DORÉ

Matthew Kenney is a true innovator. A classically trained chef in French cuisine, he soon discovered his true, plant based passion. He has spent his life infusing his creativity and passion into everything he does, from an extensive portfolio of restaurants across the world, to a culinary academy, a number of books, a wellness retreat and also, a restaurant in Venice, where you can find me, pretty often. He is a superstar in his domain and people from around the world come to study with him and taste his delicious cuisine.

He’s also successfully weathered the ups and downs of owning his own businesses, and let yoga and a plant-based lifestyle take him to where he is today. He recently launched PlantLab, his integrated lifestyle brand, that allows people from all walks of life to share in and enjoy his innovative methods and spread it across the world.

Matthew is such an inspiration to me. I hope you enjoy meeting him as much as I did..

[podcast_episode episode=”253651″ ]

On the power of positive thinking…
I am very positive thinker. I’ve gone through so many challenges with business and becoming a chef. I’m able to focus on the positive and the reason why I’m doing it. If I stay focused on that, it doesn’t matter if you have setbacks, it’s just a temporary thing.

On being able to think ahead…
I definitely think several steps ahead. Of course the path is always changing, but I was absolutely always thinking more about the career like what do I want to do with what I’m learning and how’s that going to change over time.

On how he came to head up his own kitchen…
I didn’t take the typical path. I’d been working at a Sicilian restaurant and the manager who hired me saw how I was progressing, I was going to school full time and cooking full time, and he left that restaurant to take a job at a restaurant that was kind of failing and he said he’d do that if he could bring his own chef and he invited me to be the executive chef. I’d never managed a kitchen, purchased food or done food costs or even written my own menu, but I had so much fire and passion for it that I knew I could do it and I did it.

On the physical and emotional impact of treating your body well…
I joined a gym when I was in high school, and I started working out and noticed how good I felt. Then I started running and got high from that and I’ve kept this up my whole life. I realized I could impact not just my physical well-being, but my emotional well-being by paying attention to what I put in my body and what I do with my body.

On finding yoga following the challenges of running a business after 9/11…
I eventually sold everything and was left without anything except a clean place to start. It was obviously very sad to go from running this big, strong company to not having anything, but that’s when I got really into yoga. I did a lot of yoga and was able to find a happiness in a simple moment of breathing. I didn’t need all those things at that time and it opened me up to discovering a plant-based lifestyle.

On Matthew Kenney Culinary…
It’s incredibly rewarding. It’s the single most gratifying thing that happens for me. We had 30 or so students graduate last month from probably 20 countries. They are so enthusiastic and creative and doing amazing work. To see that they travel across the world to learn our style and then they’re going to take that out and share it with others; it’s the most gratifying part of my job.

On how his feelings on raw food have shifted…
What raw food was to me before is completely different now. I don’t really care anymore if a dish is cooked above 110 degrees, I care more about the character of the dish. You can have a dish where 9 out of 10 ingredients are raw but there might be a roasted mushroom in there and that’s ok!

On veganism…
For me, there are three primary reasons to be plant-based or vegan. As a chef, I love good food, I love wine, so for me, this food tastes a million times better than anything else. If it’s well prepared, it’s so vibrant, so colorful. I can’t compare it to anything else. That’s for people’s own pleasure seeking satisfaction. But beyond that, it’s much more aligned with the needs of our body. It’s going to produce a healthier body and better life experience and everything that goes along with health. Health is really everything. Last and not least at all, because we are one planet, it’s just sustainable. It’s better for the animals, the environment and creates a more sustainable and happier world without pain and suffering. It’s hard to argue against those three pillars in my mind.