What Chefs Do on Their Day Off: Sport, Fishing, Music and Other Hobbies Outside the Kitchen
We re-read all 105 Food’n’Chef stories to see what chefs do away from the stove: 34 name a sport, eight go fishing, and in 33 a hobby leads straight back to food.
For this piece we re-read all 105 Food’n’Chef stories, 103 of them told in the first person. We marked every passage about what the chefs and cooks do when they are not at work: sport, hobbies, trips, family, and the free time some of them say they do not have. Then we counted.
In 77 stories the person names at least one thing they do outside work. Sport is the most common answer, in 34 stories. Music, art or photography come up in 26, travel for pleasure in 23 and family time in 19. In 33 stories a hobby leads back to food, and in 19 the person says that cooking, or their own work, is itself a hobby. Eighteen say they have little or no free time. Many stories fit more than one pattern. Below they are in the chefs’ own words.
Sport, the most common answer
In 34 stories the person plays a sport or exercises now, not only as a child. Football comes up most often, in 11 stories, though only four people say they still play it. Cycling, hiking and the gym or workouts come up in four stories each, and running, skiing and swimming in three each. James Roy Oakley, executive chef of Armani/Aqua in Hong Kong, says people sometimes think chefs have no personal life.
I work 6 days a week in a restaurant, and I also practice Muay Thai (kickboxing): every morning I’m at the gym at 7 a.m.
James Roy Oakley, Hong Kong
He does not want to be the typical cartoon chef with a big belly. Romain Fornell, chef of Caelis in Barcelona, prefers to run.
I also love sport, and my favorite is running: so far I have run the New York Marathon four times.
Romain Fornell, Barcelona, Spain
Sport also brings colleagues together. Alex Liu of Lux Bar & Tapas once played Saturday football with other Lan Kwai Fong chefs, until a neck injury stopped him. Vitaliy Voronchikhin, head chef of Gastrobar in Chișinău, found company for his sport at work.
Outside the kitchen, my passion is cycling, and over time I've even inspired my colleagues to join in.
Vitaliy Voronchikhin, Chișinău, Moldova
Three people ride motorcycles. Stephane Istel of Bar-Roque Grill in Singapore rides his new Ducati Streetfighter with friends. Stefano Rossi of Assaggio in Hong Kong has ridden for 25 years and sometimes goes to Zhuhai just to ride. The third, Shaun Anthony, comes up below.
Fishing, and nobody hunts
Eight stories name fishing as a hobby. Two more remember it only from childhood, and nobody in the 105 stories says they hunt. Harlan Goldstein of Gold in Hong Kong goes after big fish.
I also like sport fishing for big fish, such as tuna and marlin.
Harlan Goldstein, Hong Kong
Thai kickboxing and a DJ mixer help him switch off too, and he comes back to the kitchen with renewed vigor. For Sebastian Frank, chef and owner of Horváth in Berlin, fishing is time alone.
Most of all I enjoy a round of golf, only on my own, or fishing, once again alone.
Sebastian Frank, Berlin, Germany
He needs that time to put his thoughts in order. In two of the eight stories, fishing ends with food. Oleg Opria, chef of Art-cafe Obshchaga in Odesa, names the part he likes best.
Maybe it’s not very original, but I like fishing, especially the evening atmosphere around a steaming cauldron of fragrant fish broth.
Oleg Opria, Odesa, Ukraine
He is sorry he cannot bring that atmosphere into his kitchen, though he says they try. Oriol Ivern of Hisop in Barcelona takes his small boat along the northern coast of Catalonia, where he fishes, swims and eats the catch of the day with ingredients from the local market. Sergei Khimich last went fishing two years ago, and Murat Kaçmaz and Danny Chaney say they have little time for it.
Music, art and a camera
Music, art or photography come up in 26 stories. Eight name music, eight take photographs, four make art or crafts with their hands, and seven name art, design, theatre or cinema as an interest. Alexander Ghazaryan of Haykanush in Dilijan puts music next to work and friends. Shaun Anthony, chef of Madam Sixty Ate in Hong Kong, wanted to be a musician before food won, and he still likes the guitar. Matthieu Bonnier plays guitar when his schedule allows, and Wo Ting Wai of Inn Side Out lets off steam at karaoke when friends drag him out. Jorge de Angel Moliner of Crudo Bar in Valencia took up pottery after his child was born.
Clay calms me down. Also, just as in cooking, you can see the result of your work right away.
Jorge de Angel Moliner, Valencia, Spain
Andrea Nori draws and has given most of his pictures to family and friends. Trakool Yodsuk, known as Chef Korn, painted in acrylics even before he became a chef, and his work is now part of his restaurant’s interior. Luigi Taglienti takes pictures in new cities and rides a bike around town, and Oyvind Naesheim of Nobu InterContinental looks at ordinary things.
I like photographing simple things, but in a way that makes you say “Wow!”
