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3. “Food is not an art — food is life” Top chef Jonny Schwass lost his restaurant to the earthquake in Christchurch, but he didn’t lose his enthusiasm for slow cooking and natural products from New Zealand Text: Anke Richter Photos: Aaron McLean A hefty man with lots of sensitivity In spite of his imposing girth, Jonny Schwass (left) is a sensitive soul in the kitchen. His pale-pink duck breast (above) was cooked “sous vide” and received its crispy crust in the very last step. 41 It’s not only Jonny Schwass’ girth that is impressive. When he places a gutted duck on the chopping block, hacks off its head, strokes the carcass with his big hands, laughs and then energetically breaks a couple of its joints “like a good orthopaedic surgeon”, it becomes clear that you could trust this man implicitly to slaughter a hog or repair a diesel engine. And you’d be justifi ed in doing so: pork is his favourite meat, he requires his chefs to have butcher skills, and if he had followed his father’s advice he would be an auto mechanic today. “But both of my grandmothers were such wonderful cooks that I preferred to stay in the kitchen and learn from them,” says Schwass, who is now 40. The Schwass family, which emigrated from Germany to New Zealand in the 19th century, always harvested its vegetables fresh from the garden and ate or preserved whatever happened to be in season. Jonny Schwass has deeply internalised this philosophy of food and perfected it in his own way, with a big dose of passion and imagination. His restaurant, which was destroyed last February by the severe earthquake in Christchurch, was absolutely top-class, but his opinion on how to produce the best possible cuisine is very simple: always use local products. In his view, you have to know the farmer who produces your steaks, instead of supporting factory farming. “When I’m standing in a fi eld here in Canterbury, where we have so many good agricultural and natural products at hand, I spontaneously think of a complete dish made up of everything that’s growing there,” he says. For this environmentally oriented master chef, it’s more important to pluck a fresh fl ower

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