Chefs as changemakers: ‘We can shape the future of food’

Artisans, innovators, and opinion leaders. The impact of chefs goes way beyond the restaurant kitchen walls, argues Michelin-starred chef Emile van der Staak. “Chefs can create a new food culture, because they are excellent craftsmen and innovate on the job. When we use our mastermind to valorize a plant-based protein, one opens up to a whole new world,” he states.

Emile has been embracing change for years, seeking new, animal-free flavors. With his work on botanical gastronomy, crafting new dishes only using edible plants, he made a name for himself. De Nieuwe Winkel, his Nijmegen-based restaurant, was elected the world’s best vegetable restaurant in 2023. In 2024, Emile was Gault&Milau Netherlands’ chef of the year. Through his work, he gives a voice to an alternative way of looking at our food system, which needs to be less dependent on animal proteins.

He is the first chef to give a keynote speech at F&A Next, which will be held in Wageningen on May 21 and 22. The event is a chance for agrifood investors, companies, and innovators to meet and connect. On the buildup to the summit, we spoke with him about his career, inspiration for recipes, and the future of food.

The journey to the top

Being brought up in a family that used to grow vegetables in the garden, and by a vegetarian mum, Emile has been familiar with plant-based menus since a young age. He entered the first professional kitchen at the age of 14, starting as a dishwasher like many other renowned colleagues. His job at the restaurant helped him during his study years, even on the side of his studies as a civil engineer.

“Working in a kitchen was never the plan, to be honest. Nevertheless, I realized that engineering was not my thing. I felt like I wasn’t adding any value or getting any reward. Cooking is a new challenge every day, but you also get daily gratification–when you do it properly.”

Taking this leap, Emile starts studying to become a professional quickly getting a chef diploma. The real learning came later on, working in several restaurants. So he moved abroad. Switzerland, England, and Portugal are the first stops of his journey. Then, he moved northwards again, working in Brussels and Amsterdam. Now in Nijmegen, all this wealth of experience is paying dividends, showing that an alternative is possible.

“As with any other craft, you learn by doing. After some 60,000 hours working in a kitchen, the experience starts to work for you. It has been quite a journey, but luckily, I met some excellent chefs who gave me the right guidance.” Former Michelin star chef Paul Fagel was undoubtedly one of them.

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Nature as the inspiration

Inspiration for new recipes can come in many forms. A rising innovation or the influence of fellow chefs can trigger Emile’s creativity, while in some other moments, ideas come directly from nature. To this extent, the collaboration with botanist Wouter van Eck has been instrumental in De Nieuwe Winkel’s experimentation. Groesbeek’s Keletbroek food forest became a place to create many of his dishes, thinking along with nature’s rhythms. And the restaurant menu follows the one of the nature's seasons.

“The Japanese walnut, for instance, hardly gives you any harvest in the first year. You have time to think what to do with its high protein content and velvet mouthfeel. The Chinese mahogany, instead, produces feathered leaves that taste like French onion soup. When pruning the tree, we smelled its wood’s aroma, so I thought of using pieces of it to make a broth. Suddenly, I remembered the Japanese walnuts and their taste and combined them with broth. Then the pieces come together, and the puzzle is completed.”

Emile in the Keletbroek food forest – © De Nieuwe Winkel

Keeping an eye on foodtech

The chef doesn’t talk about ingredients, techniques, or preparation. He instead refers to building blocks–ironically, a reminiscence of his engineering background. Emile is always on the lookout for new building blocks to add, keeping an eye on rising food technologies. Precision fermentation particularly sparked his interest.

“There are many plant-based proteins on the market that are not functional and precision fermentation can make them useful. It will likely take another decade to get to an industrial scale, but it holds great potential,” he underlines.

To this extent, the chef is an early adopter. In his continuous research at the Nieuwe Winkel, he experiments with the Belgian company Those Vegan Cowboys. The company develops plant-based cheese, and Emile is looking at ways to use this technology and find viable applications. He is excited to explore with bacteria and seek new flavors. In his view, the role of chefs is overlooked in implementing these technologies, while it can be a determining factor.

“If you find out how to use a new protein, you should go to the best chef and ask him: ‘What would you make out of it?’ Then imagination comes into play alongside understanding the material and how to make good food from it.”

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Using the culinary talent for good

Emile’s curiosity is the driving force that makes him trespass boundaries and experiment. The thrill of creating something new and the fact that an alternative food system is possible are unmatched.

“At the end of the day, I just want to be the best. And if any of my fellow colleagues tells me that one does it for the guests, I don’t think it is true. It is about me creating something that has never been done before and staying true to my principles. I would probably build bridges with bio-based materials if I were still in civil engineering. Ultimately, I want to ensure my talent is used to the best of my ability,” concludes the chef.