The chefs' struggle - a struggle and a personal journey
Some people have now seen me in the Chefs' Battle and I am often asked what it is like to participate. And I guess I can say this, to participate is a personal journey.
Photo: Linus Hallsenius, TV4
It is a development for the profession you are in, but also on a personal level. To meet people who are like-minded in this way is a fantastic opportunity. The other people in the program are really, really good chefs. It was great fun to hang out with them in the way we did. I'm honored that TV4 thought I qualified, and that they called and asked if I wanted to participate.
Beat my teacher – and it felt damn good!
The only one I had met before was Roland, who I was a student with 30 years ago, and he was my boss then - so basically everyone was more or less new to me. But now they are friends for life! They are humble, amazing people...and they all have the competitive devil in them. And that's the fun part. Everyone wanted to win so much, so to beat their teacher in chopping onions in the first program, it felt damn good. It was simply a good start.
The best thing you can do
It was obviously a bit strange to have cameras around all the time, but after a while you didn't think about it. When we cooked our first dinner together; me, Roland and Florencia, it was a bit strange to have all the cameras there. The best thing you can do is to cook with other chefs, but with the cameras there it was obviously a little different and took away the relaxed feeling I usually have when I cook with chef friends. But it never affected me in the way that I had to think about what I was saying. I am who I am, with or without cameras.
You can find an interview about my participation in the Megaphone.