Inna Lagnaux

Inna Lagnaux is a chef shaped by her deep curiosity for cultures, ingredients, and the experience of eating as something that should leave a person feeling lighter, better, and more connected — both to food and to place.

Her path into cooking was not linear. Originally trained in art history at Moscow State University, Inna spent years working in the field of contemporary art before shifting directions. Cooking, though, had always been part of her life: as the eldest child in a large family, she grew up preparing food, helping care for others, and learning to cook not as a profession, but as a daily necessity that she genuinely enjoyed.

Later, after moving to Switzerland and exploring different professional paths, she chose to return to this long-standing interest and develop it at a professional level. She studied classical French haute cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok, completing a full program and then continuing her education in Thai and Thai royal cuisine — a rare and highly specific discipline, traditionally difficult to access for non-Thai chefs.

While Inna appreciates the technical rigor of French cuisine, her personal approach to food lies elsewhere. She is less interested in complexity for its own sake, and more in clarity: fresh ingredients, careful preparation, and food that is not overworked or overloaded. For her, good cooking is defined not only by taste, but by how a person feels after a meal — comfortable, satisfied, and well.

Inna's cooking philosophy is strongly rooted in context with particular emphasis on understanding local products, seasonality, and the cultural environment in which she cooks. Rather than imposing a fixed culinary identity, she prefers to adapt — working with what is available, learning from local traditions, and building menus that reflect a specific place and moment.

Inna has extensive experience cooking for groups — from informal gatherings to structured environments like family camps — where meals bring together people of different ages and expectations. She is attentive to the logistical side of this work, from sourcing ingredients to organizing small kitchen teams, but equally engaged in the social dimension: creating an atmosphere where people feel comfortable, curious, and open to trying and learning new things.

She is particularly interested in how children engage with food. In her experience, many assumptions about “picky eaters” are shaped more by habit than by preference. Given the right context — good ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and a shared table — children often discover a much broader range of tastes than expected.