After having studied engineering for many years, she got stuck in a job which was too stable and secure for her taste.
Zineb - Zizi, as eveyone calls her, left her job a software engineer to become a chef.
Fearless, convinced that hard work and determination would take her where she really wanted to be, the young Spanish woman knocked on the doors of the world's greatest chefs. And it worked!
Andreas Caminada, Massimo Bottura, Dan Barber or Daniela Sotto Ines, became her mentors.
Having worked in starred restaurants all over the world, she returns to her city of adoption, Zurich, and creates the place of her dreams. The Kle Restaurant, an intimate vegan place in the heart of trendy Zurich is born.
Together we talk about her path, her choices and about the importance of education. She explains her choice of being vegan and the origins of her cuisine. We talk about the Covid crisis of course and you will hear us discuss the role of women in this still completely male-dominated sector.
So for all lovers of fine cuisine wanting to understand its secrets, those who believe in the richness of diversity, or those who also want to also make real career change, plug in your headphones and enjoy...
4:13 Zizi’s mother as a brilliant figure
05:02 Chefs and the medias
06:27 How chefs can educate people
07:43 The plant-based choice
10:05 From a traditional to a vegan cuisine
11:35 The perception of veganism
13:50 Adapting to the Covid threat
16:00 Creating a team with as many women as men in a male-dominated environment
17:51 A catalan childhood, with Moroccan parents
19:51 Becoming a software engineer
21:14 Falling in love with Switzerland
22:37 Shifting from engineering to gastronomy
24:17 Money questions and first scares
26:01 The first gastronomic experience : with the chef Josean Alija, at Nerua (Spain)
27:02 Getting train by her mentor, Andreas Caminda (Schauenstein Castle, Switzerland)
29:34 The magic and power of starred restaurants and their chefs
31:29 The US experience : with Dan Barber (Blue Hill, NYC) and Daniela Soto-Innes (Cosme, NY), the best female chef in the world
32:50 Gastronomy as the less hospitable place to work in
35:15 The mission of the chefs
36:01 Kitchens, still vey much men dominated
37:01 Women should empower women, always!
39:07 Creating her own restaurant, in Zurich
40:13 Zurich is becoming a gastronomic hub
42:21 The Kle Restaurant as a dining room with a mix of cultures
45:44 Local producers
46:50 Financing the restaurant
48’18 The daily life of the chef
51’24 Normalising eating plant-based as a goal
52’24 Final questions
Chefs & mentors
Kle Restaurant:
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