Zach Gamiel, 39, makes people happy through cooking.
After growing up in Wilmington, Delaware, Gamiel went to culinary school at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia, where he graduated with a bachelor of science in culinary arts. Gamiel is now the executive chef for Sodexo USA at M&T Bank, where he serves the employees of the bank and their clients. His main focus is on their executive dining room.
Gamiel lives in Columbia with his family. The Gamiels belong to Temple Isaiah in Fulton.
When did you get into cooking?
I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but I really started cooking in high school. I went to a vocational technical high school and studied culinary arts there.
My father used to, and his family used to own a restaurant and catering business. It was gone by the time I was born, but he used to work in it. I grew up hearing stories about it.
What made you want to do this as a career?
I’ve always felt a pull to it. It really does take a certain type of person to want to cook for a living. It’s not an easy life. For the most part, there’s not much family time. There’s not much personal time. You’ll miss holidays and birthdays and things like that. But I’m very lucky that, where I’m at now, it allows me to have that family time.
Is there a particular cuisine you cook?
I generally cook everything, but I try to keep it as local as I can and generally as simple as I can and let the ingredients speak for themselves. But I like to sprinkle in some influences from Latin America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
What’s your favorite part about your job?
My favorite part is the smiles I get to put on people’s faces. When I can make someone’s day by having a great meal or bringing them back to a memory that they’ve had, that truly makes what I do totally worth it.
How does your family feel about you being a professional chef?
They’ve always been supportive with everything. My wife always jokes that she was either going to marry a chef or a millionaire because she hates to cook. I told her she married wrong because I’ll never be a millionaire.
What’s the difference between working in spaces that are corporate versus restaurants?
The biggest difference I find is just the structure of it. At typical restaurants, it’s long hours, more hectic and very time-consuming but also very rewarding cause you can still see the joy on people’s faces. Here I get to be a little more thoughtful, there’s a little more planning. I actually get to learn the clients themselves and learn their likes and dislikes and then cater my menu towards them, which is always really nice, while still having the freedom to cook the food that I want to.
Do you ever try to incorporate some of your Jewish heritage into your cooking?
I do bring in some of that Eastern European influence, but also Israeli cooking as well, which I’ve picked up over the years. Also working with various clients in the bank, I’ve made either kosher or parve meals if they request them.
Outside of work, what are some things that you do for fun?
I’m part of the Jewish Community Bowling League in Columbia. We meet once a week, and it’s more of a social league of the Jewish community. We have teams, and we get together and have fun and bowl. I saw an advertisement for it from the Jewish Federation and decided to sign up. I got a few of my friends to sign up, and we formed a team. We’ve split apart, and other friends have joined, so we have a couple of different teams of all of our friends.
How do you plan on imparting all of this to your family and your daughter?
We are raising her Jewish, and because Judaism has always been a huge part of both of our lives, we’ve always been active. We want that for our daughter, not just for the religious aspect, but also the community aspect. Some of our best relationships have come from the Jewish community. Plus, I want to instill a taste of good food in her, which, even at 13 months old, she is really learning and is starting to scare me with her palate.
