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Natalia Rudin

NATALIA RUDIN

Captured at her home in London. Interviewed by our founder, Lara Rogers. In her beautiful garden that was designed by her partner, Cameron, sipping iced coffees with her cockapoo, Oscar.

#ELAINEFIELDCOLLECTIVE

L : Thank you for agreeing to sit down and chat with me in your lovely home. I am an avid fan of your page, and it’s been a pleasure watching you grow. When was the last time we saw each other? Probably not since Nik (Natalia’s brother) and I were at uni together. Let’s get into it!

L : The most wonderful thing about food is how it connects people. Food has this magical way of bringing people together. What has been your favourite aspect of connecting to people through food?

N : For me, one of the biggest love languages is acts of service. I really love giving gifts and do- ing things for people. I’m not a very affectionate person otherwise, so food is a really good way of showing people I love them. I love inviting friends around for dinners and cooking meals for family. It’s also such a great talking point, in any situation, if you talk about food, there’s always going to be a common denominator that you can bond over. I love the connection it can give you with literally anyone. Different foods that people grew up with, food that they didn’t grow up with, and food they like and dislike. It’s a lovely way of seeing that we’re all the same but all very different at the same time.

L : Did you know that my dad’s a chef?

N : No

L : I can’t believe that’s never come up over the years!

N : No pressure at all... Better bring my A Game!

L : Where did the calling to become a chef originate?

N : I had a strange route to becoming a chef. It wasn’t in my eye-line at all until I was about twenty-four. I studied sociology at university. I didn’t even want to go to university! I just wanted to get a job and make money. After school, I got a job straight away and went travelling, and all of my friends were getting ready to go to university. I then thought I would be missing out if I didn’t go, so I quickly applied within two days of the applications closing and basically picked a subject out of a hat. I just wanted the experience.

After university, I didn’t know what to do for work and we had a bit of family drama, so I decided I wanted to get out of England. I travelled to India! By myself for about eight and a half months. I think going there after being in a det- rimental headspace was really good for me. I wasn’t drinking much, I spent a lot of time in nature, ate a lot of wholesome foods, and went vegetarian while there, which all made me realise how I never wanted to be in an office. I knew that already, but this just solidified it. There was so much healing from the food there for me; it felt like I really came back a different person.

When I came back to London, I basically harassed one of my mum’s friend of a friend into giving me a job as a trainer, chef and yoga teacher. I would bring the retreat to the client, basi- cally. With retreats, people go away, leave their kids and their real lives to have time to reconnect with themselves and be healthy, and then they come back to the real world it’s hard to keep up with the work they’ve put in. My USP was bringing that to them, building it around their life- style so they keep it up. I did quite a good job with this particular lady, and after that, it was like a snowball effect. Instagram I started around the same time but wasn’t consistent.

Around October of 2022, I had been working as a personal chef for about six years. I loved it; it was so fun, but I was travelling all the time, I didn’t work with just one family I would work with about nine or ten families a year, so I moved around a lot! I’d do a month with one client and six weeks with another. It was constantly changing, and it was never in the UK, always abroad! I went to The Bahamas, Canada, and France. It was one of the best times of my life, and I was working with some very high-end clients in amazing places being treated very nicely, but it got to the point where I was travelling so much that my body was really struggling with the time difference. I would wake up in the night and not know where I was, which was really disorien- tating. At the ripe age of twenty-eight, my body was telling me to stop. It became really difficult, so I decided to stay working with one client who lived in the UK. We were sadly not aligned in our expectations of the role, which led me to resigning a short four months in. Luckily, at the same time, I made a promise to myself to post three times a week (on my Instagram), and I’m not going to miss it! I killed myself trying to keep up with it, but I stuck to it and, with that, got my Instagram success.

