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.
Min Chai – N2 Extreme Gelato
Gregory Llewellyn – Hartsyard, The Gretz
Analiese Gregory – Funemployed
Matt Swieboda – Waterman Lobster Co.
Christopher Thé – Black Star Pastry
Dan Barber and Eric Kayser – Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
Mitch Orr – ACME
Andrew Levins – TwoThousand
Dan Hong – Merivale
Carlos Heng and Dan Pigott - MakMak Macarons
David Thompson, Katrina Birchmeier, Emma Barnes - Electrolux Appetite For Excellence Awards
Massimo Bottura – Osteria Francescana, Never Trust A Skinny Italian Chef
Kylie Millar - Pei Modern, Burch and Purchese
Kerby Craig - Ume
Hetty McKinnon - Arthur Street Kitchen
Nick Smith – Rising Sun Workshop
Chui Lee Luk - Claude's, Chow Bar and Eating House, Celestial City
Ambrose Chiang - Momofuku Seiobo
Hanz Gueco - Cafe Paci
Andy Bowdy (Andrew Bowden) - Hartsyard
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