Marcel Israel

Marcel comes from Eberswalde, a district town in Brandenburg, about 50 kilometres north-east of Berlin. His training began in a hunting lodge near his home and ended – due to the closure of his training establishment – at the Savoy Hotel Berlin. When he looks back, he remembers two characteristics that he acquired there and that still influence him today: Working cleanly and, above all, keeping order. Two qualities that already served him well in his subsequent military service in the navy. He completed his service, which was a very great experience for him in terms of teamwork, on the legendary sail training ship “Gorch Fock”.

After his apprenticeship, five years of travelling followed: Marcel cooked as a seasonal chef in Greece, Portugal, Italy, Austria and finally in Switzerland. His love of the mountains and his passion for skiing contributed to his settling down in Bern for the first time in years. After two stations in the federal city, his career started in the Baseltor cooperative: alongside Christian Härtge, he cooked for eight years in the Salzhaus, where he “actually first learned to cook properly and discovered a passion for good food”, as he says himself. His time at the Salzhaus was only interrupted by two detours: for two years he moved to Zermatt to the Hotel Julen and to Zug to the Parkhotel.

When the retirement of chef Chris approached at Solheure and Sabrina Knittel also knocked on Marcel’s door during the search for a suitable successor, he didn’t have to think twice. But before he took the job, he cooked alongside Martin Elschner at La Couronne for a few months and went on a longer break by bike. He pedalled several thousand kilometres from Scandinavia to the Portuguese Atlantic coast. The experiences he was allowed to make led to the fact that riding long distances is now – next to cooking – his second great passion.

At Solheure, Marcel is now in charge of the kitchen for the first time. However, the concept is not being applied with a crowbar. Rather, selective adjustments are made at the beginning to make the cuisine more balanced and ecological. For Marcel, this means using less meat and meat substitutes. And for him, one sentence of a top chef stands above everything: “No matter what you cook, whether pizza, burger or a gourmet menu: do it with passion.