Photo Credit- Chris Ford
What the hell are you doing in France?
Well currently I am drinking a Cafe Creme’ and eating a Croissant, on my morning off on a sunny day in the village center. But, through a crazy encounter in Istanbul, a trip I took after my time in Denmark for a week, the only person I met there happened to be a Chef in Marseille, and got me in touch with the hotel owner and Chef here in Cabris. So two weeks before my start date here I was confirming the details and purchasing my plane ticket, off to a French kitchen in a tiny village in Provence just north of the Mediterranean and wealthy city of Cannes I go. I am here cooking for two months with plans to go back to Denmark for a week after finishing to see the magic of Noma once more. After Noma, should all go accordingly to plan, I hope to spend two weeks at an all natural vineyard here in Provence, one that Julia(owner) of River City Cellars and Secco Wine Bar got me in contact with and whom sells their wines.(thanks!!) It is a dream of mine to learn the process of wine, what goes on during the crush, importance of all the steps and terroir.
So you were Senior Class President and then you graduated…. no college or culinary school. Why?
Difficult question to answer, I think it was a potpourri of all sorts of reasons. I had been accepted into both Johnson and Wales and The Culinary Institute of America, with intentions up until about May of senior year to go to The CIA. But with a $32,000 a year tuition, that was a big commitment to loans for the rest of my life. Having just come back from a trip with the high school from Sweden, of which I payed for all myself(the only student on the trip who did so), my sense of wonder about the world and possibility of seeing it through the kitchens didn’t seem like an impossible idea. I hadn’t traveled before, but following the trip to Sweden I was addicted and knew there was so much more to see. I hadn’t heard of an American cooking around the world, seeing it through the lens of it’s kitchens, but I thought it was possible(as I’ve now come to realize). I think also it was a rebellious gene in me, being president and rejecting the notion that to be successful you had to go to the same five colleges in Virginia that everyone else from the school was going to. I wanted to be graduating and say, you all are going to schools, I’m going to go see the world, and in ten years lets talk about what you’ve done and what I’ve done. Did I tell you my 11th grade English teacher told me I wasn’t going to be successful in life because I couldn’t write? Or that when I first stated I was going to Spain to cook for two months a friend said it wasn’t going to happen and in the kitchen I was in the Sous Chef laughed and said “Good luck with that!” He’s still in that same kitchen, in Richmond, as he has been for the past 8? years. I also really hated the idea of being stuck on a college campus in the mountains with little to no money, with a scheduled life for four years and no route around it. And the thought of dining hall food for four years kept me up at night.
What was it like working for the #1 restaurant (Noma) in the world?
I think from the day I got an email back to the day I left Denmark I was in a complete and udder state of euphoria. As you will read in the following paragraph, it is difficult for me to explain and really, give it the podium it deserves. The thought that I sent my resume and cover letter to 11? restaurants all across Europe, all good kitchens with one Michelin star, but no where near the fame and volume of emails that Noma gets, and the only one that to this day I heard back from was Noma is mind blowing. Luck? I don’t know what I did right to get a response, time and place perhaps, but my life will be forever changed because of it. The amount of work that goes into the mere herbs on each dish is astonishing. The food and ingredients are so perfect, meticulously prepared, executed with finesse. The environment of the kitchen is positive and serious, a team of literally world-wide craftsman who are daily pushing the kitchen and food to better levels. It was hard at times, 16 to 18 hour days, 5 days a week. Beyond Cold being there in the winter. But it was an experience that will forever be ingrained in my cooking and walk of life. Man, the Sea Urchins from Norway that are hand caught in below freezing waters were incredible.
Who has been the most influential chefs practically (who you have interacted with) and theoretically (who you have studied)?
I think because of my age, and how I have approached my education in the kitchen, my influences are far reaching and a weird blend. Practically, first and foremost I am influenced by wherever I am working or at at the present time, with whatever Chef that may be. Everyday something new can be learned or looked at another way that you may have never thought the day before. I think Chef Tim from Secco has had a profound impact on me, his excitement in the kitchen and desire to do things differently than the rest of Richmond is inspiring. His sense of freedom is remarkable. The team at Noma taught me that no cuisine should be degraded, nor ingredient. I saw efficiency and the fastest cooks ever in Denmark, and ingredients that can’t be better. The most beautiful food, trust flavors, nature recreated on the plate. In Spain I saw flavors that popped, bright and vibrant. Here in France, although I am not the biggest fan of French food, I see execution that I haven’t seen anywhere else, executed the same and consistently day in and day out. Theoretically…I am a very tangible person, so often a cookbook doesn’t do it for me. I love reading cookbooks, seeing techniques and the platings, but in order for my memory to be set I need to do it myself, see it first hand. But Grant Achatz at Alinea in Chicago is a hero, he learned how to cook the best food, and a quick cook, first at the French Laundry, and then became what he is now known for, his forward food. Thomas Keller’s Per Se and French Laundry are the most perfect meals on all accords of a dining experience that you can have(I ate at Per Se in May). El Bulli was the first restaurant that I really researched and set me off on a lifelong journey to learn. El Bulli’s food and restaurant today still gives me a fast beating heart and pure sense of joy when I see or read anything about it.
It’s obvious you are building your resume. What other places and experiences are out there for you before you settle down?
Hard to say. The other day I began writing a simple list of all the places I thought I needed to see and experience before..before I died? Or settled down. And it was not a short list by an means, and I think the more places I go to, the more I add to the list. But short term is the desire to work on a Vineyard. A huge and unrelenting ache to get to Vietnam and eat and see, a cuisine that I know little about but have loved with an never ending stomach every time I encounter. To cook in New Orleans with the all around best food scene no matter what restaurant in the city that I have experienced, and a sense of joy and happiness, all around content and appeased, in the city that can’t be felt anywhere else in the world. It is incredible down there. Own of my big dreams in my life is to cook in the White House, not only because of the prestige and whom I would be cooking for, but also because it would connect two of my biggest passions: politics and cooking. And I really like Top Chef, once I turn the requisite 21 I plan on applying. Think it would be an awesome experience, and I would plan on getting destroyed by the other older cooks, but still want to apply.
How can we keep track of you?
Sometimes this can be a little difficult, ask my mom! No but email is an easy way to get in touch and I am usually pretty good at responding quickly. I write a little blog here and there, sometimes better than others and always with grammatical errors at www.CollinCooks.blogspot.com. I am a rampant tweep, spitting about people that cross me and food that makes my soul warm, @CollinWagner. With this day and age, I think its easy to stay in touch no matter where in the world, in fact I just talked to my brother who is in Afghanistan for the year on chat.
I’m a big Collin fan! He is so charming and positive!
wow
Yay Twin!
As always, well said!! Mom
Having just read Medium Raw, in which Bourdain suggests the course that Collin is basically taking as opposed to culinary school, is super impressive.
I’m very impressed that Collin has plotted such a course at this point in his life. Good luck, Collin, wish you the best!!!
Collin will be successful at any endeavor he takes on because he is not afraid to work for what he wants. His road to success is different from the usual and his food is not usual either. Hope to see you soon. Charlie and Karen