Cornelia Sühr, the chef de cuisine at Jean-Georges Philadelphia at the Four Seasons Hotel, fell in love with cooking when she was only 13, writes Michele Gargiulo for the Main Line Tonight.

Her first summer job was at Rauchhaus Möllin, a small restaurant in her native Germany, as a stagé. This two-week stint working in a farm-to-table eatery changed her life.

Stagés are unpaid internships common in Europe. They are designed to see if people are good at various jobs. Sühr, whose school made being a stagé a requirement, realized that the restaurant industry was a perfect fit, despite not getting to do any actual cooking.

“I peeled potatoes, picked herbs and lettuce, washed them, and was the unofficial dishwasher,” she said.

The internship ignited her culinary passion and the desire to follow in the footsteps of Rauchhaus Möllin’s chef, who frequently competed in cooking competitions. Young Sühr was determined to be like him.

She left her two-week stagé knowing that “one day I wanted to be a chef.”

Read more about how Cornelia Sühr fell in love with food during her first summer job when she was 13 in the Main Line Tonight.

_______