DVine Bar Executive Chef, 3-time Chopped champion
Welcome to “7 Questions with A Couple,” a monthly series that includes quick conversations with a variety of experts and influencers from throughout the MS community. It’s quite humbling for us to serve up for you our conversation with Chris Holland. Chris is the Executive Chef at DVine Bar in Sparkill, New York, and a 3-time Chopped champion. This includes the “Thanksgiving Champions” title and bringing home the top prize for winning “Chopped: Alton’s Challenge.” Oh yeah, and Chris is accomplishing all of his culinary achievements after he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2004. We are grateful for all that he does for the MS community and for taking the time to have this conversation with us.
1. You worked as a paralegal before you were diagnosed with having MS in your 20s. At what point after your diagnosis did you realize your paralegal days were over, and what led you to think you could make it as a professional chef?
The years immediately following my diagnosis were the most difficult of my life. During a time when most adults are figuring out “who they are,” I was trying to figure out how to “hide from who I was.” Dealing with my diagnosis was not an option for me so I ran from it, leading me to a path of addiction and self-destruction.
In February of 2009, I ended my addiction and began the difficult process of putting my life back together, and there was lot to put back together as I had lost almost everything; my career, my money, a place to live, and most relationships.
There were not many bright spots in my life, but there was a silver lining; once the rubble was cleared away, I was only left a foundation to build the life I had wanted to.
I always wanted to be a chef, but thought it would be far too difficult. Thinking about further; however, I realized that nothing could be more difficult than what I had just been through. A conversation with my wife one day clinched it. In 2011, I told her that I wanted to give cooking a shot, that I would regret it if I never gave it a shot. She responded, “It’s your turn, go for it.”
2. Stress is known for intensifying common MS symptoms such as numbness in the limbs, heat sensitivity and fatigue. How do you stand the heat in the kitchen and handle sharp knives and the pressure of cooking in a restaurant as an executive chef?
I consider myself lucky that my body still allows me to do what I do. Would working in a hot kitchen be easier without MS? Absolutely it would. The fatigue is very real and the heat does on occasion temporarily reactivate some existing nerve damage. But “not having MS” is not an option, so I focus on what I am able to do. As of today, my hands, aside from being a little weak (I can’t open jars), still work at peak efficiency. I do occasionally have issues with my legs (numbness and pain), but I try to stay well-hydrated and take air conditioning breaks in my car if/when I feel overheated. More than anything it’s important that I always listen to what my body is telling me.
3. You’ve been named Food Network’s Chopped champion three times. Did any of the wins mean more to you, and did your MS ever spark any doubts when you opened your first basket of mystery ingredients?
Each win was special in its own way. As far as impact on my life, the second win netted me $50k, but when I look back now, it was the first episode that was most meaningful on a personal level.
I look at cooking as an art form, and an artist wants people to love their work. When I first stepped foot on the Chopped set, I wasn’t sure that I belonged there. I was a self-taught chef from the suburbs and had never spent much time around other chefs or cooked for many people with discerning pallets.
Was I good enough to do this? Was I going to embarrass myself in front of my idol, Alton Brown? Would they like my food? Then came my first round where I probably prepared the best dish I have ever done on the show: a Thai crab salad. My life changed forever during that 15 minutes of judging. I realized that not only did I belong there, and more importantly I felt validated as a chef.
I went on to win the episode. I thanked the judges and quickly broke out in tears, telling them, “I am just so happy that you liked my food.” It was at that point that Alton Brown came out and gave me a big hug. At that point, I wasn’t thinking of the prize money or the effect it would have on my career. The only thing that mattered was that they enjoyed my art, and I had made the right decision in becoming a chef.
4. Has your MS diagnosis changed the types of food you eat or cook?
If I am being totally honest, I would say that until about two years ago the answer would have been, no. Much of my journey has been marked by bouts with denial and diet and exercise was one of the last walls of denial to fall.
About two years ago, I began to change that, drastically cutting out carbs and refined sugar and focusing on eating more proteins and fiber. I have worked with the MS Society, developing MS friendly recipes, and I am currently working on a cookbook for those of us living with MS and other autoimmune diseases.
For a long time, I discounted the effect a diet can have on our well-being, but I have now seen firsthand the impact it can have on our day to day lives.
5. You have all the chops (pun totally intended) of highly respected chef. Still, what guilty pleasure food do you still crave and only eat when you’re at home with your family?
In my house we call it, “Trailer Park Chicken Marsala” and it is a dish my mom used to make for me as a kid and something I have every year on my birthday. It is gross and disgusting and absolutely delicious. Basically, it is thin-cut breaded chicken cutlets lightly stewed in Campbells Cream of Mushroom soup and topped with artery-clogging amounts of processed mozzarella (it has to be processed cheese or it just doesn’t work).
Truth be told, I prefer junk food to fine dining all day, every day. If I could, I would eat from diners, fast food places, or take-out every day.
6. It’s fairly common for us to introduce our meals to each other as, “Chef, what I’ve prepared for you tonight …” And in a recent conversation we had with Gina Ross Murdoch, the President and CEO of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, she talked about how she has Chopped-inspired competitions with her daughter. How does that make you feel a three-time winner of something that so many people aspire for and dream to do?
The funny thing is that I completely understand how those other people feel. When Chopped first aired I was not a chef and imagining myself as a contestant on the show was something I have done. Life is long and can become a bit tedious, and we sometimes forget to take a step back and take stock – to review the highlight real, so to speak.
I appreciate the opportunity to answer these questions, and this one in particular, because it is prompting me to review the “highlight reel.” I was able to live out an actual dream. Something that only five years earlier seemed virtually impossible.
I hope there is a lesson in there for others living with MS, especially the young newly diagnosed. We, humans use the word “impossible” far too often.
7. If you could serve a dinner party for five people, who would they be and what would you prepare as your featured entre?
1. Alton Brown again so I could try to convince him to be my best friend forever
2. Gordon Ramsay so he could put my head between two pieces of bread and call me an “idiot sandwich.”
3. Trent Reznor a musical genius who, judging from his music, shares a lot in common with me
4. David Tennant who starred in my favorite show, Doctor Who
5. Neil deGrasse Tyson because science is awesome
Believe it or not, I do not have a signature dish that I have come up with. I have culinary A.D.D. and have never settled on a single dish to become married too. What I would love to do is to turn it into a taco tasting (I love tacos).I would ask each person to write down a dish with a special memory to them, whether it’s fancy food, street food, or junk off the shelves of a convenience store. Whatever they chose, I would turn into a gourmet meal, shrunk down and put into a flour tortilla (anything can be made into a taco with enough creative thinking).