Children at six, adults at nine
The Family Season Chef
Two menus a night without cooking twice, allergies remembered, and a lunch that feeds eight adults and five children who will not sit down.
Skills
What the job actually demands
- Designing one shopping list that serves two menus
- Remembering five dietary requirements without a chart
- Feeding children early without wasting the adults’ produce
- Keeping a week varied for people who eat every meal at home
Watch out
The warning sign
A chef who treats the children’s meal as an interruption. In a family week it is half the job and the parents notice immediately.
Trial
How to audition one
Ask for a sample week with the children’s meals written in. The detail shows whether they have done it before.
Ask these five questions
Before you book
- How do you plan so the children’s meal is not separate work?
- What do you cook on day five, when everyone is tired of fish?
- How do you handle the allergy list?
- What time does the kitchen close?
- What do you do on the day we are out for lunch?
Questions hosts ask
Can one chef cook for children and adults?
Yes, if the menu is planned as one shopping list with two services. A chef who cooks two separate menus will be exhausted by day four.
Is a family chef cheaper than a villa chef?
Slightly, because the cooking is less elaborate, but the hours are the same and the planning is harder.
Formats
Where this profile fits
Format
A chef for the week, not the eveningVilla Residency
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and the shopping, for a house of eight to sixteen, for five to ten days.
Read on
Format
Four services a day, at altitudeChalet Season
The Alpine week: breakfast, packed lunch, afternoon tea and dinner for up to sixteen, in a house where the supermarket shuts at seven and water boils at ninety three degrees..
Read on
Format
Boat, vineyard, mountain, bonnet of a carThe Travelling Lunch
Lunch where there is no kitchen at all: a boat, a vineyard row, a mountain hut, a beach at the end of a track.
Read onMenus
What they cook
Menu
Vegetables first, meat optionalThe Summer Garden Menu
A vegetable led dinner where nothing feels like a substitution: charred hearts, raw and pickled elements, a grain, a whole roasted centrepiece, and cheese or fish for the guests who want it..
Read on
Menu
Seven days that buildThe Alpine Week
Not one dinner but seven, arranged as a rhythm: two simple nights, one showpiece, one fondue, a raclette, a soup supper and the night everyone goes out..
Read on
Menu
Four hours, one table, no hurryThe Tuscan Long Lunch
Antipasti that stay on the table, a pasta course carried out in two big bowls, bistecca from the fire, and a fruit dessert at four in the afternoon..
Read onMarkets
Where to find them
Market
Nine months of outdoor dinners and a staff pool that speaks four languagesMarbella
The Costa del Sol has the longest outdoor dining season in Europe, villas built for entertaining and prices a third below the French coast.
Read on
Market
Villas, olive trees and a food culture that needs no helpTuscany
Tuscany gives you the best produce to price ratio in Europe, villas built for thirty at one table and a trade that understands weddings better than anywhere on this list..
Read on
Market
Full board for fourteen, at altitude, for seven daysSt. Moritz
The Alps do not sell dinners, they sell weeks.
Read on