Mohamed Cheikh recounts the humiliations suffered in French kitchens

"Throughout my career, I was told that I would never make it because cooking is not for people like me, because I don’t eat pork and I don’t drink wine," says Mohamed Cheikh, who says he was a victim of racism because of his origins at the beginning of his career. "At the time, someone named Mohamed in a kitchen was the one who did the dishes [...] before, they would say to me ’so don’t you have a BM plan for this weekend?’, they even called me Mahomet and Mohamed couscous," he recounts.

The accomplished chef remembers also being a victim of harassment during his schooling. "I’ve always averaged 90 kilos for 1m85, so the physical barrier meant they didn’t mess with me too much, it was more moral," confesses Mohamed Cheikh, who mentions the case of a classmate who had grabbed him by the jacket to bother him. "After the second time, I slammed the guy against the wall and told him ’the next time you do it, you’ll remember it’," he details.

The Top Chef assures that he never complained to his parents about these situations. "I wasn’t going to tell them... Naturally, your mom, the only thing she’s going to say is ’stop, it’s not serious, do something else’ but I wanted to do this job, so I kept my mouth shut," he confides, indicating that his parents "gave everything for my education, and to make sure I was someone who moves forward".

Holder of a vocational training certificate in hotel and catering trades, option cuisine, obtained in 2010, Mohamed Cheikh is now the head of several restaurants including Manzili (in Paris), Babor (in Paris) and, more recently Meïda (in Saint-Ouen). Married and father of two children, the Franco-Algerian published a cookbook titled "My Mediterranean Cuisine" in 2022.