After working in elite kitchens with Alain Ducasse and Dan Barber, Ido Segev returned to Israel to build a culinary world shaped by foraging, fermentation and his grandfather’s forgotten flavorsTiki Golan|In the luxury kitchen of one of Paris’ most prestigious restaurants, between shining copper pots and a blazing grill, Ido Segev was living the dream of countless young chefs: working in a Michelin-starred kitchen.But alongside the shouting, endless hours on the line, exhaustion and pursuit of the perfect dish, Segev discovered he was also facing antisemitic and anti-Israel comments that made his time there even harder. This was years before October 7, when hostility toward Israelis was far less common in global discourse.GalleryChef Ido Segev (Photo: Nitzan Avital)“The year was 2011, and I remember that even then I was afraid,” Segev recalls. “There had just been a military operation in Israel that was covered by foreign media, and suddenly they started calling me a ‘murderer’ in the kitchen. “For them, the fact that I had served in the army was enough to make me a murderer. It didn’t matter that I had actually been a tractor mechanic. Even beyond that, there were always little jabs and comments. On top of the pressure of working in a demanding kitchen and my drive to succeed, I also had to deal with that. “They said it as if it was a joke, but when you hear it again and again, it stops being funny.”How do you deal with that?