Meet: Aruna

Aruna is an artist. As far back as anyone can remember, she was dabbling with colors. As she grew up, flavors joined colors, and Aruna was soon dabbling in the kitchen as well. Growing up in an Indian military family, the constant moving within the country brought about an exposure to formal dining as well as culinary excellence early in life, with the myriad culinary styles across India: From appreciating the art of subtle flavorings of North Indian cuisine to developing a palate for robust coastal cooking, loaded with coconut and spices. Later in life, Aruna traveled the world and picked up global influences. Seven years in Dubai gave her a life-long appreciation of Middle Eastern cuisine. Having now lived over a decade in Switzerland, Aruna was able to learn about techniques and exciting trends in continental cooking. For Aruna, travel is as much about deconstructing local cuisines as it is about soaking in local tourist landmarks. She loves to recreate the taste of her memories into a dish in her Zurich home. Food is a constantly evolving subject, and there is always something exotic to discover or some new trend to get an understanding of. Aruna is cruising down this culinary journey, enjoying the new flavors life brings as well as creating memorable moments for her family and friends.

Read More About Aruna

Meet: Benjamin

Benjamin has started to show a keen interest in all things food from a young age. As a child, he loved watching his parents cook, and soon started to try out things himself. Benjamin has been cooking for family and friends since he was a teenager, he then went on to become a chef and study at the Hotel Management School Belvoirpark in Zurich. Benjamin loves sharing his passion for food: After acquiring the diploma in adult education, he returned to Belvoirpark as a lecturer, where he taught theoretical courses and instructed practical trainings. He left the school and went back to working as a chef de service, sharpening his skills to open his own restaurant someday. In his leisure time, Benjamin can often be found exploring new stores, restaurants as well as ingredients. By now, his friends are all used to serve as a test audience for his culinary experiments. When a new dish catches his eyes, he will try and tweak the preparation over and over until he is happy with the result. Benjamin has been living in Zürich for the last ten years and always tries to keep up with the ever-changing culinary landscape.

Read More About Benjamin

Meet: Emma

Emma grew up in the Irish countryside, where her mother and grandmother inspired her interest in good food. They were all partial to strong ingredients and interesting flavor combinations, and spent most of their time in the vegetable patch or kitchen. Emma’s lunchboxes were legendary; often filled with anchovy, pickled walnut or marmite sandwiches and one of her favorite childhood meals was steamed artichoke dipped in a lightly spiced vinaigrette. It’s no surprise then that she ended up embarking on a career in gastronomy (with a small detour teaching history). Working as a chef, blogger and sommelier, she now gets to live the foodie life on the frontline. In her spare time, she can be found cycling through the back streets of Zürich with her one-year old daughter, looking for hidden cafés and restaurants, and hoping to continue the family line with a new, young foodie. Coffee, wine and a good sandwich are her daily fuel, with a bit of ice cream thrown in!

Read More About Emma

Meet: Paul

Paul is a neuroscientist and works in a lab where he engineers proteins to understand the brain. After a long day at work, he arrives home and he can finally concentrate on the experiments he is most passionate about. He pours a glass of wine, plays some music and goes to his own personal lab: The kitchen. Paul’s passion for food started around the age of 12 when his grandmother passed along a bunch of secret recipes from her small restaurant in Mexico City. Paul never went to cooking school; instead, he took the scientist empirical approach. He would go to restaurants, then to the supermarket to buy ingredients and try to recreate them at home. That curiosity pushed Paul to travel around the world in search of new flavors and inspiration. 8 years ago, he started doing tailored catering for small groups. After living in Germany for 6 years, Paul has moved to Switzerland. In his own words: “Zurich is a geek-foodie paradise! There is so much food-innovation and technology... and yet it’s full love and dedication.” These days, he eats mainly a plant-based diet and is adopting a low/zero food waste mindset. In his free time, Paul loves music festivals, jogging and photography.

Read More About Paul

Meet: Yuan

Read More About Yuan