Julien and Mélanie

At eight I was already making tagliatelle with scampi flambéed in cognac. My father was a cook. The house smelled of butter and fire. I have not left the stove since.

I went to culinary school. For a long time I mostly worked in the dining room. Cooking stayed my passion, for family, for friends, in the evenings and on Sundays. Then came the gastronomic restaurants in Belgium. That is where I met Mélanie. I was going to work with her, and the magic happened. We are now parents of two adorable children.

Then Switzerland, five star palaces around Lake Geneva, Leading Hotels of the World. I also taught practical arts at one of the best hotel schools in the world.

I have travelled a lot, some sixty countries, to taste other kitchens, other cultures, and bring that back into my craft.

The garden completes it. I like growing beautiful seasonal vegetables, organic, and lifting them on the plate. Sauces and meats are what I most like to work. The dishes closest to my heart are my grandmother's slow cooked recipes, timeless ones, the more delicate lamb chops, game which I love, and seafood.

I also like making cocktails for family and friends. The party gets wilder.

Today, with Mélanie, we come to cook in your home.

I was born in France, in a family where living somewhere else was already part of the story. My grandparents lived in Zaire, then in Senegal. When my father took over my grandfather's post, we settled in Senegal. I grew up there and stayed fourteen years.

That childhood marked me for good. Very early I lived among other cultures and other ways of life. Travelling, discovering, adapting became natural.

After Senegal I went to Belgium. I had chosen hotels and restaurants, went to hotel school, and that is where I met my husband.

I then worked in very different places. Gastronomic restaurants, catering for groups, associations, schools. I learned to adapt, and above all I understood that cooking is not only technique. It is a team, a way to pass something on, and a way to give pleasure.

Then Switzerland, where I stayed in restaurants and hotels. I worked on the steam boats of Lake Geneva, a world of its own, with a very high standard of service. I also did extra shifts in fine houses, the Lausanne Palace and the Hôtel des Trois Couronnes. Then I joined the École hôtelière de Lausanne, a school known all over the world.

Beyond the names, it was the range of this work that shaped me. Rigour, a sense of service, the pleasure of a job done properly, and a team.

My husband and I have always wanted to keep moving. We have travelled to more than 65 countries. Those trips were not only holidays. Everywhere we asked the same question. Could we live here? We were looking for a place to set the suitcases down, and also a place to start something of our own. Then we arrived in Latvia.

Little by little it fitted. A European country, in the European Union, with good schools, care we could reach, many people who speak English, and an identity and traditions that are still very much alive. The decision came slowly. It was still a bet. No network, no contacts in restaurants, no guarantee. We built everything ourselves.

We are both cooks and we are used to working together. Starting our own company was the obvious step. We launched two projects that complete each other. Jumel, our food truck, and French Chef, for the private chef and private events.

We started from almost nothing. We had to learn the Latvian market, find producers, understand how people eat here, and earn clients and a name, step by step. It takes a lot of work, and the wish to keep going when nothing is sure. Changing country, starting again, taking on a new challenge has never frightened us.

Today we have two children. They speak Latvian and they are fully part of life here. I speak Latvian better and better too. We have many Latvian friends. We spend weekends with them and we take part in life here.

This matters a great deal to me. I grew up in Senegal, so I know what it is to feel a little foreign in the country where you live. I do not want that for my children. I want them to feel truly at home. That is why we pass on the language, the songs, the festivals, the traditional costumes, everything that makes Latvian culture. We do not want only to live in Latvia. We want to be part of it.

The same wish is in the way we cook. We work with local, seasonal produce, bought directly from small producers whenever we can. Behind a vegetable, a piece of meat or a fish there is a person's work, often a family's, with a lot of care and skill. That story is what interests us. We like meeting the producers, understanding how they work, and then telling that story on the plate.

We also have a small garden. When the season allows, our own vegetables end up in the dishes. We try to pass this on to the children. A vegetable does not come from the supermarket. It takes time and care. They see how it grows, how it is picked, how it is cooked.

Food is with every moment of life. Family meals, parties, weddings, birthdays, or simply a good hour with friends. We made that our work. The company has to run, and we have to live from it. But that is not what moves us. What we have always wanted is to make our passion our work, and to see people enjoy the meal.

That is what we found in Latvia. Today we cook for families and clients who like our food, and also the way we are. That recognition means a great deal to us.

Latvia has kept something precious. A real link with traditions and with produce. There are still small farms, families who live from their craft, and a kitchen that follows the seasons and nature.

After all these countries, all these jobs and all these travels, we found here what we had been looking for for a long time. A stable family life, and the chance to keep going in our craft. We came to try something, with no network and no certainty. Today our life is here. Our work, our company, our children, our friends. After so many years looking for our place, we found a place where we are no longer only passing through. A place where we want to stay.