Rebekah Rife, Swim & Water Polo
Rebekah is a plant-based chef located in Venice Beach, California. She is originally from San Francisco. She practiced Speed Swimming, Synchronized Swimming and Water Polo from a young age through university competing at National and Division 1 University level. She became a vegan in 2011 and a chef shortly after that.
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Sport: Speed Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Water Polo
Level: Collegiate
Career: 17 years
Retirement: 2007
Occupation: Private Chef
Location: Venice Beach, California
Interests: Cook, Yoga, Travel, Hiking, Camping
How did you become a chef?
I was working for an event company in Beverley Hills. They were downsizing and moving the company to another location. They told some of the employees they had a month or so to find another job. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do. I wasn’t trying to stay in events. Fortunately, I met a gentleman who had a rare immune disease and he needed a cook so I interviewed for the job. I grew up cooking. Part of my allowance growing up was to cook dinner for the family with my sister. I had that base and a natural instinct. Growing up, I also watched my grandma cook. She was an amazing cook. So I interviewed for this position and I didn’t even have to cook! I got the job and I went into it blind. I knew what good food tasted like so I thought I could do it. I guess it worked because he liked my food! The funny thing is I had been a vegan for three or four years but he wasn’t. He ate meat. I was a vegan becoming a chef and cooking meat for someone else.
How did you cook meat without tasting the dishes?
A lot of it was ground chicken. I grew up cooking chicken for my family so I knew when it was cooked. Sometimes I would cook the veggies separately, taste them, then add the chicken and the sauce and hope for the best! He had a meat grinder and I would be grinding meat from scratch. I was making chicken meat patties! What saved me is that I never had to cook a steak or anything that required more finesse. I cooked mostly chicken and fish so it was pretty easy.
How did you feel about it?
I didn’t like it. I could take my emotions out of it when I would go to work. I would disassociate and not think of the animals.
Before we talk more about your cooking career, can you tell us how you became a vegan?
I grew up eating meat but I never really liked it. Also, being an athlete, back in the 80s and 90s, this is where you were told you got your proteins. There wasn’t any research about alternative options. I also didn’t want to speak up and say I didn’t like eating the food at home. In 2008, I went to watch my friends compete in the Olympics and then I travelled for a month in Asia. When I came back, I felt really puffy. I had just eaten whatever I wanted for a month. I remembered everything was so cheap in Thailand, we would order two courses in order to try more food. My mother recommended a liquid cleanse program to lose weight. I ended up doing it for 40 days. Following that cleanse, I completely lost the taste for meat. I became a pescatarian and ate only veggies and fish. This was right after college. Then, I moved to Los Angeles and got into the yoga and health community. I started to feel more compassion for animals. I thought vegetarianism would be the next step. But after thinking about it, I realized I would go all in. And this is how I became a vegan. It was first driven by my compassion for the animals but once I started to feel health benefits, I never looked back.
So how long has it been?
I have been on the vegan journey since 2011.
You are not going back?
I can’t see going back, no.
Do you still work for the same person?
No, the gentleman I worked for eventually needed an in-home nurse who began to take care of the cooking. So I continued my journey with food in a different direction. I started cooking for a couple. They wanted me to manage their food, diets, meal plans and all cooking. They both had health issues- one lady was gluten and dairy free and the other wanted to lose weight. I helped her lose 35 pounds over two years. They became my main clients.
What is your culinary training?
I was a self-taught chef for about four years. But eventually I wanted a deeper knowledge of flavors and techniques and a better understanding of the science behind food. I knew though that going to a traditional school wouldn’t serve me since half of the curriculum wouldn’t apply to me. I didn’t need to learn about cooking meat or dairy and I didn’t want to waste time. So I started researching plant-based schools. There is an amazing plant-based school in Venice but it didn’t work for me because it was full-time and I was working. I ended up enrolling in an online plant-based school called Rouxbe which is one of the largest online culinary school in the world. I followed a six-month program, about 15 hours of practice per week. It was great and I highly recommend it.
If someone wanted to become a chef, would you recommend for them to start with the training or to start directly as a chef like you did?
If you have a base of knowledge and you feel you can develop good flavors, then I think starting off with cooking is an ok idea. However, if you are someone who needs more confidence, then education is a good start. I see the value in both. I felt I had hit a plateau and, at that point, it was good to further my knowledge. I could see someone mixing training and cooking at the same time and this is what you generally do throughout a career as a chef. Most chefs are formally trained and there is a good reason for it. I eventually took some training at the school in Venice and I intend to continue to do that throughout my career. I also always take cooking lessons when I travel.
What inspires you and keeps you creative?
I love all the food programming on TV. It is very inspiring; shows like Chef’s Table. I feel like The Food Network has taught me how to cook in a way. Also, eating out is always good, it is like a research project. I go to vegan and non-vegan restaurants. I always find something interesting to eat.
What are you favorites flavors?
I am really drawn to Asian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food and flavors. The Middle Eastern cuisine is what my grandma cooked. She was born in Iraq but spent most of her life in Singapore. The Middle Eastern flavors and smells are very nostalgic for me. I have been inspired during my travel to Lebanon and Turkey as well. I love what they can do with vegetables. As for Asian flavors, I find them really comforting.
If you could pick a cuisine to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?
It would have to be Thai food.
What is your favorite dish?
Anything with a Thai curry flavor, probably a green Thai curry.
What is your go-to ingredient?
Definitely cashews and green onions. Green onions can go in almost everything. I also like adding frozen peas to salads. It gives it a cold bite. And I started a little love affair with mint after travelling to Morocco.
What is the next restaurant you want to try?
I want to try the Mathew Kinney’s new spot “Make Out’ in Culver City and a vegan restaurant in Santa Monica called Golden Mean, their veggie burger is supposed to be excellent!
