Chicken Soup for the Soul

Alden Cloutier began to cook when he was twelve as a way to cope with his parent’s divorce. Now, he’s a Sous-chef at a prestigious restaurant in Killington, Vermont.

When Alden Cloutier was a twelve-year-old, his parents got a divorce. Like many families, the property was split equally between his two parents.

“My dad would have the things my mom wouldn’t have, and vice versa....It was just sort of like, ‘You get this, they get that’. That’s sort of how it worked. All we [Alden and his Mom] had was this cast-iron skillet,” Alden said regarding their kitchen supplies. The dearth of cooking ware led Alden to find the passion he is exploring today.

Alden recalled that in eighth grade, “there was this person having… a free yard sale. And there was a non-stick pan.” He was inspired. He found a utensil that could withstand the first meal he was inspired to make: the Omelette.

A year later, Alden would be working in a restaurant as a busboy cleaning and clearing tables, and, when he was home, he honed the skills of an up-and-coming cook to one day work in a kitchen. “You just sort of do the easy but annoying work for a while, and then it gets to a point where they just offer you a position…From there it’s just improving your skills and working your way up.” And now, at seventeen, he is a Sous-chef in a kitchen of ten.

“I think it’s really nice to...set up a meal for a group of people and have everybody enjoy it. That was part of the motivation really.” Alden explained that, although some chefs are enamored with cooking, to him, “it’s mostly about the people and the experience. ”

During a difficult period in his life, Alden Cloutier turned to cooking. He wanted to comfort himself and others to cope with the stress of a tense family situation. He continues to comfort people working at Preston’s restaurant in Killington.