 Daniel Dejean is 32 and he is the ambassador for Gulf Air's Sky Chefs.
He's born in Niger, raised in France and is now based in Bahrain, the headquarters for Gulf Air.
He completed his schooling and went on to train as a chef at the Ecole Hotelier French Carcassone.
While studying, he had on the job training at Le Rotabas St. Anne in the French Caribbean
"I started my career as a Chef De Partie in Norborne, South France and went on to specialise in gourmet seafood at the L'ecailler Restaurant," said Daniel.
"I also worked in a French Italian cuisine restaurant named Villa Romaine.
I felt the urge to travel and expand my culinary skills and the Middle East beckoned when
I was offered a job at the Tour De France Restaurant operated by Pyramids, in Wafi City Dubai in April 2001."
From there Daniel travelled to Abu Dhabi and worked in a French Restaurant, Hediard before joining Gulf Air.
"I was appointed as in-flight chef in April 2004 and absolutely love my job.
I enjoy mingling with different cultures that all come together to serve our guests.
This was a completely different experience where I could now emerge from my kitchen and mingle with the diners, something I had never done in my previous jobs.
Now I can enjoy being around people.
When he is off duty, Daniel swims, goes salsa dancing and as you would expect, loves cooking Mediterranean and seafood dishes.
Sky Chefs
Gulf Air has over 100 in-flight chefs who come from over 23 countries.
They provide personalised service for first class passengers who can choose anything they want from the menu, at any time.
To be able to deliver such a service, the chefs pre-prepare a wide range of haute cuisine before the plane takes off.
That's because for safety reasons, there can be absolutely no cooking on board. But that's when the chefs get creative.
They can bake, roast, steam, fry and boil in mid-air.
Every 30 minutes, they ask their passengers if there's anything else they can provide.
No wonder Gulf Air has won the best onboard food in first class, in the world's largest passenger survey which looked at over 140 airlines. |
