Cuisine is about three things: technique, products, and emotions | Sang Hoon Degeimbre | TEDxBrussels

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Cuisine is about curiosity, creativity, observation, reactivity, honesty, humility, conviction, being human and ... gardens!

Sang Hoon Degeimbre is an award-winning Chef and the owner of L'Air du Temps, Michelin-starred restaurant in Belgium. At the age of five, he was adopted with his younger brother into a large Belgian family with eight other children. By the age of 14, Degeimbre had discovered his love of cooking, and preparing meals for his family not only trained him in the practicalities of cooking for large numbers, but it also ignited his desire for further education.

Cuisine is only three things to me:
technique, product, and emotion.

I am Sang Hoon Degeimbre,

I'm the chef and the owner
of the restaurant L'Air Du Temps

situated 50 kilometers away
from Brussels, in the countryside.

My first inspiration
to create dishes was wine

because I used to be a sommelier
before I opened my restaurant.

[Technique is important
to improve products]

For me, techniques came first.

In terms of product, I searched around
in the surrounding farm,

in this beautiful place, in Éghezée,

to find the basis of my creations.

I think you can't speak about products

without experiencing
how to grow them yourself.

We searched around, we started to learn,

step by step, like a chemist:

try, fail, try, fail again.

I think some of my first guests
remember this -

or not; they're not there anymore.

We were missing something in this area.

We were missing a garden,
we were missing nice vegetables.

When we started,
I never could have imagined

what the impact of the garden
would be on my philosophy.

The most important thing
is to be open-minded;

and to be aware, to push boundaries.

If I had to name my cuisine style,

it would be something like 'terroir
contemporain, ' contemporary terroir.

We have to care about tradition,

we have to care about our producers
and all our local providers.

But we also focus on our roots.

My roots are in Belgium and in Korea, too.

'Terroir contemporain' means tradition,

but there is no tradition
without modernity,

and that's why I focus
on technology, and modernity,

caring for whatever is at its best now,

and caring for
our comfort zone and tradition.

We have many foreigners
in the restaurant, and this means

(Video starts)

(Voice-over) Do you hear me?

Sang Hoon Degeimbre: ...we create dinners
together with international chefs,

with some of my friends
from all around the world.

We focus on the garden
to create a nice dinner for our guests.

The dinning room only covers for 40 guests

but cuisine is like a party.

We invite them to have
an aperitif, to have a drink,

and to party along with us
afterwards in the kitchen.

You have to be open-minded
and keep focusing on your own style,

but caring for what is happening
around the world.

I want to explain you the different steps

I needed to take
before I could have my own style.

I am really passionate about science,

and this kiwi-oyster
is our kind of signature dish.

I focused on aromas
because I used to be a sommelier.

As a sommelier, I think,
the best tool is my nose.

I started to combine different foods

depending on the major aromatic flavors
they had in common.

Kiwi and oyster have
more than 14 flavors in common;

unbelievable.

It looks nice, but it's even better
when you taste it.

You have to; maybe one day.

Kiwi and oyster are only two ingredients,

but I have to speak about my emotions.

My emotions mean

I just want to give you new combinations,
a new taste, a new experience.

It's the same for this lobster.

Step by step, after 15 years
of experience in the garden--

My garden is my first inspiration.

There are a lot of problems in a garden.

Water is the main problem.

Sometimes it rains too much
- we are in Belgium -

and sometimes, we don't have enough.

How can I cook my stuff
- my vegetables, my lobster,

this fabulous lobster
coming from Belgium -

how can I cook them without water?

I use the steam of the vegetables
I didn't use because they weren't pretty,

I use the steam of the vegetables to cook
my potatoes, my lobster, and my carrots.

Have you ever seen
a recipe with ugly leaves?

We'd only take the best.

But the best for me doesn't have
the same meaning than it has for you.

For me, the best is a question of taste.

And that's why we use ugly leaves
to cook carrots without water.

Water, once again:

to avoid waste in my garden,
I create these kinds of water.

And as a technique, I use
a processing machine

to extract the flavor
of all the components.

And my emotions in this--

I just wanted to offer
yet another experience to my guests.

Pairing it with wine -- I think
every restaurant can do that.

But pairing it with water,
that's pretty new;

and you'll have
an unbelievable experience.

And you have to taste it again.

I love having guests
in my house, in my restaurant,

but I love to see them coming back.

Avoiding alcohol is sometimes
good for security reasons.

The same for my garden.

I have Korean roots, and it's common
in Korea to ferment food,

ferment the vegetables
to preserve them for wintertime.

During the summertime
we have too much vegetables,

and we try to avoid waste.

That's why we started to ferment.

At the beginning of the winter,
we had over one ton of vegetables

lying in the cellar,
waiting to feed people.

I think the right word for this
is sustainability.

This dish is really important for me.

I'm politically engaged.

I just want to fight
against excessive tuna-fishing.

Imagine this dish:
the main component is beetroot.

It comes from my garden.

And when you see it,
it looks like tuna flesh.

I use this to replace tuna.

I use some Korean ingredients:
fish, anchovy, and some shellfish.

It's like a nice life in the blue sea.

This blue sea is made with cabbage

and anchovy dashi.

Imagine this perfect life:

lying on the sea, quiet.

But imagine the aggressiveness of men

who have put a drop of fear
in this blue sea.

Each time you dip your spoon
into this dish, it turns into blood;

the blood of the tuna
in excessive fishing.

It's a nice message,

but it's edible, too.

The last thing that is
really important to me

is I have never learned to manage a team.

I have never learned how to cook,
I have never learned to taste wine,

but I've become one of the best
sommeliers in Belgium,

I have two Michelin stars,
but how do I manage my team?

Everybody used to take care
of the entire kitchen,

but do you know what's the reality?

That used to be the tradition,
it used to be the reality,

but a lot has changed.

To manage a team
I used the model for my garden.

I do 'permaculture', and now,
I want to do 'permanagement';

to manage my team is like having
different plants in my garden.

There is a certain richness in my garden.

Imagine this: I have 45 people
in three different restaurants,

and this is my way to manage them:

I take care of each human
as if each were a plant.

They have to care for the other plants
behind and right next to them.

You have to keep this in mind.

They look quite happy, don't they?

I have to give one last example.

I created an R&D department
in my restaurant.

I thought about incorporating this
R&D chef in the classical kitchen.

But I wasn't convinced by my approach.

And so I wondered what was the best
example of an R&D chef in my garden?

The best R&D chefs
turned out to be the bees.

Imagine bees going from flower to flower

and leaving a trace
of each flower in the next.

And the pollen becomes a fruit.

It's the same with our R&D chefs:
they go from position to position,

asking advice from each of the chefs.

What do you think it takes place
inside each of these chefs?

It grows a fruit, the fruit of importance.

It's just a minor example,
but we need to reflect upon this.

For me, 'emotion' means 'human.'

It will be the next trend.

And cooking, 'la cuisine,'
is not only cooking.

Thank you very much for your attention,
and if you want to hear more about this,

I could keep talking about this
for many more hours.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)