A TRALEE chef is enjoying a fantastic career in Los Angeles, which has seen him feed Oscar-winning directors, supermodels, rock gods, rap moguls and NBA stars since he moved Stateside 15 years ago.
Gavan Murphy, who grew up in Oakpark, is thriving with his company ‘The Healthy Irishman’ and just this month he’s had recipes featured in the hugely popular Muscle & Fitness magazine, which has some guy called Arnold Schwarzenegger as Executive Editor.
Gavan – son of Joe and Mary Murphy, who now live in The Kerries – is one of the most popular and respected chefs in LA.
“I love it here,” he told TraleeToday.ie when we contacted him during the week.
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“It’s sunshine most of the year. I’ve been here 15 years this month and I work mainly as a personal chef for celebrities, professional sports people and anyone else really who has an interest in eating healthy. I also work with trainers structuring diets for their clients,” said Gavan.
It’s been a long, hard road to where he is now, from working summer jobs in Dublin restaurants, to catching the cooking bug on a stint in a Martha’s Vineyard restaurant in the 90s.
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Having completed a course in Ballymaloe, Gavan worked in restaurants in Dingle and London, before leaving for Los Angeles in June 2000 at the age of 30.
He worked as an assistant chef for a few years before getting his big break when supermodel Cindy Crawford hired him as a personal chef for three months when she was preparing to promote a fitness product for a prominent company.
Then Josh Homme of rock band Queens Of The Stone Age hired him, followed by jobs for former Roc-a-Fella Records executive Damon Dash and NBA star Baron Davis.
His website features testimonials from Titanic/Avatar director James Cameron and his wife Suzy Amis, for whom he has cooked on many social occasions.
He met wife Christy, a Texan, in Venice (the Los Angeles one!) in 2005 and both of them have grown ‘The Healthy Irishman’ into a thriving business. His focus is to show people that cooking doesn’t have to be complicated and healthy food doesn’t mean bland or boring.
The father of one (three year old Dillon), Gavan gets home once a year to catch up with friends and family Joe, Mary and brother Ross, before heading back to a hectic lifestyle in LA.
And his hopes for the future?
“To become the biggest name in the food and fitness market. Simple as that,” he said.
With his determination and Tralee charm who’d bet against him?