“I only saw my children one month a year”: Norbert Tarayre talks about his role as a father and how he had to slow down his activities

“Famous…and dads”it was the subject of Faustine Bollaert’s show on Monday, November 13. Among the guests, we could find chef Norbert Tarayre, former Top Chef candidate, who is now at the head of the restaurant 19.20 at the Prince de Galles. The father of 4 children returned to his role as a father during the program, the opportunity to learn more about him.

On June 7, 2020, Norbert Tarayre celebrated the arrival of his first son named Elydjah, whom he had with his partner Abby. But the chef is already the father of three daughters, born from a previous union with his ex-partner Amandine: Gayane, 16 years old, Laly, 14 years old, and Aliya, 10 years old. For him, the arrival of his son was a real upheaval in his daily life: “This little boy changed my life. He revealed my paternity to me. I stopped being a child. It was a shock for me because I grew up with women, for me women have always been protectors. But a boy reminded me of something I didn’t know: the image of a father.” He explains that it is partly thanks to his children that he had the strength and courage to take on new challenges in the kitchen, for example by taking over the reins of 19.20: “Everything that happens is also thanks to my children who pushed me to do things.”

The chef makes it a point of honor to be there for his children and this obviously involves the kitchen. Despite a busy schedule, Norbert Tarayre always finds time to prepare good meals for them: “I took my foot off the gas. I was lucky, we had Covid. I think that if there hadn’t been this truce I would have continued. I cook a lot more than before, I have more time. I’m trying to give myself a lot more time. We can have large tables with poultry, broccoli puree, lots of vegetables. I make sure to let my children taste several varieties of vegetables, I told them that it is an education”.

It must be said that the chef was not always so present: “In 2013, I was in full swing, I only saw my children one month a year, if you add it up. Between Norbert Commis d’Office, the Best Bakery, consulting abroad… it was complicated”.

The chef therefore makes up for lost time and also projects into the future. Indeed, for the future, the leader also has a military organization. His goal: that his children lack nothing: “My goal is my children. As long as they are not independent, I will sacrifice myself, I will give everything to my children. I am sometimes unbearable for that, because I manage the budgets, I calculate everything, I invest my whole life”.