For Adi Ashkenazi, receiving Forbes Israel’s “30 under 30” award motivates him to work even harder. The 29-year-old Tel Aviv-based chef, who was recently honored as one of Israel’s most promising young entrepreneurs, leaders, and change-makers under the age of 30, says that “It’s just one step. My colleagues respect this achievement, but it’s not the final thing I would hope for myself. I’m still chasing perfection.”
Despite being under 30, Ashkenazi has amassed a great deal of experience working with Michelin-starred chefs at restaurants like Alchemist in Copenhagen, Belcanto, located in Lisbon, and Moshik in Tel Aviv, and specializes in Mediterranean, Asian, Scandinavian, and French cuisines, with a deep focus on molecular techniques.
He says that the most important lesson that he learned from training in the top restaurants outside Israel has not only been their modern cuisine, but their systems and methods. “It’s something different than restaurants here in Israel. Most chefs here are still learning this, and the best way to learn these skills as a chef is to work in places like these. In Israel, there are a few restaurants that are trying to reach Michelin-star level, but this was not common when I worked abroad.”
Ashkenazi explains the importance of biochemistry in food preparation. “If you understand the biochemistry behind the ingredients you’re using, and the techniques you’re employing, you can end up making something that has a deeper and more enhanced flavor. Understanding the biochemistry of foods can unlock things that you can’t even imagine.”
How does Ashkenazi ensure that his fermentation and distillation techniques make an impact and affect flavor? “The first thing that we do is taste the food,” he says with a smile. “We avoid gimmicks. I would rather serve something that is quite simple than make it complicated. Whatever you are doing – whether it’s the service, the techniques, such as distillation or fermentation – none of it matters if the flavor is not good enough.”
Ashkenazi has made a commitment to sustainability and reducing food waste, and suggests that creative thinking can accomplish a great deal in this area. “I would say that if you are cooking at home, you should consider what you can do with your leftovers.”
Using an example from his own restaurant food preparation, Ashkenazi says that he took the corners of the sourdough bread that were left over and were not served to diners, and used them to make a type of miso. “The flavor is amazing,” he says. “We are still using it today for seasoning some foods in our restaurant, and it’s made of leftovers.” He emphasizes that these bread pieces had not been served to the guests, but would have been thrown out otherwise.
Ashkenazi anticipates that there will be Michelin-starred restaurants in Israel in the not too distant future. He explains that representatives from the Michelin Guide were planning on visiting Israel in late 2023, shortly before the Hamas attacks on October 7. “I believe that at some point they will visit Israel again,” he says.
Speaking about Israeli cuisine, Ashkenazi suggests that to date, there is no authentic, indigenous Israeli cuisine that has developed in this country. “Most people living here now belong to a generation that has grown up with foods that they brought to Israel from other countries. We don’t actually have food that evolved in Israel, but we will have it in the future. I believe that chefs and cooks at home will eventually make their interpretations of new Israeli foods – something that one would see only in Israel.”
Ashkenazi speaks with great pride about an internship program that he has developed that enables chefs to learn the techniques that are being used in the Moshik restaurant where he works. “We are doing things here that are different from other restaurants in Israel, and the only way for a chef to learn these techniques is to work with us. I want this industry to evolve so that more chefs will see different perspectives and learn new methods. In 10 years, I hope to be in a restaurant where the chefs will say that the beginning of their culinary journey began at our restaurant.”