Elena Arzak (born 4 July 1969) is a Basque chef. She is joint head chef of three Michelin starred restaurant Arzak alongside her father,

Juan Mari Arzak Juan Mari Arzak Arratibel (born July 31, 1942) is a Spanish chef, the owner and chef for 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 ...

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

Biography

She first started working at her family's restaurant, Arzak, 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 ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. She worked at

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

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for six months in 1989 under

Albert Roux Albert Henri Roux (8 October 1935 – 4 January 2021) was a French-British restaurateur and chef. He and his brother Michel operated Le Gavroche in London's Mayfair, the first restaurant in the UK to gain three Michelin stars. He helped trai ...

, and alongside

Michel Roux Jr. Michel Albert Roux (born 23 May 1960) previously known as Michel Roux Jr., is an English-French two Michelin starred chef. He owns the London restaurant ''Le Gavroche.'' Early life Roux was born at Pembury maternity hospital in Kent, whilst h ...

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 ...

, Restaurant

Pierre Gagnaire Pierre Gagnaire (born 9 April 1950 in Apinac, Loire) 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 forefro ...

and returned to Spain when she worked at

elBulli El Bulli () was a restaurant near the town of Roses, Catalonia, Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Fu ...

. 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 Nobel may also refer to: Companies *AkzoNobel, the result of the merger between Akzo and Nobel Industries in 1994 * Branobel, ...

and leaders of international organizations, signed the

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which 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 clarifying and ...

in favour of the

purple economy Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, p ...

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

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

'', ''

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' 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 . ''El Pa ...

'' and ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

''.

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 C ...

. 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 (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

References

External links

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