What Chefs Eat at Home: Simple Food, Days Off and the Cuisines They Love
We re-read all 105 Food’n’Chef stories to see what chefs eat when they are off duty: 21 describe cooking at home, 19 like their own food simple, and 28 name the cuisine they grew up with as their favorite.
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 eat themselves: at home, on a day off, on vacation, and when someone asks them for a favorite. Then we counted.
The answers point home. In 28 stories the favorite is the cuisine of the place where the person grew up, and in 21 they describe cooking at home or in their free time. In 19, the person says in so many words that they like their own food simple, plain or homemade, and in 10 they draw a line between what they cook at work and what they eat themselves. Fourteen decline to name a favorite at all. Many stories fit more than one pattern. Below they are in the chefs’ own words.
Simple food, in their own words
In 19 stories the person describes their own taste with words like simple, plain, homemade or unpretentious. Jonay Armas, chef de cuisine of The Principal in Hong Kong, needs very little.
I love simple and hearty comfort food! A good soup and a salad of fresh leaves and vegetables are enough to satisfy me.
Jonay Armas, Hong Kong
Tomáš Kysela, who taught himself to cook for his café in Prague, puts a number on it.
I have always liked simple home cooking, whether it was made by my mother or by some old woman somewhere in southern Italy. I use recipes with no more than three ingredients.
Tomáš Kysela, Prague, Czech Republic
Matt Abergel of Yardbird loves eating simple food, usually with fewer than five ingredients. Patrick Casula, a Pastry World Champion, says he is not choosy about food but demanding: ordinary dishes, prepared correctly, are extremely delicious. Misha Schaefer of Nobelhart & Schmutzig in Berlin describes his ideal breakfast.
I’m a very unpretentious eater myself. My ideal breakfast is fruit and homemade yogurt, as long as it’s very fresh.
Misha Schaefer, Berlin, Germany
When a single favorite food is named, it is often an ordinary one. Pascal Breant answers in one word: tomatoes. Alex Liu calls pasta his guilty pleasure. Alvin Leung Jr., who holds two Michelin stars, considers soup the best dish humanity has ever invented.
What they cook on a day off
In 21 stories the person cooks at home or in their free time, for themselves, their family or friends. Billy Otis, chef at Socialito in Hong Kong, has a favorite home project.
My favorite thing to make at home is pappardelle with an Amatriciana sauce.
Billy Otis, Hong Kong
He kneads, rolls and cuts the pasta by hand and buys the ingredients for the sauce at the market. By the time he sits down to eat, he is tired. A glass of wine, he says, is always essential to this home meal.
Dasha Malakhova, chef at a culinary studio in Kyiv, cooks at home even after a long day of work.
Now that I have my own cooking shows on TV, I come home after shooting 15 shows a day and cook dinner with huge pleasure.
Dasha Malakhova, Kyiv, Ukraine
Everyone in her family has a favorite: Mexican food for her husband, donuts for her eldest son, cherry muffins for the youngest and soups for her father. For herself she names tea with lemon and sugar.
Stephane Istel cannot imagine a day without cooking, even on vacation. Gregoire Michaud and Krajang Thongjan cook in their free time as well, and Krajang is currently experimenting with exotic and extreme ingredients. Aleksey Menyailov, chef at Klarabara in Odesa, warns that his home cooking may seem strange to others.
At home I like, for example, to mix mashed potatoes with buckwheat porridge and add meat gravy and whipped eggs.
Aleksey Menyailov, Odesa, Ukraine
His favorite dishes are fried potatoes and roast chicken. Home cooking is not only for chefs: the food journalist Anastasiya Holoborodko used to spend winter nights on Spanish paella and Moroccan tagine, and the bartender Iryna Mashykhina makes lasagna and tiramisu.
Restaurant food stays at the restaurant
In 10 stories the person separates what they cook at work from what they cook or eat themselves. Lee Westcott, executive chef of 22 Ships in Hong Kong, puts it most directly.
People are under the impression that chefs cook gastronomic dishes at home, which is completely untrue. I prefer to eat simple, rustic dishes and keep the washing-up to a bare minimum.
Lee Westcott, Hong Kong
In London, he says, a roast lamb every Sunday was the highlight of his week. Shaun Anthony of Madam Sixty Ate says it is not a case of scrambled eggs at home and duck confit at work. He just prefers simplicity at home.
A good barbecued rib steak, a few oysters, a simple and delicious Caprese salad, some bread and good wine are enough. That's happiness!
Shaun Anthony, Hong Kong
For others the line runs through the food itself. Victoria Gladchenko makes sweets at work and prefers meat or fish with lots of greens at home. Senapati Borendra, head chef and partner at Trattoria Caffè Monteverdi in Hong Kong, goes further.
Give me any dessert recipe, and I will not sleep until I get it right. Still, I do not eat sweets, nor beef or pork!
