Joseph Wrede

For Joseph Wrede, the owner/executive chef of Joseph’s Table in Taos, it was his Italian mother who inspired an early interest in food. “I was raised on Italian cooking,” he says, “and my grandfather grew oranges, lemons and other produce in the Phoenix area where we lived, so I also had a connection with the land, growing up.”  Wrede, who started working in restaurants at the age of 12, would spend hours in the kitchen with his mother, learning the basics of Italian home cooking. “But it wasn’t just about the food,” he says. “I also acquired an Italian culinary sensitivity, if you like, an appreciation of the importance of fresh ingredients, simple preparation, local flavors. I still believe in those things. Food is medicine, after all.”

Joseph’s Table opened in 1995 and specializes in seasonal foods “that work with the environment.” Wrede shops the farmers’ markets and may well be the only chef for miles around without a freezer. “We have a small one that we use for ice-cream and sorbets but none of our food is ever frozen,” he says. “That’s just my personal preference.” He is particularly fond of using local lamb in his restaurant “because real New Mexico food tastes of the area. What those animals eat, the grasses and shrubs, really does have a subtle effect on the flavor.”

The lamb dish Wrede chose for the holidays is featured on his restaurant’s Christmas Day menu (Joseph’s Table opens at 4:30 pm that day.) When asked what he likes to cook, for himself, as a holiday treat at home, he responds emphatically, “I never cook at home! I eat cereal and coconut water for breakfast, that’s about it.”