KITCHEN SKIN STORIES DISCOVER

Hot in and out of the kitchen, these chefs have fire in their bellies and a sensual

creativity which they feel driven to etch into their skins. Behind each of their tattoos

there’s a story waiting to be told; you just need to ask. Carla Hüsselmann did and

discovered a world of inspiration, art, memory, pain, and tequila

inkTHE TASTE OF

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ALICE IN WONDERLAND: ASH HEEGEREverywhere but her torso and back is dappled with intriguing skin art. Think a girl in an old-school bathing suit, diving into a wild boar’s mouth while holding a knife, or the number ‘10/6’, which Ash Heeger, owner and chef at ASH restaurant in Cape Town, explains originates from the card stuffed into the Mad Hatter’s hat in Alice in Wonderland, her favourite book as a child.

Known as a culinary wunderkind, Heeger is a far cry from the girl who felt like an ‘idiot’ and ‘outcast’ in school and only found where she belonged while working for renowned chef Luke Dale-Roberts, and in Michelin-starred restaurants The Ledbury and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, in London. ‘When I started out, it was a very male-dominated industry. Unlike today, it was the Wild West in the

kitchens and you had to become one of the boys or get eaten alive. You had to be twice as good at cooking as the men were. I’m not very emotional anymore – I’m tough, resilient and extremely competitive.’

Heeger certainly cultivates an intimidating exterior with her shock of short, peroxided hair, plain dark clothing that accentuates her painted strong arms, and her tangibly intense energy. But once you get her talking about food, travel and her skin art, her wary blue eyes soften and flash with warmth and excitement as she lowers her guard.

‘I got a lot of my tattoos in London – pretty much my entire right arm. I loved the anonymity of London, as well as the amazing food. It allowed me to travel

most of Europe too. I also took an inspiring three-month road

trip through the States,

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KITCHEN SKIN STORIES DISCOVER

drilled into her kneecap by artist Wesley von Blerk, but she also finds the intensity meditative and a welcome break from the noise of her kitchen. For Heeger, the physicality of the kitchen is akin to getting a tattoo. ‘It’s physically exhausting, but unlike getting a tattoo, the kitchen can be exhausting mentally and emotionally too. I’d say there’s a bit of masochism in what chefs do. I used to look like a walking burn victim and had missing fingertips. It comes with the territory: you have to learn how to deal with pain.’

As to why so many chefs sport so much ink, Heeger believes they’re nonconformists at heart. ‘We continuously push boundaries with foods and flavours. We’re true creatives. It’s great to be brave and daring, whether it’s in the kitchen or on your skin where you have the freedom to be yourself. We don’t want a corporate job where “jobstoppers” (tattoos that can’t be hidden, like on one’s hands) would be frowned upon!

‘If you’d asked me a couple of years back if I thought I was an artist, I’d have said no. But I do see myself as an artist now. Art is so fluid, whether it’s on a piece of canvas, in poetry or in music – just like when creating a dish. A few years ago, I wasn’t creating, I was replicating, but now my cooking is about innovation, but within the parameters of being delicious and sustainable.’

'It’s great to be braveand daring, whetherit’s in the kitchen oron your skin whereyou have the freedom to be yourself '

exploring tiny towns, huge cities and their mind-blowing food. In Chicago, I got tattoos of a wolf, ice cream, wishbone, a heart on my finger and the 10/6. Most of my tats are spur-of-the-moment designs and decisions.’

There are some that hold profound personal meaning like the umbrella that symbolises the shelter which her sister offers her, and the one of her beloved

French bulldog, Mash (named after mashed potato, because he looked like it when he was born, she laughs). Then there’s the black panther that covers an old tattoo that she’d rather forget because it reminds her of a broken relationship.

The most physically painful tattoos have been those on her legs, particularly the mandala design she recently had

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for two months. It was at a time in my life where I’d made bad decisions and needed to find my direction in life again. I regret getting it and I also don’t regret it – it’s on my skin now so I can’t change it, but it’s a reminder that I can change the way I go forward.

