CHEF Rob Tracz was born and raised in Canada, but these days he is enjoying the “good life” on his Berrima property.
And he has brought to the Highlands a wealth of cooking knowledge, some of which was acquired from his travels around the world.
Mr Tracz, who is often referred to as “ that Canadian guy”, is the executive chef for Wild Food Natural Health Market.
While the Bowral store has been his main focus over the past two years, the more recently opened Wild Food in Bondi Junction, Westfield, now takes part of his time as well.
In fact he attributes his role at Wild Food as giving him a “new enthusiasm” to develop further as a chef.
Mr Tracz, who has more than 25 years as a chef, said his passion for the industry began when he was only 14.
“I was in Year 8 at school in Canada and we were told we had to take a non-traditional elective such as sewing or cooking - I had no interest in sewing so I did cooking and fell in love with it,” he said.
“I often experimented on my family and they survived. When I was 16 I took on a job as a baker’s assistant and I got my first cooking job when I was 17.”
Mr Trazc’s early training led him to become a saucier, a chef specialising in sauces, but he didn’t stop there.
“As a chef I’m constantly learning and improving my technique with new ingredients, new methods and new ways of thinking about food,” he said.
By the age of 22 he was ready to head out into the world and learn all he could both in his career and life.
“My father was in the air force so as a child I often moved and travelled and lived all over Canada. My parents also used to buy me National Geographic magazines and I saw the world through those images as a kid,” he said.
“As soon as I got a car I started travelling through North America whenever I could. The next step for me was to see the world.
“I quit my job on a Saturday night when I was 22. I sold my car and my furniture, I sub-let my apartment and I bought a one-way ticket to Australia. It was the furthest I could travel and still be in the Western world.”
Mr Tracz spent 12 months in Australia in 1989 travelling the country as a backpacker and funding his journey as a chef in virtually every state.
The next nine months were spent travelling through Asia where he picked up traditional cooking methods under some very interesting circumstances.
“In Indonesia I was invited by three high school kids back to their village for a wedding. I gravitated to the kitchen, watched the older women cooking and asked the boys to translate for me.
“That was the beginning of really learning about ingredient combinations.”
Mr Tracz’s next move was to Europe where he worked in Germany in summer and England in the winter.
“I met a girl in England who was from Australia and decided to apply for my Australian residency,” he said.
“The relationship later broke up, but I decided to migrate to Australia all the same. I became a permanent Australian resident in 1993.”
Mr Tracz moved to Berrima 10 years ago and it is there that he has made his home with his wife Nedene and two sons, Ethan and Chkye.
“Nedene and I became friends when she started working in the shop next door to the restaurant where I was head chef,” he said.
“We were married four years ago while flying over Berrima village in a Douglas DC3. I’m an aviation nut and DC3s are my other passion so it seemed right to me that we should be married while flying in one.
“And we managed to keep the whole thing a secret until the big day!”
Mr Tracz has spent more than two years at Wild Food.
He said the position came at a turning point in his life, when he embraced the opportunity to again expand his skills.
“The business was like a huge storeroom of fresh organic and free-range produce with amazing taste sensations for me to use in my cooking,” he said.
“It reignited my passion for cooking in a unique environment I had never experienced before - at Wild Food we cook what we sell and we sell what we cook.”
The opportunity has also seen Mr Tracz revel in the chance to share his love of cooking with others with monthly cooking classes at the store.
“The classes are about fun. I love to entertain and these give me the opportunity to help people broaden their perspective on what can be done with food.
“We encourage new people to enjoy the experience each month, but it has been exciting to have a core group of ‘foodies’ who have come to every class since they started almost two years ago.”
And when Mr Tracz is not sharing his cooking knowledge and tasty treats with others he is living somewhat organic life in his Canadian-inspired log cabin on his Berrima property.
Collecting fruit from the orchard, eggs from the geese and chooks and tending to the vegetable garden have become a popular part of daily life for the Tracz family.
Looking to the future Mr Tracz said he wanted to continue to give people a food experience to remember.
“Educate them, entice them, and make them happy,” he said.
“And Wild Food has provided the perfect opportunity to achieve them all.”
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