Rachelle Van Diggele
Rachelle Van Diggele is an apprentice chef, but at the mere age of 23 she has already achieved what many chefs achieve well into their careers. She’s had work experience in one of Australia’s most respected kitchens, ‘Brae’, and has a sustainable ethos set within her cooking where she aims to grow and forage for many of her own produce. Having achieved so much already, it was surprising to find out that Rachelle had only discovered her passion for food a few years ago. “I didn’t do it because people always put their opinion on me,” she said. “They’d say ‘oh, you won’t get paid well’, ‘you’ll be working horrible hours’. It’s annoying how people always tell you what they think you should do. “You try and live like the person other people want you to be.” Cooking had not crossed her mind whilst she was in high school. She didn’t do Food Technology and instead wanted to be a paramedic or a nurse. “I thought that’s what people wanted me to do. I did vet nursing for a bit too. I tried everything. It was so random of me to go into cooking.”
Rachelle began her cooking career at ‘Coonara Springs’, a restaurant in the Dandenong Ranges working as an Apprentice Chef under Head Chef Adrian Upward. “At Coonara Springs I was an apprentice chef like I am now, but there was only one other chef there at the time, so I pretty much did what a chef would do. “Towards the end of my time there I was in control of the garden, so one day a week I’d work in the garden, plant everything and get all the soil ready.” Working under Adrian was what pushed Rachelle to apply for the internship at ‘Brae’, with Adrian having previously worked with Dan Hunter. Interning at a restaurant that was named as the 44th Best Restaurant in the World in 2017 is an incredible achievement and one Rachelle is proud of. “It was so good, but it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The hours were huge, they were 15 to 18 hour days.”
Whilst at Brae, she stayed nearby with a few other people in a share house and says in the four weeks she was there, she learnt a lot. “It was hands on, like cleaning fish and chopping herbs, so I wasn't dealing with sauces or anything but I still did a lot and I got to help out during service.” How did she get the internship might you ask? An application form or an email? Rachelle actually messaged Brae’s Instagram account and came out the other end with an unbelievable opportunity. “They said ‘come down and have a trial with us’ and that’s what I did. “That’s how I got my job interview with O.MY too, I just messaged them saying ‘Hey, I’m an apprentice chef looking for a job’ and I got asked to come in for an interview.”
After we spoke to Rachelle she was offered the job at O.My. O.My is a restaurant with a garden-to-plate menu, fitting in perfectly with Rachelle’s way of cooking. “They pretty much change their menu everyday and they don’t waste anything. They make pasta dough out of left over pumpkin and they make everything from scratch and from their garden. “When I apply for a job I make sure that the place is sustainable and has its own garden.”
With all three of Rachelle’s work places having had similar ideals around sustainability, including having their own gardens and cutting down their amount of waste, it’s clear as to what Rachelle wants to be as a chef and how she hopes to impact on the world. “It just makes sense to me to be sustainable, I think as chefs, we’ve got a lot of power and can influence what the world eats. “We decide what we put on our menus and then if people like it, hopefully we can encourage them to buy those products more and eat wisely. “If I had the choice I would grow everything myself, so that’s what I’d like to do in the future.”
Whilst speaking to Rachelle she continued to work away, creating a couple of dishes with no recipe in mind. Cooking definitely seemed like second nature to her. The menu for the day was a whole fish cooked on the fire with a salsa verde, handmade ricotta gnocchi with a macadamia pesto (made from scratch), steamed muscles, grilled fennel and radicchio with pancetta and herb butter sauce. “The fish that I’m using is from a fish munger,” she said. “I wanted to use sustainable seafood, because people are used to having fish like salmon and tuna, but I want to try and introduce smaller fish that people wouldn't usually use, so we’re not overfishing our oceans. “And they’re actually better for us too.”
The importance of sustainability is obvious in her cooking, not only with fish but the use of herbs and produce she has grown or foraged herself. Foraging is something that many people are unaware of these days, with herbs and produce instead being easily accessed at the supermarket. Rachelle, however, is very aware of the power of foraging, often finding edible plants whenever she ventures outside.
“I think it’s a skill that we’re all losing.There are so many weeds around us that are edible. I research a lot and finding stuff on the side of the road is like finding money to me, it’s so exciting.” Similarly, the growth of produce is a skill that many people choose not to do, with almost everything being found at the local supermarket, often products that aren’t even in season. Rachelle says we don’t realise how lucky we are to have access to things such as mangoes all year round. “We’re so reliant on being able to go to the shops and buy whatever we want, even things that aren’t in season. It’s terrible, because we’ve forgotten how to eat with seasons. “We’re so used to having everything on hand all the time.”
In the future, Rachelle wants to move away from work in a kitchen, having already put in the long hours, missing out on many weekends. She dreams of one day opening up her own cooking school on a big farm property, not unlike the one we were on, and teaching people all about sustainable cooking. “I’m building up my knowledge now so that in the end I won’t have to work weekends. I want to buy a property, like this, grow my own food and have cooking classes when I want. “I want to teach people how to cook sustainable food, how to grow food and how to forage. I don’t care if I don’t make much money. I’m driven by what makes me happy and this is what makes me happy.”
“I don’t care if I don’t make much money. I’m driven by what makes me happy and this is what makes me happy.”
Not only does Rachelle focus on sustainability but she also enjoys cooking with Indigenous ingredients, something that she believes Australians don't do enough. She explained the richness of local produce such as the Quandong, an indigenous fruit that has double the amount of vitamin C that an orange has. Paris and I were able to taste some Indigenous ingredients that she brought on the day. We tried Red Centre Desert Limes (that were delicious), Lemon Myrtle, Aniseed Myrtle, Mount Pepper and Salt Bush. “I love using Indigenous Australian ingredients, that’s what I'm most passionate about. “We don’t know enough about our country and what grows on our land, here we are seeking the next super food and stuff from all these places around the world, when in fact we’ve got the most nutrient rich, vitamin rich foods growing in our backyards.
“There’s so much more that we are yet to discover and it’s growing right at our doorstep.”
Being as down-to-earth as she is, Rachelle stays humble throughout our whole conversation, down-playing any compliments or praise of her cooking or achievements. “I feel like I don’t know anything and it’s still my first day of cooking. I'm still learning and I stuff up all the time. “I know that I have quite a bit of knowledge when I actually think about it but I've still got so much to learn and that’s what I love about cooking, I'm never gonna know everything, I'm always going to be learning.”
