Profile | French chef in Hong Kong on what she learned from Joël Robuchon, what it’s like being a woman head chef, and her cooking philosophy at Odyssée
- Aurelie Altemaire, chef de cuisine at Odyssée in Hong Kong, worked in Paris, Atlanta, Los Angeles and London before moving east with her husband in 2019
- She tells Bernice Chan about going to the US speaking no English, her 10 years with Joël Robuchon and why she doesn’t think it is harder to be a woman head chef
“I was born in Strasbourg [in Alsace], France, but when I was eight days old, my family moved to Paris. My dad changed jobs when my mum was pregnant, but she wanted to give birth in Strasbourg. My family is from Alsace. My maternal grandparents were Italian. They escaped [Benito] Mussolini’s Italy before World War II and my mum was born in France. That’s why I was raised Italian, while my father is from Lorraine, [from] a town next to Strasbourg.”
What was your childhood like?
“Food was always very important to my family. Every Sunday morning, my parents would go to the market to get fresh food to make a nice lunch for the family. Depending on the season, we would have dishes like scallops, Dover sole or rabbit. I started making fresh pasta with my mum when I was young.”
When did you decide to become a chef?
“I was not good in school, and in France, when you are 15 years old, you need to decide what to do with your life. I realised cooking for me could be a career, not a pastime, so I decided to try it, which was scary for my family because none of them were cooks and everyone knew it was a very hard job.”
What was the culinary programme like?