Senapati Borendra, Hong Kong
Three say they rarely cook for themselves, or that someone else cooks at home. Matthieu Bonnier’s wife cooks at home, so he eats a lot of Chinese dishes. Oleksii Povtoreiko, head chef of Whisky Corner in Kyiv, is often asked about it.
Let’s just say I cook only on special occasions. The rest of the time, my wife handles it wonderfully, though she does hear the phrase “This could use a bit more flavor” quite often.
Oleksii Povtoreiko, Kyiv, Ukraine
Sometimes he just wants to relax with a good old pizza, which his kids love too. Stefano Rossi never cooks for himself at all. We come back to him below.
Eating out, in town and abroad
Six stories describe eating out in the chef’s own city as a habit, and 12 describe tasting local food when traveling. Stefano Rossi, chef of Assaggio Trattoria Italiana in Hong Kong, is happy to cook for others.
If I'm not alone, I'm happy to cook, but just for myself? No, I'd rather go out to a restaurant and try something new.
Stefano Rossi, Hong Kong
Luca Marinelli of iL Posto 97 describes his days off.
On my days off I enjoy spending time with my partner, having a relaxing weekend breakfast with a great cup of coffee, or going out for really good gourmet dim sum in town.
Luca Marinelli, Hong Kong
Matthieu Bonnier goes for dim sum on Sundays and Japanese food during the week. Simson Kwan eats out with friends, and they keep reminding him of one thing.
Whenever I eat out with friends, they always remind me, “Calm down! We're just relaxing, not doing a food tasting.” It's just that a chef will never eat bad food.
Simson Kwan, Hong Kong
Travel feeds the home kitchen as well. Martin Procházka, chef of U Tří růží in Prague, tastes the cuisines of different peoples when he travels and then repeats his favorite dishes at home. Beata Parczała and her husband bring new tastes back from their trips and try them at home.
The cuisine they grew up with, or someone else’s
In 28 stories the favorite, or the food the person likes to cook for themselves, is the cuisine of the place where they were born or grew up. Jordi Joan, whose parents opened Ca l’Isidre in 1970, calls his own answer boring.
My favorite cuisine? A pretty boring answer: Catalan!
Jordi Joan, Barcelona, Spain
His favorite food is grilled gambas from Palamós, and in contrast to Catalan cuisine he likes fried kidneys. Kenny Chan Kai-tak of Yun Yan gives his reason in one line.
My favorite is Sichuan cuisine, because I was born there and the province is famous for its spices and zest.
Kenny Chan Kai-tak, Hong Kong
For Murat Kaçmaz, the favorite came first and the career followed.
Tantuni was my favorite food, so I spent almost all the money I earned on eating tantuni.
Murat Kaçmaz, Istanbul, Turkey
Then he started working in a tantuni restaurant, and it has been his only business ever since. Tamara Mattii, born in Pisa, lists pappa al pomodoro, trippa alla fiorentina and fettunta among her favorite recipes from Italy.
In 20 stories the person names a cuisine from somewhere else as a favorite or a love. In four of them it sits beside the cuisine of home. Romain Fornell, born in Toulouse and trained in French haute cuisine, now names Thai as his favorite cuisine and king crab as his favorite dish. For Tomasz Czyżycki in Kraków and Olga Martynovskaya, the favorite is French. James Roy Oakley sees a paradox in his own taste.
Here’s the paradox: I like eating Japanese cuisine, but my favorite cooking techniques are classical French.
James Roy Oakley, Hong Kong
Don’t ask for a favorite
In 14 stories the person declines to name one favorite dish or cuisine. For Jordi Cruz Mas, it depends on the moment.
It all depends on the moment: when, where and with whom. Sometimes a good sandwich is enough for me, and sometimes I want nothing less than a terrific, skillfully made dish.
Jordi Cruz Mas, Barcelona, Spain
What amazes him most are puff pastry buns, which are always delicious whatever you do with them. Umberto Bombana compares a favorite dish to a favorite song: moods change, and so does the choice. The one constant is coffee, which he drinks every day. Eating itself is one of his hobbies.
My second hobby is the most ordinary one, but it is special for me: I simply love to eat.
Umberto Bombana, Hong Kong
Sergey Savenko of Marokana in Kyiv objects to the question itself.
I don't like questions about my favorite dish or cuisine, because they set too many limits.
Sergey Savenko, Kyiv, Ukraine
Denis Brovceac calls every cuisine a canvas for his work. Simson Kwan has neither a favorite dish nor one he dislikes, because he only eats things that taste good. Dislikes are rare in these stories. Only two people name food they avoid: Caesar Lee cannot stand the smell of blue cheese, and Senapati Borendra does not eat sweets, beef or pork. Three, Kwan among them, say there is nothing they would not eat or try.
Two kitchens
Taken together, the stories describe two kitchens. At work there are foie gras, truffles and 48-hour short ribs. At home or on a day off there is soup and salad, handmade pasta, fried potatoes, a Sunday roast, tea with lemon and a cup of coffee.
