Charles Biwer embodies a new wave of intrepid chefs. After starting out in data and business, he soon realised that this was not the path for him. He was bored to tears when one of his friends, a French chef, offered him the chance to work behind the stove with her for a few days. That’s when things really clicked for him, when he joined a brigade for the first time. “I found something I’d never encountered before in the world of work: simplicity and frankness. Here, we say things straight away, without kid gloves. It’s sometimes hard, it’s true, but I like this honesty in human relations,” explains the Luxembourger.
After that, it was one thing after another. Biwer spent a year at Nhomade, learning alongside his peers. He gave free rein to his creativity. “I really enjoy introducing people to Luxembourg products, especially Kachkéis, which gives me plenty of inspiration to create new recipes,” he says. He continued to experiment before deciding to blaze his own trail: back home, in Luxembourg, where he is delighted to meet a cosmopolitan and well-informed public.
In September, Biwer launched his home-based chef business, a project that he has been thinking about for a long time and, above all, one that is perfectly in tune with his values, which include the freedom to cook wherever he pleases. Each mission, each residence, however short-lived, is a human and culinary adventure, an opportunity to exchange ideas, adapt and reinvent himself. “I hate routine. A residency is the perfect antithesis: new places, new faces, new inspiration.”
His vision of gastronomy? Simplicity and pleasure at the service of customers, an intuitive cuisine that draws on his childhood memories, the treasures of Luxembourg’s terroir, his travels and experiences, seeking to combine gastronomic creation with human relations. But Biwer doesn’t stop there: he also dreams of gastronomic events in unusual places, where the culinary arts meet the exceptional. It's a quest for balance for the chef, who admits that he never compromises on what’s essential: maintaining a balance between passion and personal life. “We are a generation that wants to live life to the full. And for me, that means cooking and sharing.”
This article was written in for the magazine, published on 11 December. The content is produced exclusively for the magazine. It is published on the site to contribute to the full Paperjam archive. .
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