I started in October 2022 learning how to use editing software and really made an effort, in January last year, my first reel went viral with around five thousand followers, and by the end of the year, I had a million. It was so quick! Which is amazing but also really scary because if you can get big that quickly, you can probably lose it that quickly. So, it’s been about a year now that I stopped working as a personal chef and focused on building myself as a brand, which has been great! It’s given me more freedom and more money!

L : Did you grow up around a “foodie family” that was passionate about cooking and eating? Is there a cherished family recipe?


N : My dad grew up in communist Russia, where things were very basic, so when he made his money and came over to Europe, he wanted to try everything. As kids, we would always be taken out to nice restaurants, exploring culture through food, travelling to places like Italy, France and Germany, trying amazing food and wine. He taught me not to be scared of trying strange, unfamiliar food. My mum grew up in the north of England, and when she was seventeen, she hitchhiked all the way to Austria and became a nanny in Vienna, where she cooked a lot. My mum always cooked at home, everything was home-cooked! I remember having lots of spag bol and pancakes from scratch. I’ve always cooked from a young age myself. As a family, we live to eat; we don’t eat to live!


L : Who are the chefs that you would say have inspired and motivated you in your culinary journey?


N : There’s one chef who I really love, and her name is Angela Hartnett. As a woman, I naturally relate to women more! She started when she was very young and worked for Gordon Ramsey for a while at back then hot spot, Aubergine. She now has a Michelin star! She has a restaurant called Cafe Murano that you should check out! She’s basically had all the top male chefs bow down to her, which is epic. She’s really relatable, which is why I love her. She’s the pasta queen! Love pasta! Carbs! She’s very blasé about cooking, which I love! As you can see from my page, my recipes are very simple. I want everyone to understand that it’s easy to cook and you can use anything. She’s very unpretentious and easy to relate to. Food is for everyone, and she really emulates that in her recipes.

L : What is your greatest inspiration when creating a dish?

N : Mood! Always! Am I feeling hungover or creative? And, of course, travel.

L : Have you ever made something incredible completely by accident?

N : French Onion Beans on Toast. I thought it was revolutionary, only to find out it’s been done before.

L : What challenges have you had as a chef?

N : One of my biggest challenges was being vegan and having to prove to people that I could still cook. I was vegan for about four years. I went into it with bad intentions. It was quite restrictive and fed into disordered eating a little, which is why I’ve made the change recently. I also think one of your biggest challenges as a chef is yourself. You are your biggest critic!

L : Does being a chef have any influence on the way you dress?

N : No, not really.

L : Who would your style icon be if you had to pick?

N : The Olsen Twins.

L : What are your favourite brands?

N : You mean aside from Elaine Field...

L : A lady of good taste!

N : I love The Row, Khaite, Toteme, Bottega, Prada. When I get dressed in London, I love layers! I love trousers that puddle over your shoes.

L : What would be your “Last Supper”, and who would you invite?

N : Are we doing a three-course meal?

L : Obviously.

N : Bread and butter! Salted! To start, I would probably have a steak tartare with a cool Beaujolais’ red wine. For the main, it would probably be pasta, either a Vongole or a classic Pomodoro and then for dessert, a creme brûlée or a tiramisu. I would invite this guy (Oscar) and Cameron.

L : Top 3 London Restaurants?

N : These are constantly changing! I’d have to say, Dorian, Max Cohen and the rösti! Every time I go, it’s delicious, and I only ever sit at the bar. We recently went to Josephine Bouchon and really enjoyed it. We had the leak vinaigrette and steak tartar, which were absolutely delicious, as well as the cheese soufflé and the chicken was perfect. I rarely order chicken when I dine at restaurants, but this was a good one. One thing I judge restaurants by a lot is the salad because if you can’t do that, it brings the whole score down. Another good one is Manteca.

L : What about Elaine Field do you resonate with?

N : The minimalist vibe. I think it can appeal to any customer. You can dress it up, or you can dress it down, which is something I really like.

L : What’s the next chapter for you?

N : I have a really exciting project coming up soon, but you will have to stay tuned to find out
what that is!

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