Andreas Schweiger loves cooking outdoors, enjoys his job, and is passionate about motorcycling. Downtime? Not really a part of the celebrity chef’s vocabulary.

So tell us, why cook outside?

We’re outside now and we’ve made a campfire here, but if you were come to my place and look out of the window, you could see our outdoor kitchen, the vegetable and herb garden, and the woods behind the house. For me, that kitchen is an extension of my workspace.

And is that where you had the idea of writing a book about cooking outdoors?

That actually came about during a bike ride through the mountains when I was recognized by a publishing executive and he came up and talked to me. He had always wanted to work with me anyway, so we exchanged numbers. The original plan was to write a kind of health cookbook. But the pandemic happened, and we decided to write an outdoor cookbook instead. It wasn’t planned, but it wasn’t all that far-fetched either. My family and I are outside anytime the opportunity arises.

What do you do if you don’t have an outdoor kitchen or don’t want to make a campfire?

All of the dishes in the book work in a regular indoor kitchen as well, you just have to adjust the cooking times a bit – apart from the twist bread, which requires an open fire. My aim with the recipes was to inspire people to cook for themselves. I also wanted the recipes to be as healthy as possible, which is why ninety percent of the dishes are vegetarian.

What makes a meal special?

The quality of the ingredients. Yesterday I handled the catering for a barbecue event. There was lamb, veal and beef. The guests kept asking me how I season the meat and why I don’t use pepper or herbs. The answer is: I buy good quality meat and just add salt. Salt and the smoky flavor – that’s all. People were delighted, nobody touched the sauces because the meat was just so good.

How do you recognize quality?

When it comes to vegetables, you should always go for organic. Organic foods are guaranteed to be free from toxins and contain secondary metabolites, which are not found in sprayed plants. These secondary compounds are extremely beneficial to our health and help to protect against disease. Taste isn’t such a big factor. In fact, I would hazard a guess that you can’t taste any difference between organically and conventionally grown produce.

Should food always be locally sourced?

A nearby pig fattening factory producing low-quality meat is local, but it’s still bad. Quality has to come first. Whether or not the food is locally sourced is the second step for me. Another condition is that the food should always be seasonal. Okay, so sometimes you’ll find a mango or an avocado on my plate at home, but they’ve disappeared from my menu and from the specials. I’ve also stopped serving tuna and now only offer top-quality locally farmed freshwater fish. And of course I wouldn’t buy strawberries from South Africa in the winter just so I can eat them all year round.

How important are the relationships you have with the people who supply you with your products?

They are invaluable. I have been self-employed since 2006 and have been working with the same suppliers from the beginning. You have to cultivate and nurture these relationships. I consider many suppliers to be personal friends. Sometimes they will spontaneously bring me a halibut or some prawns, which I then incorporate into the menu.

Do you listen to music at work?

I do. I need some kind of noise while I’m working, so I always have music playing in the background. On long drives, on the other hand, I learn Italian vocabulary. That works really well.

You give the impression that you always have to be moving about somehow . . .

That’s just my nature. I have difficulties keeping still when I’m in one place for too long. Then I feel the urge to get up and go again..

But isn’t it important in your job to relax and unwind every now and then?

When things get too stressful, I ride my enduro out on the track or off-road. Or I race down the mountain on my bicycle. That clears my head. I need some sort of distraction where I have to concentrate so hard that I’m completely torn away from my daily routine for a moment.

What motivates you? What drives you?

Perhaps it is the desire to be successful. And my wife Franzi and I have certainly achieved a fair level of success. We ran a Michelin-starred restaurant and gave it up, even though it was always fully booked. We then set up a cooking school. We never rest, we’re always doing something and are already working on new projects with the BMW Bank Drivers Club. What probably drives me indirectly is my desire for security – and the fact that my parents never had any money. There was always very little left over to live on at the end of the month, and we never went on holiday. That’s why one of my first goals was to own my own home so that I wouldn’t have to pay rent and would have peace of mind in my old age.

Are you ambitious?

Yes, but I only compete with myself, I don’t measure myself against others. When I’m out on the track with my bike, I don’t really care how fast I am. At the same time, I always want to get better. So I do look at the times and check whether I’m getting faster – just for myself. But I don’t have the ambition to be first or the best. On the street, I ride a 1956 Harley-Davidson Panhead. It’s a noisy bike that I have to work really hard with, clutch, manual gearbox, no turn signals. But I only really have fun in dangerous situations when I’m pushing my limits. I used to enjoy going on long motorcycle trips on my own, but now I prefer to ride on the track or off-road.

Now you have a family, but do you miss the time when you were out there traveling by yourself?

I do miss going on long motorcycle trips through the mountains. Last year I spent two days on the road with an old friend from school. There was this one dicey situation in Italy where we were almost involved in an accident because someone else drove the wrong way into a traffic circle. I don’t want to experience anything like that again.

What is something that you should never be without on a trip like that?

I always need to have a small gas burner with me so I can make coffee in the morning. Whenever I wake up – be it on a mountain top, by a lake or at the sea – I want to start the day with a cup of coffee. Another thing I also take with me on any trip is a waiter’s knife. Plus a bottle opener for a nice bottle of red wine and two glasses. Not plastic, but real wine glasses made of glass.

Interview by Wiebke Brauer
Photos by Oliver Gast

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