The secret life of UAE billionaires: What goes on in the kitchens of the rich and famous?
There is something satisfying about watching the rich and famous eat something evil and forbidden. Like bread.
Instagram and TikTok reels and videos on rich celebrities' diets are very popular, and Harper's Bazaar even had a series on YouTube, titled Food Diaries, where Hollywood celebrities revealed what they eat in a day — the one that featured Gwyneth Paltrow was viewed 3.3 million times. So, clearly, everyone wants to know what the rich eat and private chefs are perhaps the only ones who have a deep understanding of the elite's relationship with food and dining.
Innovation is the need of the hour
Private chefs have the unique responsibility of feeding some of the wealthiest people on the planet, and the only way to do that is to stay versatile and creative, by constantly coming up with fresh ideas and menus designed around clients' requests, diets, and whims.
A billionaire's kitchen is exactly how we, the more financially challenged, imagine it to be. Food is prepared on carefully selected cooking equipment made of stainless steel, cast iron, glass, or ceramic — non-stick and aluminium pots and pans are banished from the kitchen. Detailed instructions are issued to chefs through exhaustive (and exhausting) lists — be it about the specific cleaning product that they would like their fruits and vegetables to be washed in, or the number of eggs they would like for breakfast every day. Meals are not 'made', they are crafted. And they also need to be calorie-counted, healthy, organic, and served with a flourish just like at a fancy restaurant.
Everything, like pasta, noodles, sauces, dips and so on, are made in-house using the best, most premium ingredients. Some of these ingredients and products are imported (although that doesn't happen too often in a city like Dubai, which is a luxury connoisseur's paradise), purchased from high-end stores like Spinneys, Waitrose and Prime Gourmet, or through private suppliers. It's not unusual for ultra-high-net-worth (UHNWI) households to spend 20,000 to 30,000 euros (Dh83,226 to Dh124,839) per month on food for a family of five. 'The chicken, for instance, would be around Dh250 per kilo,' says premier private chef Luca Napoleone, who has worked with royals, well-known UHNWI, VVIPs, actors, and football players.
Alexandre Chebila, a private executive chef who specialises in UHNW and VVIP dining, explains that most of the meat that one gets in Dubai is from Australia or New Zealand, and that he likes to, instead, source Argentine meat from premium suppliers like Las Pampas in Dubai. 'The Argentine beef is of really good quality,' he explains. 'You need to have your own suppliers.'
The fabulous lives of the rich
Exploring the eating habits of the wealthy reveals a fascinating contrast. While most are disciplined and like to stick to rigid schedules, private chefs also unanimously agree that their wealthy clients are prone to changing their minds very often when it comes to the day's menu. 'They are not sure what to have,' says Abu Dhabi-based private chef Andrew Crellin from Royal Maison, which is a domestic staff provider that works with affluent clients in the UAE. 'Sometimes, they're not sure if they're going to fly to America tomorrow or to Australia the next day, because they don't have to worry about how much it costs.' Napoleone, too, says that they can change their minds about having a meal that may have cost between Dh2,000 and Dh3,000 to prepare. 'They might choose to go to a restaurant instead,' he adds. Chebila says he's seen clients change the entire menu an hour or two before dinner. 'We may have decided on an Indian menu with curries, butter chicken, biryani and dishes from Kerala, but an hour or two before dinnertime, the client will come and say, 'I want Italian or Mexican.' So, you always need to be ready for such requests.' None of the food actually goes to waste though, they add, as it is usually distributed among staff.
Some of them are quite reclusive, while others like to host guests as often as five times a week but when it's time to throw a party, they like to go all out and arrange a lavish spread with multiple dishes. 'They hire chefs from abroad, like for example, a famous restaurant in Japan,' says Napoleone. 'They fly the chef into Dubai and pay him for one day to prepare the food and everything. And then the chef flies back home the same day.'
The question of fast-food
We have more burning questions: for instance, has a bite of junk food ever passed through their expensive lips?
While clients avoid sugar and try to get their kids to eat healthily, the kids indulge in fast-food occasionally, especially when they have friends over, says Crellin. 'Then they will just order in a massive McDonald's,' he laughs.
Private chefs predict their clients' needs even before they are verbalised. Napoleone, for instance, takes note if a client tends to request a particular dish on a particular day — like lasagna on a Saturday — and likes to keep it ready every Saturday 'regardless of whether they ask for it or not', as it takes time to prepare.
They often travel around the world with their clients to luxurious, exclusive holiday destinations in Turkey, Greece, France, Italy, and Spain. Once, when a family holidayed at their palace in Pakistan, Napoleone remembers that the ingredients were flown in from the UAE. And another time, his clients loved the food at a wellness clinic in Switzerland so much that they sent him there for 10 days to study the food so that he could make it at home. And sometimes, if they love a particular dish at a restaurant in Dubai, they ask him to go there and check it out. 'They book and pay the restaurant just for me to go and eat the food so that I can make it at home,' explains Napoleone.
He tries to explain the ultra-rich and wealthy's love for such luxurious dining. 'Once my client, who is very, very rich, told me that he already has everything that the world can offer him. Let's say you buy a Bugatti today, you will still get used to it after two or three weeks. And once you get used to the best, what do you do? But the only thing that you will never get used to is food, because regardless of how much you eat today, you will still be hungry tomorrow morning.'
THE DAILY LIFE OF A BUTLER
Last year, Kristine Jabunan worked with Errol Musk and his business partners as a personal butler in Dubai. 'It was very nice working with them,' says Jabunan, who is from Royal Maison. 'Actually, he is very funny and likes making jokes. And they were very generous as well.'
Her services are personalised according to her clients' needs, but she broadly manages the housekeeping staff, organises the wardrobe (clothes are arranged according to the brand and material), takes care of the laundry, works as a personal assistant to clients, packs their luggage for overseas trips, prepares meals, and books flights.
'Clients are very strict about keeping time,' she explains. 'We follow a timetable and I prepare everything accordingly.' And, they don't walk into stores like we do. 'For example, if they want to go to this Rolex shop, I need to book it first before we go there. Or, I will order it online as some of them don't have the time to go to shops. Once, I ordered a makeup brand from Europe for a client as it was sold out in Dubai.'
'Once you really get to know them, you realise that they're just normal people,' she continues. 'This one time, I took care of a particular client who was very sick. She had just returned after travelling abroad and she cried, wanting to see her mother who stays in another country, and I arranged a video call. It made me realise that they are just like us.'
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