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Michael Hoffmann, Cook and Gardener

March 22, 2013

Michael Hoffmann runs the restaurant Margaux, not far from the Brandenburg Gate in the middle of Berlin. He has cooked up a Michelin star and 18 points in Gault&Millau.

https://p.dw.com/p/182mN

The vegetables come from his own garden, just outside of Berlin, where he raises some that are not longer found in markets. Michael Hoffmann speaks with us about cooking and gardening on "Talking Germany".

Plenty of vegetables, herbs, and fruits -- little meat and little fish. That's Michael Hoffmann's philosophy of the kitchen. Restaurant critics regard him as an especially creative avant-garde cook. Michael Hoffmann was born in Dillenberg in the state of Hessen in 1967. His grandmother taught him that cooking and gardening go together -- and how to excel at home-cooking. At the age of 29, he was already the chef at the restaurant Haerlin in Hamburg's five-star hotel, the Vier Jahreszeiten. He has been cooking in Berlin's elegant Margaux restaurant since 2000, and in 2003 he and his wife became its owners. Michael Hoffmann gets inspiration for his vegetable dishes in his garden in the countryside outside of Berlin. Everything he harvests there is served in his restaurant. In the winter, he uses home-made preserves. For Michael Hoffmann's efforts in cultivating old kinds of vegetables, the gourmet association Slow Food accepted him in the "Arche des Geschmacks" (the Ark of Taste), a project launched to preserve biodiversity among cultivated plants and domestic animals. And Michael Hoffmann, whose visiting card reads "Cook and Gardener", is very proud of that induction.