Oyvind Naesheim, Hong Kong
Reading is a hobby in 11 stories. Three of these readers choose cookbooks or culinary literature. Two make a point of reading something else: Oriol Ivern, and Lai Yau Tim, whose Tim’s Kitchen in Hong Kong has two Michelin stars.
My hobby is reading, and I like all kinds of books except the ones about food. I have enough food without books, so I’d rather have fantasy or a detective story, thank you.
Lai Yau Tim, Hong Kong
Travel that ends at the table
Travel for pleasure comes up in 23 stories, and in 18 the person says the point is food: tasting it, finding recipes and products, or getting ideas for their own cooking. Lau Yiu Fai, executive chef of Yan Toh Heen in Hong Kong, explains the link.
Seeing different places and experiencing different cultures opens your mind: you learn more and find inspiration, and traveling the world helps me create new, innovative dishes.
Lau Yiu Fai, Hong Kong
Hideaki Sato of Tenku RyuGin tries to visit as many Asian countries as he can. Caesar Lee of Charlie Brown Café eats local food on family vacations and learns how other chefs cook, because for him reading books is not enough. Karo Guyumjyan, chef of Salon in Yerevan, gives all his hobbies to restoring Armenian cooking culture.
Like a devoted neophyte, I travel passionately to villages and the most remote corners in search of my culinary treasures.
Karo Guyumjyan, Yerevan, Armenia
Shaun Anthony spent 61 days in 2007 riding around Europe on a Ducati Monster 900, staying in small towns and villages where the recipes have not changed for hundreds of years.
I think nothing has ever inspired me as much as this stunning tour of Europe and its gastronomic soul.
Shaun Anthony, Hong Kong
Hobbies that lead back to the kitchen
Travel is not the only way back. In 18 stories another hobby leads to food or to the person’s own kitchen: growing food, markets, recipes and cookbooks, wine, fishing for a meal, a culinary cause, even hats. Sascha Ludwig, head chef of Filetstück das Gourmetstück in Berlin, calls his market visits a professional quirk.
I wander, observe, smell, and imagine flavor combinations, mentally picturing the finished dish. That’s how I entertain myself.
Sascha Ludwig, Berlin, Germany
Artak Sarkysyan helps his parents grow vegetables and greens in his native village. Sergey Neboga of Pomodoro in Odesa collects recipes and grows houseplants.
I even managed to grow an avocado at Pomodoro, and the tree is quite big now.
Sergey Neboga, Odesa, Ukraine
Yuriy Chernous collects old ethnic recipes, Sergei Khimich collects menus, Yuri Priemskiy collects cookbooks, and Tony Rosetti of Noti in Singapore keeps buying kitchen equipment, lately Staub pots. Denis Brovceac, chef of La Butuc in Chișinău, says his hobbies have nothing to do with the kitchen. He collects hats.
But I’ve found a practical use for my hobby. When I cook in an open kitchen, I can dress up to please my guests.
Denis Brovceac, Chișinău, Moldova
Three give spare time to a culinary cause. Evgeniy Sushko of Citadel in Lviv founded the Association of Chefs of Western Ukraine with friends, Ruben Pogosyan sits on the council of an NGO for Armenian culinary traditions, and Trakool Yodsuk organizes charity food sales.
For some there is no line to cross. In 19 stories the person says that cooking, food or their own work is a hobby. Aleksandr Kasian, a pastry chef in Kyiv, says he might otherwise have become a builder.
My work is my hobby. At work I feel like a child: I have material from which I can build and create something.
Aleksandr Kasian, Kyiv, Ukraine
Family, and the time they do not have
In 19 stories free time goes to family: a partner, children or grandchildren. Misha Schaefer, chef at Nobelhart & Schmutzig in Berlin, counts his children among his hobbies.
We have three children, wonderful, boisterous, and the best in the world, and they are my joy, my hobby, and my greatest inspiration.
Misha Schaefer, Berlin, Germany
Pascal Breant of Wooloomooloo Prime bowls with his son. James Roy Oakley spends the morning with his wife and baby daughter before the gym, and Tomasz Czyżycki of Cyrano de Bergerac in Kraków takes his family to the mountains as often as possible.
Eighteen stories say there is little or no free time, or that work limits the hobbies. Sergey Baysarevich’s wife says he is married to his work. Jordi Cruz Mas, chef of three restaurants in Barcelona, starts a list and stops.
I could say that in my spare time I take photos, play tennis or ride my motorcycle. But I’m the chef of three restaurants, and I don’t have much time.
Jordi Cruz Mas, Barcelona, Spain
Denis Brovceac says he does not have enough time to be simply a man, a father and a husband, and he spends every spare moment with his family.
Away from the stove
Taken together, the stories add up to a list: Muay Thai at 7 a.m., the New York Marathon four times, a motorcycle ride to Zhuhai, a cauldron of fish broth, a guitar, a lump of clay, an avocado tree in a restaurant and a hat for the open kitchen. In 33 of the 77 stories that name a pastime, it leads back to food. Eighteen say there is little time for any of it.
