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That’s not all. Siegfried Nierhaus loves to talk about food too. If he had his way, that would be 100 per cent of the time.
Talking about food, he turns even more impassioned when it comes to his favourite cuisines – German and Austrian. As German as Stollen, Nierhaus, 37, has spent much of his life around food.
“Hospitality is in my blood. I could not have chosen anything but working in the hotel industry. It was something that I grew up with,” says Nierhaus, general manager of Radisson SAS Hotel, Dubai Media City.
Son of restaurateurs from Essen, in the west of Germany, Siegfried’s parents ran a restaurant originally started by his grandparents under the family name.
Some 48 years since it opened its doors, the restaurant still serves authentic German Austrian delicacies and little has changed except that one of his brothers now runs it.
As a child, he and his two brothers performed in a band to entertain guests at the family restaurant. Siegfried played the accordion while the others played the drums and guitar.
“While the guests enjoyed their food, we played music to add to the atmosphere,” he says. “It was lots of fun and a part of growing up. We learnt very early in life about entertaining guests and extending traditional hospitality. It all revolved around food.”
For Siegfried, food is a window into a culture – a very tempting window, at that.
“It’s a cultural thing. You can learn so much through food. It’s the best way to know a people, their history ...” he says.
Having spent most of his childhood helping his mother in the restaurant’s kitchen, he developed an affinity towards cooking from a very early age.
“Except for the first three years of my life when I was too young to think about food, I have been thinking about food for the better part of my life.
“I have been cooking since the age of 3 so you can say that I grew up with it. I have always admired my mother’s cooking and loved the way she concocted recipes in a matter of minutes – and the best part was that everything that she cooked turned out wonderful.”
Far from cutting himself off from the apron strings, Nierhaus says he’s still very much attached to them. “And [I] would hate to let go of them.”
All you guys out there who are constantly under siege on the apron strings bit, take comfort.
On the matter of cooking, Nierhaus – otherwise modern minded – turns out to be quintessentially traditional. Not one to experiment with new flavours or mix unfamiliar ingredients.
No, thank you. Rather he is proud that he has fixed ideas about food and how it should be cooked and served. He intensely dislikes the trend of cooks resorting to shortcuts. And don’t even get him started on fast food. He could give Eric Schlosser a complex.
“If you are not eating good food, it’s impossible to gauge how much you are missing out in life. To put it simply, it’s a huge loss that takes a toll on the quality of life.”
Has he heard that one which goes: people who eat food slowly and savour it are passionate observers of life as opposed to the shovellers who have no time to nurture passion, of any sort?
Food, he agrees, must be savoured. “It is a very important part of our lives and deserves respect. I don’t understand when people say they have no time to eat [at a leisurely pace]. Food is meant to be eaten at a leisurely pace. I like to savour the sight, aroma and flavour of food. Meal times are social times. Spare some time for a good leisurely meal is all I would say to the shovellers.”
Siegfried is trying to pass on this respect for food to his two children, Andrea, 11, and Alexandre, 8. That’s probably why every morning, at least half an hour is reserved for a hearty family breakfast.
“6.30 am to 7 am is spent at the breakfast table. Food gives us a reason to be together. It’s an occasion to meet and bond,” he says.
But it’s not all about eating either. The lead-up to eating the first morsel and savouring it is just as important. The entire process of being served and entertained is unmissable if you want to enjoy life.
“Ambience and the way the food is brought before you matters a lot. Presentation is as important as taste; good food has to appeal to all the senses,” he says.
“For me it’s the whole process – buying the ingredients, cleaning them, laying the table aesthetically, cooking the food and then serving it. Even the decor and lights are important elements of this process … I take care to see that each element complements the other to create a complete experience.”
He has no idea why a hectic lifestyle should be used as the greatest excuse on earth to do away with the respect for meal times. Food deserves the fuss.
And food also deserves to be the domain of women. His wife, Nicole, is a great cook. “I am very lucky to be married to her.”
The traditionalist in him reappears.
“The woman of the house should be in charge of the kitchen to make it work. It rarely works the other way round.
Exceptions are always there, but in the majority of cases if the woman doesn’t cook, nobody [else in the house] does.
“Men, no matter how good they are, can never fit in. I have never had my own kitchen – I only work in borrowed kitchens. Earlier it was my mother’s and now it’s my wife’s.”
Nicole, apart from being a fine cook, is also a painter and artist.
Ok, what about his talents as a cook? Nierhaus is inspired to cook as he ambles along supermarket aisles.
“In the south of France, I used to visit vegetable, fruit and fish markets to buy fresh produce. Meat, sausages, fresh fish … I can still feel the freshness and aromas wafting around me. It was so inspiring.
“One morning a week, I would look at ingredients and pick up stuff then come home and cook. It was a pleasure. We would also visit places where the produce came from. It was an educational experience and very enjoyable for me. I would love to go back to those times.”
Here in Dubai, he enters the kitchen to cook on weekends. “I have to be inspired to get the best out of me. I cook with my wife on Fridays and whenever I have the time or when I am entertaining special guests.
Mostly it’s German specialities that have been handed down from my mother. And when I do it I do it quite well.”
Now that’s a man who knows his mind.
His specialities include barbecues, and fresh fish prepared in different ways.
“I know I am not the best, I think my wife and mother are better, but I try my best.’’
Any room left for other passions in life? Yes, and not surprisingly, they relate to food! “[Most of all], I enjoy spending time with family, which in a way is connected to food. Meal times with family are a top priority and then come the other interests.” Which are? Sport and travel.
Isn’t such a passion for food just as easily interpretable as a weakness for food?
“I don’t see a reason to get over your ‘weakness’ for food,” he says. “You are what you eat. The cliche goes, eat right and eat well and you will have no problems. Don’t make food your weakness but your strength. Relish it to truly enjoy life.”
As most health systems in the world will tell you, Nierhaus is right. You are what you eat. And how you eat. For those who dare to disagree, come on guys, do you even remember what you were doing at the age of 3?
On female chefs …
Nierhaus, a hotel manager, thinks the scenario of all-women chefs in a hotel kitchen is unlikely to happen in his lifetime. Then he stretches the timeline.
“I don’t see that happening ever, although I would encourage women to come forward and do well in hotel kitchens. Even in the past decade or so, we haven’t really seen a surge in women Michelin chefs.
They are few and far between as has been the trend for many, many years. I hope in the future there will be more women chefs but in reality, I don’t see that happening soon.”
“There are a lot of demands and the stress levels are high. Women who are working as chefs do a great job but many baulk at the idea of working in such high-pressure situations.
“I feel if it were to happen, women will add their own touch; maybe more creativity and aesthetics but the way food is prepared would be more or less the same. A sprinkling of loving tender care would do good though.”
On men as masters of the kitchen
“If all wives and mothers refused to cook that would please me in terms of a social trend, but … food would never get cooked and most families would resort to eating out,” says Siegfried. “
Fast food would be the order of the day. Women are naturally more responsible for the family and the household. Even if a woman holds a job, she is concerned about her home and what’s going on back at home; she feels responsible for dinner in most cases, as that’s the way [she has] been brought up to be.
Men cook for pleasure and when faced with the responsibility [of regular cooking], a majority of us would collapse.”
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