What do you get when you mix a celebrity chef, talented home cook, and wide-eyed kids? A family full of foodies of course and that’s exactly the case for beloved French chef Manu Feildel.
WATCH BELOW: Manu Feildel’s daughter Charlee is rocking isolation. Article continues after the video.
The My Kitchen Rules star, his wife, Clarissa, their daughter Charlee, and Manu’s son Jonti, are all involved in the world of cooking and food, one way or another.
And while it’s Manu who we’re used to seeing at the helm of the kitchen, it’s eight-year-old Charlee who the food industry needs to look out for.
“She’s actually pretty good [at cooking],” Clarissa exclusively told New Idea of her talented daughter.
“We bought her a set of knives probably about a year ago, kid’s knives, and she does her own omelettes – apparently hers are better than mine,” she laughed.
With Charlee having spent most of the pandemic at home being home schooled, Clarissa reveals it’s been the perfect opportunity to bond with her over cooking.
“It’s been at least a year now on and off that she’s been staying home, usually they’re at school, so lunch time is a great time between myself and her,” she said.
“And then dinner time is usually her papa and herself. And breakfast is something that her dad and her do quite often because it’s always a French breakfast.”
Charlee even had her own ‘crepes weekend’ every week, where she gets busy in the kitchen with her dad making the popular French dish.
“She’s really quite good on the stove,” Clarissa said. “She’s not scared to experiment with food.”
“She makes her own salads and then puts it in the fridge and then we have it maybe for dinner. Sometimes it’s a little bit weird but we try it anyway,” she laughed.
As for Manu’s son Jonti, who the chef shares with his ex-partner Veronica Morshead, while he may not have the cooking gene like his father, he still has a very strong connection with food.
“He’s more of a sporty kind of guy – he loves his sports,” the 17-year-old’s stepmum reveals, before adding “but he loves eating.”
“So, he loves his food which is great, but no, cooking is not something that he really enjoys.”
Fusing family and food is something Clarissa is very familiar with, as it’s how she stayed connected with her family back in Malaysia during the pandemic.
“For me it’s just getting out all my mum’s old recipes that’s handwritten and trying to decipher it and make sure and remember what it used to taste like,” Clarissa said.
“I did a lot of cooking dishes that I used to remember eating when I was a child because also, we haven’t had the opportunity to catch up with my parents… so then I don’t have my mum’s food like I usually do every year.
“So that was what we did. I did a lot of mum’s cooking during the pandemic,” she admitted. “It’s really nice to stay connected through food.”
The worlds of food and family also collided when Clarissa teamed up with her husband Manu to create a range of limited-edition family meals available on home cooked meal delivery platform FoodSt.
“We thought what a great idea to join forces with them and celebrate home cooks because sometimes they’re the unsung heroes,” Clarissa said.
“They cook and they put all their love and energy into a dish – like my mum and his mum – and everyone sits down and has a fantastic meal, and we want to share that with everyone.”
The menu features Clarissa’s traditional Malay style, home cooked Beef Rendang with Rice alongside Manu’s Moroccan Style Chicken Tagine with Cous Cous.
You can check out FoodSt’s At Home With Manu and Clarissa Feildel limited-edition meals here.
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