I like people
Kolja Kleeberg does not only cook in his restaurant and on TV, theBerliner can also sing and play guitar.
When Kolja Kleeberg rocks, he rocks for real. It is almost midnight, asthe man with the goatee takes the stage – no, he literally jumps intothe spotlight and starts signing. He is not satisfied with the chorus,he wants the audience to sing with him: “ I am louder without amicrophone than all of you together”, he fires the crowd up. KoljaKleeberg, and everyone can see that, is in his element on this evening.He has captivated the audience and he plays for and with them.The Kleeberg, he has started signing, many ask. Yet the question iswrongly formulated since he has been singing for a long time. Longerthan he does cooking however. And he is known for that among alarge part of the audience. Kolja Kleeberg is a real jack of all trades; hebounces seemingly effortlessly between his restaurant Vau and his TVshows, between singing and his private life.The easiness that somehow surrounds him comes from the art, heexplains. Kolja Kleeberg is actually an entertainer and a person thatspeaks wonderfully. Yet the listener easily forgets that Kolja Kleebergis first and foremost an excellent chef. And again, he tells of hisgrandmother that his parents wanted to visit in the summer of 1964.For the family Kleeberg that included a trip from the mountainousI likepeopleWiehl to Cologne. Shortly before their destination,father Kleeberg drove over a pothole in a sidestreet of the Zulpich Strasse. The result: thedestination was abruptly changed, and the newgoal was the Evangelical hospital Cologne-Lindentahl where little Kolja was born momentsafter their arrival.
Now back to cooking, or rather to acting? Thesetwo are equally important to the man born inCologne. Kolja felt an irrepressible urge for thestage while he was still in school. He immediatelyjoined an acting- working group and tookacting and singing lessons there. His desiredprofession back then: going to the theater as anactor. Kleeberg tried to enroll on a number ofacting academies right after his graduation andthe civilian service: “they took in 11 from 1200applicants and the situation in Essen was notmuch better.” He worked as an assistant directorin the Koblenz Theater for one year. He tookanother shoot in Munich – with the same result:“when I came home I was so frustrated that I decided to go to a culinary school.” From an actor to a chef? And outof frustration? “Cooking was the only the thing left I could do”, explainsKleeberg, “that’s something I always liked to do”. The parents divorcedwhen Kolja was little, and he grew up with his mother. Since she wasworking during the day they often used to eat in restaurants, whicheventually both grew tired of. Klebeerg therefore got used to standingat the oven early: “The culinary school”, as he sumarizezs, “certainly wasnot a step backwards, although I probably thought...