‘I have the phrase Leef het leven voor het koken tattooed on the back of my arm – it’s Dutch for “live life for cooking”. On the back of my leg, I have an infinity symbol with the words “passion” and “drive” on either side of it. It’s how we do everything in the kitchen. It’s not hard work – it’s about playing around in the kitchen and creating.

‘When I worked at Delaire Graff restaurant in Stellenbosch, my team became my family. We decided to get a smiley face tattoo before we went our separate ways, so we would always remember each other. It symbolises the close bond we shared in the kitchen. I always tell my guys you have to learn how to love and respect each other in and outside the kitchen. After all, we see each other more than we see our biological families and partners. Your team

members are your siblings – you fight with them, you make up, you

support each other and you create together. I don’t think you get a tighter family. Some kitchens have better family ethics than conventional families do.’

THE FAMILY MAN: RICKEY BROEKHOVEN‘My tattoos are a reminder of my history and my absolute passion for cooking,’ says Rickey Broekhoven, who is the handsome head chef at The Restaurant at Newton Johnson, a wine estate in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley near Hermanus. ‘They’re about bonds and what I’ve achieved. The first one I had done when I’d just finished school: it’s on my ribs and has three feathers hanging off a red bead. Each feather represents a family member: my parents got divorced, so there’s a feather representing my mom and my stepdad. The broken feather symbolises my dad and his history.

‘Another very personal tattoo is the compass on my left leg which has Lev Livet above it, which is “live life” in Swedish. It’s a memento from when I worked at a harbour hotel in Fjällbacka on Sweden’s east coast

'it’s on my skin now so I can ’t change it, but it’s a reminder that I can change the way I go forward'

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against all odds and had chefs telling me I was too young and inexperienced to be an executive chef, or that I was pushing the boundaries too hard. I’m hoping to be viewed as a dragon in the industry now. I’m a good dragon – one that teaches other dragons to blow fire and one who cooks really good food with the fire that I blow.

‘At the bottom of my arm I have spiralling stars that cover a burn scar. I was wearing sneakers with smooth soles to work one day and slipped, dipping my whole hand into a boiling stock pot. It looked like streaky pork belly! I had to put on a glove and keep working with third-degree burns. Pain is part of what we do. Some of us have tattoos and the rest of us have scars from kitchen accidents.’

THE DRAGON: SYLVESTER NAIR‘There’s a meme that always makes me laugh,’ says Sylvester Nair, executive chef of the Da Vinci Hotel and Suites in Joburg. ‘It goes: “A tattoo sleeve used to mean you were a biker who would kill. Now it means you’re a chef who makes a lovely pork belly with balsamic drizzle.” Pork belly is actually one of my best dishes!

‘When I was 16, I got a tattoo with my B-boy dance crew: a cross on my wrist. My dad [renowned Oyster Box Hotel head chef Luke Nair] threatened to cut off my arm – he said if I was going to have tattoos, I needed to be paying for my own rent and food. I had my second one done when I was 19 and had moved out of home. It’s koi fish in a pond with lotus flowers and clouds on my right arm. My dad used to breed koi fish. According to Chinese legend, a koi can swim against the current and once it gets into the mountains, it transforms into a golden dragon. Koi symbolise perseverance and strength. I’ve lived my life like that: I’ve gone

'Pain is part of whatwe do. Some of us have tattoos and the rest of us have scars '

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KITCHEN SKIN STORIES DISCOVER

THE WOLF: EUGENE RAMCHARAN‘It seems natural that besides creating art on plates, we’d also want to create art on our skins,’ says Eugene Ramcharan, commis chef at Umhlanga’s legendary Beverly Hills Hotel. You’d never know about Eugene’s skin art, though, because as with most hotels, tattoos at the Beverly Hills are strictly off the menu for staff members, and have to be kept covered up. ‘Tattoos are an outlet to express our creativity and dedication. Many individuals

express their art in different forms, I just chose to express my inner art desire through tattooing. It’s something we do for ourselves and not to impress others or meet others’ expectations. ‘My tattoos speak to my personal beliefs and personality. I have “faith” on my left forearm – it’s a reminder to always have faith in God,

and in myself. Often we lose faith in ourselves and give up on

our dreams, but it reminds me to never give up.

