Chloe Lucas-Walsh

August 31, 2026
Los Angeles, CA

Interview and Photographs by Justin Chung

I first met Chloe through mutual friends, and over time I’ve gotten to know her and the world she’s created around Chloe Cooks. I’ve always been drawn to the way she approaches food—not just as something to cook, but as a way of bringing people together and creating a sense of place. I spent an afternoon with Chloe at her home while she was getting ready to leave for New York and start a new chapter. She made lunch, we talked, cooked, and photographed around the house, and it felt like a small glimpse into a life in transition. I’ve always been inspired by what Chloe does and the world she’s built around it, so it was nice to slow down and spend an afternoon documenting it before she left:

How did cooking first enter your life?

Cooking entered my life at a fairly young age, maybe around the age of four, when I would help my Nanny June (my dad’s mother) prepare things in the kitchen after school. My interest in food, however, started from a much younger age. My mum has told me several times over the years that I was a peculiar child, in the way that I was obsessed with vegetables from as young as I could start eating solid foods—which I think, for most children, is quite rare. So much so that my common after-school snack was petit pois, warmed gently in a pan with lots of butter and maybe some mint, if we had some in the fridge. At Nanny June’s, there was always an abundance of herbs that my Grandad Ken (my dad’s father) had grown in his greenhouse at the top of the garden.

When did it become something you chose to carry with you?

I cooked for myself a lot after school and for my sister too, as my parents were most likely still at work. So I think that is when my interest and enjoyment really took a hold. I worked in restaurants from a young age—starting a pot wash, but eventually got on the line and always felt so at home, heads down, prepping mise or getting prepped for service. I started on salads and made my way up in various restaurants to front grill / steaks and fish.

I started hosting supper clubs at uni, and that is where the love of cooking my own food took a real hold. Working in restaurants was fun and interesting and such a great place to learn, but I wanted to cook my own food or nurture that interest at least—and supper clubs were a perfect way to do this.

You were preparing to leave for New York when we spoke—how does being in motion shape the way you think about your work?

Making the decision to move to NYC was certainly not an easy one. However—change is hard, but very necessary to grow. My husband and I were desperate for a change of pace, and his job had already been based here for the last 3 years (he worked remotely from LA), and I already had a community here, so it all made sense. Similarly—and perhaps the true, actually reason why NYC actually felt feasible or a real option for both of us—were my personal travels for work the summer before. People say travel changes you, but this quite literally changed the trajectory of my / our lives. I came back a different person. Something chemical in me changed. I felt deeply inspired, and happy and brave. And honestly changed by the people I met and conversations I had. It affirmed to me what I already think I knew, is that being in flux is most likely how I will always be. From a food perspective, to travel and to be able to cook in so many different places, with so many different people, with different terroirs and landscape, deeply inspires my work. The markets, the produce, the way local people shop differently to us. French people in the south, for example (I work a lot in Biarritz and Basque), almost only shop at their local produce market, buy only from their local butcher, source all their cheeses and dairy from their local fromagerie. Very similar in Italy, Greece and Spain (from what I have observed), and in seeing this, it inspires me to try to shop and cook with the same principles. Local, seasonal and simply. If you have great produce and products, truly that is all you need.

Do you think of flavor as something tied to place, or something more personal?

I think it can be both things. For example—taste can be so nostalgic for me and stir up feelings or memories of sitting around the dining table with my parents and sister. Perhaps tasting a certain roast potato can remind me of my Nanny June on a Sunday. But at the same time, the best pasta pomodoro can only be tied to Calabria for me (where I studied food of the Italian south), and so that particular taste is for sure linked to a certain place.

What draws you to a place when you arrive somewhere new?

The food, 100%! The food dictates where I choose to travel, for sure. But also travelling for work makes it so much more appealing when a new cuisine or a, indeed, cuisine I love already is at the main focus. I just got back from working a retreat in Sri Lanka and I don't think I would have ever chosen to go to Sri Lanka, had I have never had this work op come up. Now, I cannot wait to go back and take everyone I know with me. The food, the people, the ocean, the landscape, the spices, the tea. I can't quite explain how special that work trip was to me. The experience was so singular and beautiful, and I am certain—a feeling I'll never be able feel again. Not for the first time anyway. Same for Sri Lankan food. The lady that looked after our staff house that we stayed in would cook us real, authentic food every night, after my long days cooking for the guests. I have never had more comforting, more flavourful, more delicious food in my life. I became obsessed with the banana flower dry curry. I still salivate thinking about it now—so visceral.

Are you looking for food, or something less defined?

As above, yes, food is the first thing I have to consume upon landing in a new place. But also there are those basic things I have learned that I need when travelling for work. I need to establish some sort of routine, even if I am only somewhere for a week. Find a good market for initial produce shop, find a gym, find a laundry. If I have all those things figured out in the first day of being in a new place, I'm home.

Do you cook more from what’s around you, or from what you’ve carried with you?

A bit of both. I do bring some things with me, no matter where I go. I always bring my knife roll and a few kitchen utensils. I am quite particular about some of these things and if I can bring them I will. I always carry a little tin of Maldon salt with me wherever I go, as I am one of these crazy people that will sometimes salt every bite (especially steak), and I will always likely bring my white pepper mill. You can't find white peppercorn everywhere (especially in Italy, funnily enough) and they make or break a meal for me. White pepper over black pepper, most of the time (for me anyway). In terms of produce, it's always local and whatever is in season at the markets! That is the beauty of travelling to cook. The markets are such a thrill when menu planning.

What does a kitchen feel like in a new city, before it becomes familiar?

It feels exciting and like a new challenge. As I mentioned before, one thing I love to do as I get situated in a new location and place is go by a grocery store for some essentials, but most importantly—good kitchen essentials. Good quality extra virgin olive oil, good quality butter, a few vinegars (most likely white wine and red wine), lemons, good quality flaky salt and both black and white pepper, to grind fresh. Once I have those few things, I set up my kitchen pretty fast and there begins the settling and, of course, the first meal.

Does your rhythm return quickly, or does it shift each time?

Honestly, I travel so much that most of the time I know exactly what to do to find equilibrium in each new place. And with that I end up finding my rhythm pretty quickly.

What changes in the way you cook when you’re somewhere unfamiliar?

Actually, not a lot, not in my process anyway. The ingredients change, of course, but my thoughts and process around food and cooking, cooking for others and hosting—whether that is for family and friends on vacation or at a retreat for work. I have it all down to a tea, after many years of practice.

What stays the same, no matter where you are?

My love of local produce and learning to cook with it.

How has moving between places changed your relationship to cooking?

I am still figuring it out actually. Moving to NYC is hard, because all I want to do is eat out. They say that when you move to NYC, to allow for the first 6 months of just indulging. I'm sure that will change come the winter months, and my need to want to sustain people on soup. I'm sure there will be dinner parties a-plenty. From a work perspective, I love my new space for prep and have some pop-ups and residences coming up in the next month, so we shall see. It's exciting for me. Perhaps was a bit discombobulating at first, but that is what encourages growth and new perspectives.

What do you carry with you, no matter where you go?

Usually some food writing by Elizabeth David, Claudia Roden or some kind of historical food writing. Always at least one of my favorite cookbooks, and always, always, photos of my husband and cats. ●

Photographed in Los Angeles, CA.

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