Daniel Zeindlhofer is the man who implements the modern idea of sharing food and happiness in a sustainable way and at a high level at the restaurant IGNIV by Andreas Caminada in Zurich.
When asked what makes a kitchen truly excellent, Austrian-born Daniel Zeindlhofer – who is head chef at the sharing restaurant IGNIV by Andreas Caminada in Zurich’s old town – has a surprising answer: “I don’t want to see any food in the bin!”, he says.
For him, a contemporary restaurant which is based on sharing food and providing moments of happiness requires a sustainable way of working – for both environmental and economic reasons. “When I have vegetable scraps, I think about the farmers who cultivated and harvested them. And then it’s only natural that I think about what we can do with them.” The juice can be extracted from kohlrabi trimmings, for example, and this can then be fermented and used as the basis for a vinaigrette. Stale bread is used to make dumplings to go with roast veal, and with leftover goose liver: “I can always make a cream or ice cream”.
Daniel Zeindlhofer also asks his employees for their ideas on matters of sustainability. For him, excellence also means a thoughtful approach. “Around twenty motivated, committed people work for us, so nobody can claim they haven’t got any ideas for how to use raw materials responsibly”, says the chef. This is why he also enjoys using the new Excellence Line appliances from V-ZUG: “It’s amazing what the Excellence Line steam cooker can do, despite its compact size”, he says.
