probably wash a lot of dishes.

Instead, before long, I had a knife in my hand and was chopping onions, carrots, and other vegetables for lunch service.

I was 14, working alongside a team of professional cooks, and from the start, they treated me like I was there to work.

I started with the cold dishes.

I quickly learned how to prepare a good-looking salad plate with all kinds of ingredients: tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, and more.

These weren't practice plates. They were going out to customers.

After spending some time on the cold dishes, I moved over to the hot side of the kitchen.

There, I was shown how to prepare and cook filets de perche, a popular local fish dish, and how to arrange them on the plates. Soon enough, I was able to do it by myself. No pictures of this part—I was too busy working :-)

I also got to help plate my favorite dessert, the café gourmand—a coffee served with a selection of small desserts.

By then, I was starting to realize how much they were actually letting me do.

And that's probably what surprised me most about the week.

They trusted me.

I was told once to be careful not to cut myself.

That was it.

Nobody kept reminding me to watch the knives. Nobody warned me every time I worked next to something hot. They showed me what to do and trusted that I would be careful and ask if I needed help.

The schedule had its perks too. I had a few hours off between the lunch and dinner shifts, and with a swimming pool right next to the restaurant, some of those breaks were spent swimming before heading back to the kitchen.

Throughout the week, I felt more comfortable there.

Everyone was kind and gave me the time I needed to learn. I never felt like I was in the way because I was younger or didn't have their experience.

By the end of the week, I had a much better idea of what happens behind the scenes in a restaurant kitchen.

But I definitely learned something else too.

Being given responsibility is one thing.

Being trusted with it feels different.

Zélia, for SoliaVenture

P.S. I've been coming to La Fleur de Lys since I was little—my grandpa has worked with the restaurant for years. So getting to work there myself made the week even more special.

P.P.S. This wasn't my first time discovering the world of food. Last summer, I spent a week helping in a bakery and a butcher's shop. If you're curious, you can read those stories here: Bakery | Butchery

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