Elena Arzak (born 4 July 1969) is a

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

chef. She is joint head chef of three

Michelin star The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...

red restaurant

Arzak Arzak is a restaurant in San Sebastián, Spain. It features New Basque Cuisine. In 2008, Arzak's owner and chef, Juan Mari Arzak, was awarded the Universal Basque award for "adapting gastronomy, one of the most important traditions of the Ba ...

alongside her father,

Juan Mari Arzak Juan Mari Arzak Arratibel (born 31 July 1942) is a Spanish chef, the owner and chef of Arzak restaurant. He is considered to be one of the great masters of New Basque cuisine. He describes his cooking as "signature cuisine, Basque cuisine th ...

, and was named best Female Chef in the World in 2012.

Biography

She first started working at her family's restaurant,

, at the age of 11, becoming the fourth generation of her family to work there. She would work two hours a day during the summer holidays from school. At the time her grandmother was the head chef. Her father is

, who initially worked under his mother at the restaurant, but went on to become head chef himself. Her father sent her abroad to train at other restaurants after she attended hotel school in

Lucerne Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. She worked at

Le Gavroche Le Gavroche (''The Urchin'') was a restaurant at 43 Upper Brook Street in Mayfair, London. It was opened in April 1967 by Michel and Albert Roux at 61 Lower Sloane Street, its premises until 1981. Albert's son Michel Roux Jr was the chef pat ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for six months in 1989 under

Albert Roux Albert Henri Roux (8 October 1935 – 4 January 2021) was a French restaurateur and chef. He and his brother Michel Roux, Michel operated Le Gavroche in London's Mayfair, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped t ...

, and alongside Michel Roux Jr. who was also training at the time. She also trained at La Maison Troisgros, Le Louis XV under

Alain Ducasse Alain Ducasse (; born 13 September 1956) is a French-born Monégasque chef. He operates a number of restaurants, including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, which holds three stars (the top rating) in the Michelin Guide. Early life and career D ...

, Restaurant

Pierre Gagnaire Pierre Gagnaire (born 9 April 1950) is a French chef, and the head chef and owner of the eponymous Pierre Gagnaire restaurant at 6 rue Balzac in Paris (in the 8th arrondissement). Gagnaire is an iconoclastic chef at the forefront of the fusion c ...

and returned to Spain when she worked at

elBulli El Bulli () was a restaurant near the town of Roses, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adrià, later joined by Albert Adrià, and renowned for its modernist cuisine. Established in 1964, the restaurant overlooked Cala Montjoi, a bay on the Costa Brava of ...

. She became joint head chef of her family's restaurant alongside her father. In 2011, she appeared at The Restaurant Show in London, England. As well as conducting a cooking demonstration, she officially opened the show alongside Rachel Quigley. She has ruled out opening a second restaurant for the time being, but said "I won't say never". In June 2020, she and other chefs, as well as architects,

Nobel laureates in Economics Nobel often refers to: *Nobel Prize, awarded annually since 1901, from the bequest of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel *The Nobel family, a prominent Swedish and Russian family; see there for the list of people with the surname Nobel may also ref ...

and leaders of international organizations, signed the

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

in favour of the

purple economy Purple is a color similar in appearance to Violet (color), violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern print ...

(“Towards a cultural renaissance of the economy”), published in ''

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

'', ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' and ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

''.

Awards

In 2011, she was nominated for ''Restaurant'''s Veuve Clicquot award for World's Best Female Chef, but it was awarded to

Anne-Sophie Pic Anne-Sophie Pic (, born 12 July 1969) is a French chef best known for regaining three Michelin stars for her restaurant, Maison Pic, in southeast France. She is the fourth female chef to win three Michelin stars, and was named the Best Female ...

. However, Arzak went on to win the award in 2012.

Personal life

She has two children, Nora and Mateo. Elena can speak four languages, including

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arzak, Elena Living people 1969 births People from San Sebastián Spanish chefs Spanish women chefs Head chefs of Michelin-starred restaurants Spanish expatriates in the United Kingdom Spanish expatriates in France