Reuben Riffel

Reuben Riffel (born 23 December 1974) is a South African celebrity chef, restaurateur, and media personality known for his food-focused television shows and advertisements, cookbooks and philanthropic work.

Reuben Riffel was born in Franschhoek, South Africa, on 23 December 1974. He is one of 12 siblings, and grew up in an area called Groendal, a valley in Franschhoek. Riffel grew up in a family where cooking and eating well played an important role. His mother was intermittently involved in the restaurant industry and his father was involved in the building and construction industry. She occasionally brought home morsels from the restaurants where she worked and in this way Riffel first developed his palate for good food. Riffel attended high school in Paarl. He recalls that he liked working with his hands.

Riffel worked briefly in the building trade, but soon migrated to the hospitality industry, where his first job was that of a waiter at Chamonix Restaurant. He soon migrated to barman, but one day the kitchen had two no-shows and he was moved to the kitchen to assist. He left Chamonix to work with his uncle in a nightclub, but very soon decided that the environment was not one in which he wanted to remain. In 1994, at the age of 20, he went back to Charmonix.

Under the guidance of Christoph Dehosse, he learned about food preparation. When Christoph moved on and was replaced by Richard Carstens, Riffel was made sous chef, in which role he learned the art of preparing vegetables and sauces and running a tight kitchen. His career began with humility and was forged in the principles of hard work as he earnestly learnt from his mentors, being both women in his life, in the early days and the chefs he worked with at the restaurant. One day Richard failed to show up to work, and he was forced to step into the role of executive chef without warning. Many of the patrons expressed their satisfaction at the meals they ate. When Richard never returned to Chamonix, Riffel stepped up, filled the position and was officially made executive chef. Riffel realized that he wanted to be a chef when a French tourist complimented the meal prepared by him as “the best meal he ever had”.