Deep in the Weeds - A Food Podcast with Anthony Huckstep · A Deep in the Weeds Production

Anthony Healy (Chef) - Edge of the map

·53 min·3 clips

In Saudi, Anthony says he worked 14 months without leaving the palace gate or having a drink.

Anthony Healy starts by explaining that working with international teams leaves you with fragments of a lot of different approaches. He says it is hard to nail down one specialty because what he cooks depends on who he is cooking for. Anthony Huckstep frames Healy as a chef who has worked in high-pressure kitchens in Europe, luxury resorts, and private settings, including work for royalty. The episode settles into a career story rather than a theory lesson. Healy says France felt like the obvious next move because it seemed like the center of cuisine and food. He did not know many Australians working there at the time. He had already worked with French chefs and in a French restaurant, so the move made sense to him. Before that next step could happen, he agreed to help out for a few months and wait for a plan to come together. It did. He returned to El Centro, where he found a familiar kitchen environment and a few people he already knew. Roman then arranged an interview the next day. The interview was with Michel Leran. The meeting was short, partly because Healy did not speak much French and Leran did not really want to speak much English. Even so, it was enough. Roman came through again and set a hard start date, which meant paperwork, travel, and a quick turn into a new chapter. Healy went to work at Le Cote Saint-Jacques, a three Michelin star restaurant in the countryside south of Paris. He started at the bottom of the line as a demi-chef de partie. The restaurant carried a long family history, with its first three Michelin stars dating back to 1986. The property had even been moved from one side of the road to the other at one point. The staff had been lost for a year during that change, but the stars returned. Healy describes the place as beautiful and says the vineyard behind it added to its character. He notes that the father lived next door on the property. He also mentions the close friendship with Paul Bocuse and the photographs that showed the family and that circle of chefs over time. The episode presents the restaurant as a place with a deep family and culinary lineage. Throughout the conversation, the focus stays on movement, adaptation, and the long apprenticeship of working in different places. Huckstep uses those details to open up Healy’s wider career, while Healy keeps bringing it back to the practical side of the work. He has learned from many people. He has worked in many kinds of kitchens. He does not turn that into a neat slogan. The result is a portrait of a chef shaped by travel, hard work, and the ability to fit into whatever kitchen he finds himself in. The episode ends on the idea that hospitality gives you stories if you are willing to show up for them.

As heard by us

A grounded career story that connects craft, place, and the realities of chef work.

Anthony Healy's story comes through as a career shaped as much by place as by skill, moving from Europe to France, luxury resorts, and private chef work for royalty.

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Want a chef career story that starts in the kitchen and ends far off the map?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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