‘The tattoo on my right arm of a forest of pine trees is a work in progress. I’m going to complete it with

a wolf and possibly mountains too.

I feel I share similar characteristics with a wolf. It’s a hunter and leader. The wolf is a very smart animal too and was made for extreme conditions. It gets extremely hot in the kitchen at times, but that kind of intense pressure makes you push yourself to meet the high standards and demands of our industry. The link between my creativity in the kitchen and my skin art is that they both show that I’m not afraid to try new things – I love to fuse classic cooking techniques with modern trends and unique flavours – and to stick to my decisions.’

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'My back is divided into human meat cuts, as you ’d see them on abutchering diagram '

harvested from the lush forest floor and his mountainous surroundings remain the cornerstone of his culinary creations – ‘daily seasonal’ dishes that ensure his locally and sustainably-sourced produce, verdant imagination and renowned skills find their full creative expression.

A forest silhouette tattoo on his right shin pays homage to his outdoor kitchen, relates Erasmus. ‘I also have six tattoos making up my left arm sleeve into a foliage of leaves, ferns and a reindeer. My back is divided into human meat cuts, as you’d see them on a butchering diagram. This happened one night on my kitchen table after a lot of tequila when my tattoo artist Robert Turner

stayed over. It symbolises my passion for cooking… Eat me when I’m dead?’ he quips mischievously. ‘But the most meaningful one is of an angel pin-up girl holding my son Liam’s heart and name on my left shoulder.’ When asked why so many chefs seem to have a penchant for tats, he replies that ‘it’s like being aboard a pirate ship: the more hardcore you are, the better.’ In fact, most of his team sport ink too and of course share his fieriness

for the adrenaline-fuelled nature of the kitchen, where ‘every minute is unpredictable’ and many suffer from ‘full-blown Tourette’s’. ‘I thrive in the

kitchen because I’m a sucker for punishment. It’s like a secret

society or brotherhood: only chefs will understand.’

THE PIRATE CAPTAIN: CHRIS ERASMUSFrom a she-devil to an archery pin-up girl to skulls and ‘a V8 engine morphed with a human heart’, Chris Erasmus, owner and chef of Foliage restaurant in Franschhoek, admits he willingly suffers from a tattoo addiction: ‘I love and regret all of them at the same time – in fact, I hate getting tattooed because it hurts! But they’re all part of a full-body tattoo in progress. Good or bad, if I look at a tattoo it always reminds me of something that happened before I got it.’

The famed forager and self-proclaimed ‘backyard veggie gardener’ spends his mornings combing the Franschhoek forest in the heart of the Cape Winelands for cunning little fungi with evocative names like saffron milk caps, penny buns, slippery jacks and red cracking boletes. For chef Erasmus, the indigenous treasures

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KITCHEN SKIN STORIES DISCOVER

THE QUEEN OF TARTS: ROXI WARDMAN‘I call my entire right arm my foodie arm,’ says Roxi Wardman, a MasterChef SA winner who owns a catering business in Durban. ‘My phoenix tattoo represents me being born into a new life, because I went from being a train driver’s assistant to a chef. Then there’s the leopard print, which has become my signature, and a cupcake, as I’m known as a dessert queen. I also have the herbs rosemary, thyme, sage and lavender etched on my arm because

they’re a few of my favourite herbs. There’s a lotus flower, which has to make its way through all the dirt to blossom – this is definitely the case for me, too. The stag represents me: I’ve become as strong through my food journey.

‘Each of my tattoos has a different meaning and has come about at different stages of my life. They show my journey through life, the highs and lows, as well as the transformations I’ve undergone. I have a Portuguese saying under my right collarbone: A vida é linda – it means “life is beautiful”. My mom is Portuguese and life is undoubtedly beautiful. Like my creativity in the kitchen, my tattoos give me the freedom to be who I am and to show people what I’m all about. I’m comfortable in my own skin and completely unique and quirky.

‘My tattoos ultimately remind me of how far I’ve come.’

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