The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry
Arts:Food
In memory of Kerby Craig, here's the podcast I recorded with him in 2014.
I listened back to this episode after I heard about Kerby being gone and it made me re-remember all these great things from that day, so I thought I should share these stories again, in tribute to Kerby and his enthusiasm for cooking, Japanese food culture and hospitality …
As a 15 year old, Kerby Craig was fascinated by the world of restaurants – seeing a chef breakdancing in the middle of service (!) confirmed for him that this was the industry that he wanted to work in. By accident, he ended up at the original Tetsuya’s as a teenage apprentice chef and, after stints in Sydney and overseas, later helped Koi earn a hat in The Good Food Guide. To mark this achievement, he actually got a chef’s hat tattooed on his neck – an act that was memorably referred to in Terry Durack’s review of Ume, the restaurant that Kerby opened after his time at Koi. (“That’s a hat you can’t take off him,” Kerby’s manager told Durack at an event. “That’s a hat I would never take off you, Kerby!” replied the Herald food critic.)
Despite earning acclaim, Kerby’s experience with the industry has endured some rough lows – including the business failure of Koi – and opening Ume was “very very stressful”, he says. “I don’t know how we got a loan!”
Also in this podcast, Kerby chats about his own adventures dining from Kyoto to Fukuoka – and enjoying the next-level hospitality of Japanese establishments.
If you'd like to support me on Patreon, head to patreon.com/leetranlam. From $1.50 a week, you'll get access to my weekly podcast and newsletter, where I cover all the good things I’m consuming: the best food stories I’ve read, food podcasts I’ve listened to, what I’ve been eating and I also dive into what I’ve been working on. Plus a lot of enthusiasm about Japanese food culture, too – from Tokyo favourites to the birthplace of soy sauce and my favourite Kyoto food shop.
Caitlyn Rees – Cirrus, Fred's, Momofuku Seiobo
Carlo Mirarchi – Roberta's, Blanca
Adam Wolfers – Etelek
Shannon Martinez, Mo Wyse, El Rosa – Smith & Deli, Smith & Daughters
Jowett Yu – Ho Lee Fook, Mr Wong, Ms.G's, Canton Disco
Christine Manfield – Tasting India, Universal
Bo Bech – Geist
Su Wong Ruiz – Momofuku Ko, Momofuku Seiobo
Sunny and Ross Lusted – The Bridge Room
Kylie Javier Ashton – Momofuku Seiobo
Travis Harvey – OzHarvest
Joe Beddia – Pizzeria Beddia
Sharon Salloum – Almond Bar, 3 Tomatoes, Cook For Syria
Samin Nosrat - Author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Eve Yeung - Noma
Alexandra Carroll (Alex Craig) - Author of New York and Paris
Jock Zonfrillo - Orana, Bistro Blackwood
Myffy Rigby, Palisa Anderson, Trisha Nelson – Live at Rootstock
Morgan McGlone – Belles Hot Chicken
Ben Shewry – Attica
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