Rachel Khoo | CHEF’S CUT
"I decided this year that I need to do a little bit less. But even my doing less is too much," laughed Khoo in a Skype interview from somewhere in the Swedish countryside. It was eight in the morning there and already she was sounding bright and chirpy, fielding questions to promote the cookbook, The Little Swedish Kitchen.
She talked about her new life in Sweden (where she now lives with her family), a foreign country with which she needs to familiarise herself again. "The way I usually integrate into a culture is through the food. It's a good way of learning about the culture and learning the language," said Khoo. It's not unusual that food would be an important connection to her new abode. After all, she became famous as the winsome English girl turning out classic French dishes with her own fresh approach from a tiny Parisian kitchen. Naturally, she has turned her experiences with Swedish cuisine into a cookbook, divided into the four seasons and peppered with personal anecdotes. "In my introduction, I've clearly stated that this is not a 101 on every Swedish dish there
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is. This is my way of discovering my new home. That's why it's a personal story in that sense," she explained. "Some people would go, ‘Oh, but this is the traditional way of doing it, you can't change it.’ And I go, ‘But why not try?’ It's not always successful but you never know. I'm always open to trying new things out." For example, with the classic Beef Bourguignon from her Parisian days, Khoo gave it her personal twist by adding baguette dumplings. In her new cookbook, she gives the recipe for vegetarian Swedish meatballs; it was at the insistence of her husband that she included the meat version as well. This playfulness with flavours is probably a product of her mixed cultural upbringing. Born in south London to a Malaysian father and an Austrian mother, she had a jumble of culinary influences for her family’s dining table. "I grew up with rendang and chicken porridge, and we always had Sunday roast at home as well as schnitzel and fries. There would be a lot of flavours involved. I always say it was like having the United Nations on the table." A graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, Khoo embarked on her working life as a fashion PR and marketing rep in London. In a mid-career reflection, she decided to pursue her dream of going to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris for a pastry diploma. "I was only intending to do it for a year, and if it didn't work out, I'd just go back to London and get a job." That was almost eight years ago, and Khoo hasn't had to resort to her fallback plan.
goingplacesmagazine.com | 57 | September 2018
Rachel Khoo has had a busy year. She usually has a full plate, but this past year has been especially eventful for the British cook, social media star and television personality. She renovated a new studio for her online lifestyle magazine Khoollect, wrote a new cookbook, and oh, she had a baby. If there's anything that we can say about Khoo, it's that life does not sit still with her.
This is thanks to her indefatigable enthusiasm and go-getting attitude. Success did not come to Khoo on a silver platter. In Paris, she worked as
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