THE WELL-TRAVELED CHEF WHO DIVES INTO THE WORLD OF FLAVORS
For a few years now, Marseille the oldest French city has become a hub for creatives from all over the world. The multicultural and vibrant capital of culture who lies on the Mediterranean sea has become a strategic base to reset body and soul and a good excuse to unveil hidden gems. Among them: Zuri Camille De Souza the multi-dimensional chef behind Sanna.
Fabienne Ayina: In 2022 the Academy of France in Roma launched an experimental residency and culinary creation for the first time. You have been the first chef to be invited. It must have been both, exciting and scary? Can you describe your experience at the Villa Médici?
Zuri Camille De Souza: It’s been such an intense year–such an abundance of new experiences! I’m not sure where to begin with my residency at the Villa Medici. It was definitely a big challenge coming into such an old establishment with so many layers, and finding my place in the huge ecosystem that’s running it – from the gardeners to the residents to the secretary to the librarians and everyone in between… I think I came in and shook things up a bit! Working with Sam Stourdzé and his team, and having amazing mentors. I want to thank The Small Group who allowed me to realize a lot of dreams –working from the kitchen garden to local producers , creating a new way of eating that moves away from the really stuffy protocol– that can show up in spaces like this. I had the opportunity to cook for very interesting creative people and work closely with the artists in residence to interpret their works through my food and I found this very inspiring. Also, just going deeper into the terroir of Lazio and eating such delicious produce all year round gave me so many ideas about what I’d like to develop in my own practice as a chef.
F.A: Your inspiration is coming from your childhood spent in the South West of India. Your dad is catholic from Kenya and Goa and your mom is from Pune and Mumbai. You also traveled the world. Why did you pick food to explore your identity and creativity?
ZCDS: I’ve always enjoyed eating and cooking and find a lot of value in the connections between food and sustainability. My parents come from different religious and regional backgrounds and so my brother and I grew up with a mix of cultures, festivals and culinary heritages. I’ve always struggled with people placing this stamp of ‘Indian culture’ on me—it such a diverse country that I can’t accept one reductive, homogenized interpretation of it. When I started cooking, I realized that it’s also a way to engage with this complexity, to share my experience of India with others.
F.A: It seems there is some kind of joie de vivre and freedom in your food. You are not scared to experiment or reinvent recipes. Is it coming from your own instinct or maybe curiosity? I found traveling, being polyglot and having a multicultural background are developing these two qualities effortlessly.
ZCDS: I try to find links between the produce and terroir of the place I find myself in and my own culinary practice—its a balance between sensitivity and being open to different ways of doing things. I think there’s a fine line between interpretation and appropriation and I don’t feel comfortable with reinventing something that I don’t understand fully, through all my senses. I feel like in France, people are finally exploring ingredients and ways of eating and cooking techniques from the global south but I sometimes find it decontextualized and a bit lost. So yes, I’m experimenting and exploring but not sure I’m reinventing because I am committed to honoring the techniques and traditions that came before me. Maybe what I cook is an expression of an understanding or the beginning of one.
F.A: When I contacted you, you were doing apnea in what seemed a far-flung destination. Is being a chef a synonym of being an adventurer in real life?
ZCDS: I was free-diving in the Gulf of Aqaba . It’s in the Sinai region . I have spent a lot of time in Palestine so it was nice to be back in the desert again, but this time by the coast! I do free diving as a meditation practice, to connect with the stillness and beauty that I find under the water. It is also an opportunity to work against my fears and discomfort. I’m not sure if being a chef is being an adventurer! I think there is definitely a narrative that the industry is quite rock and roll and adrenaline-filled but I’m more of an NTS radio and turmeric infusions type of chef. It is definitely a universe that could do with more mindfulness and intention because there’s a very toxic layer to all the violence and speed and intensity that one might find in the kitchen.
F.A: Someone told me once home is where the people you love are. You are now based in Marseille which is a very special place and in a way can be the perfect place for nomads. Is it your final destination? After living in different continents and having many lives, where is home for you now?
ZCDS: Home is definitely Marseille for the moment, I have the sea and my closest friends here.
PHOTOS | JIMMY GRANGER
TEXT | FABIENNE AYINA