Big and beautiful photos of what Europe's top chefs keep in their fridge

Most chefs like to cook with fresh, local ingredients, even when they're not at work

Saturday 19 March 2016 14:30 EDT

Authors Carrie Solomon and Adrian Moore travelled around Europe photographing the refrigerators of top chefs for the book "Inside Chefs’ Fridges, Europe" (Business Insider)

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Authors Carrie Solomon and Adrian Moore travelled around Europe for months photographing the refrigerators of top chefs for the book “Inside Chefs’ Fridges, Europe.”

Most chefs like to cook with fresh, local ingredients, even when they're not at work.

“Even for the world’s most prestigious chefs, the fridge remains resolutely personal, and however sloppy or manicured theirs might be, give key insight into the very core of these extraordinary personalities and show what they themselves eat when freed from the restraints of their chosen profession, what they buy for their mates or families, where they store ingredients for meals that will be prepared for loved ones,” the authors write in their introduction.

Take a look at a selection of images from the book below.

Akrame Benallal, who runs a two-star Michelin restaurant in Paris, keeps his fridge stocked with yoghurts, crème caramel desserts, and pickled herring from IKEA. There's also strawberries, chocolate milk, and applesauce pouches for his kids.

Magnus Nilsson is the head chef at Fäviken, located in the far northwest of Sweden on the largest, privately-owned estate in the country. His fridge is full of fermented vegetables, including turnips and cucumbers. You can also help yourself to hand-churned butter and locally-produced ham.

You can find everything from pickled elderberry flower bulbs and hay milk cheese to Japanese fermented ume plums in the fridge of Bo Bech, the host of the Danish version of “Kitchen Nightmares.”

Hélène Darroze shows her French roots with products like foie gras, Champagne, and aged Comté cheese.

German chef Sven Elverfeld keeps root vegetables, feta cheese, and tzatziki in his fridge as a nod to his love for Greek food. The top shelf is reserved for his mum's homemade jams.

Italy's Massimo Bottura fills his fridge with comforting foods, like lamb chops and meat-filled olives that you deep fry.

Sébastien Bras, of France, buys most of his food from the local market. When his three-star Michelin restaurant is closed, he cooks breakfast, lunch, and dinner for his family.

In Bras' family fridge, there is homemade yoghurt and locally-brewed beer.

Among seasonal produce, you'll find sheep's milk cheese and lamb tripe sausage in the fridge of José Avillez, who cooks traditional Portuguese food with a contemporary twist.

Daniel Achilles, who lives in Berlin, keeps a mix of local organic foods and regular supermarket fare, like cream cheese and German-style Dijon mustard, in his family-sized fridge. There is also a bottle of Kikkoman that has followed him over the years from apartment to apartment.

Spain's Andoni Luis Aduriz cooks almost every day for his wife and his son. His home fridge is often full of seafood such as hake, bonito, squid, and anchovies as well as anything else in season, like local peppers and tomatoes, figs, and Itxassou cherries.