“The kitchen sees and feels everything,” says Khristianne Uy. As a private chef, that means she has a front-row seat to a family’s joys and troubles at the dinner table—and even years before she began working for the Kardashians, it was what made her fall in love with the job. “I was like, ‘Wow! I don’t know what I’m doing, but I love that the children are coming [to the table] more often,’” she remembers of some of er first clients. “I love that the ex-wife has a better relationship with the husband.”
Likewise, 26-year-old Meredith Hayden, who went viral on TikTok documenting her life as a private chef for Joseph Altuzarra and his husband in the Hamptons, finds it most rewarding to “watch them grow their family, and create these core memories for them and with them,” she says. “Cooking birthday dinners, watching them welcome their new daughter… being able to make the meal and sit down and eat with them.”
For Charity Morgan, the plant-based chef who catered Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth’s wedding, it’s all about providing comforting favorites in vegan form. “Most people want the food that their grandmother or mother made… My job isn’t to change who you are and what you like.”
Below, all three chefs take Vogue through the lessons they’ve learned in their profession.
Khristianne Uy, aka Chef K
During her five years as the Kardashians’ private chef—plus several more working for the Biebers and Diddy—Khristianne Uy says people were often surprised to see a tattooed, lesbian Filipina running the kitchen. Still, she believes her identity has been essential to her success. “Women reign in the private chef world, because there’s a lot less ego,” she says. “Men forget it’s not a restaurant. They’re not coming to you; you just have to say yes.”
Inside each client’s kitchen, Chef K catered for a different lifestyle. For the Jonas Brothers, she barbecued a lot—ribs in particular. For James Cameron’s family, it was all about organic, sustainable cooking using seasonal produce grown on their own land. Charlize Theron never wasted food, while family meals for the Kardashian clan required some juggling: Travis and Kourtney are vegan and gluten-free, Khloé only eats white meat, Kendall doesn’t like spicy food, Scott Disick is dairy-free, Kim watches her calories… and so on. “I can really go crazy and make every single thing across the board, so everyone has four options,” she says. “Which I’ve done many, many times.”
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Before she even gets cooking for a client, she investigates their palate by perusing their kitchen staples. Lots of pasta? They must like Italian. Peri-peri seasoning? They’re into spice. What to make for dessert? “Open up the freezer [and look at their ice creams]. If I see more ice pops, for example, I might make a sorbet.” From there, she keeps a record of clients’ preferences in “forever lists” and “never lists”.
In LA, salad rules, with her Chinese chicken salad a favorite of Kylie Jenner: chopped chicken, avocado, cranberries, shaved carrots, radishes, sunflower seeds, and Chef K’s signature vinaigrette. “I chop everything really, really small,” she explains. “So every forkful consistently delivers.” Size matters in terms of portions, too. Hailey and Justin Bieber always request her Kobe beef sliders for events, which she created after noticing that a lot of women would avoid taking big bites in front of people. “If it’s all mini, they’ll eat more of it.”
When chef Meredith Hayden cooks for designer Joseph Altuzarra and his husband, Seth Weissman, in the Hamptons, she is surrounded by gorgeous fresh produce. “There’s practically a farm stand on every block,” she says, which is handy in a household with a focus on nutrition. “I hate using the word healthy when I talk about food because that means different things to different people.” Instead, just “think of the vegetable first [when you’re cooking], then you’re already starting off on the right foot,” she suggests. “Treat meat like a luxury—because it is a luxury—and you consume it more thoughtfully and more sustainably.”
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