Did you always wanted to be a chef?
No. I had zero plans after college. I didn’t know what major to choose because I had no interests outside of sports. My parents didn’t guide me in that way. They were both business majors and they told me you can just do business as it is very broad and applicable to anything. So, I chose business management.
How did you figure things out?
It was very very difficult. I worked in restaurants serving tables for a while. I have to say that everything happens for a reason because I was always making friends with the chefs and staring in the kitchen windows looking at what they were cooking. Maybe this is when I became a little bit of a foodie. But I got more drawn to food when I became a vegan because I had to cook for myself and I had to learn how to make new things that tasted good. I never thought I would be a chef. I had never even considered that profession.
Would you do something else?
Probably not. I want to be in the food industry. Working in and around food is my passion. I don’t always have to be the one cooking but I want to be involved in food. That is what makes me happy.
Do you grow any of the food you cook?
No, that is my next project!
What is your favorite part about being a chef?
I love that it is creative and that no two days are the same. I also love that people are always going to be hungry so, if you make something good, you are probably going to be in business! When you are a chef, you have a really positive job, you are always an exciting part of someone else’s day.
Do you try to convert people to veganism?
No, I am definitely not a pushy vegan. I speak openly about it but I am conscious of not making people uncomfortable. I personally feel awkward around vegan activists and I don’t want to be that person. I mostly speak about it when someone ask. And I usually focus on explaining how to re-create non-vegan flavor with vegan options. I love showing all the possible plant-based cooking options.
Is there a community of chefs? Do you work with other chefs and do they inspire you?
Two of my good friends are chefs. I have worked with both of them and I loved it. Outside of that, I have met some inspiring chefs at PlantLab. So I feel like I have developed a small network of chefs I can call for inspiration or for jobs.
What is the link between sport and what you do now?
I am a perfectionist and this definitely came from sport. Even when everyone tells me my food is good, I always think of ways to tweak it and make it better. As an athlete, I had a vision of how my movements should look like and now, as a chef, I have the same vision of how my food and business should be too. I have had to learn to let go sometimes because it really only is food!
Is being a chef as exciting and satisfying as your passion for sport?
There are moments in being a chef when I get similar highs like I did as sports but the feelings are still a bit different. I am constantly challenged as a chef. I use what I have learnt in sports and yoga to manage some of the stressful moments. I breathe and I tell myself I prepared as hard as I could and that everything will be ok. Recently, I have been pushed to my limits a lot which is good, it makes you feel alive. If you are pushed, it is a good sign. There has been times where I have been more bored in life and that is not good, it means less work.
How was your transition to life after sport?
It was rough for a long time, nearly five years. I came from a regimented lifestyle with five hours of training per day to figuring out my own routine. I had the discipline but I didn’t understand I didn’t have to work out so much every day. I would workout in the gym for one hour and then would do an additional two classes. I kept the crazy workouts well after college and retirement. I had the fear of getting fat. Most days I would be at the gym for three hours but in my head, this would not be enough, it wasn’t nearly as much as swim practice. So much of my journey was learning to stop competing in everything I did and yoga helped me a lot with that. I also have an identical twin sister so competition was sort of build in my psychology. It took me about a year to feel the effects of yoga and let go of the competitive lifestyle. Now I use competition only to challenge myself. I found balance in working out about hour a day and eating healthy and I feel pretty good.
What about your emotional transition? Did you associate with your sport identity?
Sport was definitely my identity. I talked about being an athlete for a couple of years after I retired but at the same time, I didn’t touch the pool for a few years. I didn’t want to get in a pool, I didn’t want to shower, I didn’t want to touch water. Eventually I started getting back in the water to do synchro but that was only four or five years after I retired. It felt good but I also had lots of trauma resurfacing.
Do you still swim on a regular basis?
No, I don’t. It still feels like a job to me. I love when I do it and I feel like I want to continue but I still have so much mental resistance. And also, there is this thing in the back of my head that I won’t be the fastest out there. I guess it would be good for me to let of that go and be the one in the “slow lane”.
Did you lose your social network after you retired?
I didn’t connect with a lot of the sporty girls when I was in college. When school ended, it actually was a relief. I also always had my twin sister so I didn’t have the need for it. The “synchro sisters” I grew up with during will remain my closest friends even if I do not see them on a regular basis. My newer athlete friends from college didn’t stick but my older ones did.
Was your sister your go-to person?
Growing up, we were each other reason for sticking with sports. We also had a pretty tumultuous family life growing up so sports kept us in line and happy we were not home. Being around coaches and team mates was something positive in our life because home wasn’t necessarily.
What skills did you transfer from sports?
Time Management. So much of cooking is understanding how to plan and manage your time. For events, preparation is key. I also work with other chefs and team work is important. Everybody has different skills, approaches and techniques and you need to be able to work together and respect each other’s styles. This is like working with your team mates. You need to be able to work with people and adapt if needed. Also, the ability to let go and accept the outcome is important. As an athlete, you have to let go of your performance once it is over and, as a chef, you have to do the same thing. Once you have completed your job or your performance, there is nothing else you can do and you need to be able to appreciate what you have given and feel you have given everything you could.
What is your sporting best memory?
I have reached a level in my sport where I can now enjoy it and have fun. It wasn’t as fun doing it when I was growing up because it was so demanding and so much work. Now I can really appreciate it when I do it.
How do you define success and are you successful?
I define success by “doing what you want when you want and enjoying it”. It took me a while to find what I wanted to do. I found it and I am enjoying it so I guess, based on my standards, I am successful! I am still a bit hard on myself sometimes.
What makes you happy?
The excitement of trying a new restaurant, a new recipe idea popping in my head, cooking for friends, or hoping on an airplane to travel somewhere.
