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How Mindfulness Made Eric Ripert a Better Chef

In ‘Mindful Cooking,’ the celebrity restaurateur pairs plant-forward recipes with Buddhist-inspired lessons

5-minute read

Jennifer Bradley Franklin,

AARP

Published October 05, 2026

Key takeaways

Celebrity chef Eric Ripert applies Buddhist principles such as mindfulness, gratitude and joy to his cooking, leadership and daily life.
His new cookbook features more than 75 plant-forward recipes inspired by his visits to Buddhist monasteries in Japan and Korea.
Ripert supports his health with meditation, light exercise, a walking commute and mindful eating.

Chef, TV personality and author Eric Ripert, 61, manages to find a sense of calm, peace and purpose amid his hectic life.

He’s still at the helm of his three-Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Bernardin, in New York, appears on shows such as Top Chef and developed the vision for Blue by Eric Ripert at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.

Eric Ripert’s “Mindful Cooking” cookbook

Ripert’s “Mindful Cooking: Simple Recipes for Nurturing Body and Soul” showcases the chef’s heartfelt approach to preparing food.

Courtesy Penguin Random House

Cook With Chef Eric Ripert

The French-born chef shares three favorite — and surprisingly simple — recipes from Mindful Cooking for AARP readers to try at home.

Beet Terrine

Bright red and golden beets, sliced thin, are a striking addition to any meal.

Crispy Smashed Potatoes

Your potatoes will be delightfully crisp thanks to an easy technique upgrade. Ripert calls these “a little fancier than French fries.”

Porcini & Polenta

A pantry staple, instant polenta becomes a hearty and rich side dish or main course with the addition of garlicky mushrooms.

Now he aims to share his zen-infused approach in his eighth book, Mindful Cooking: Simple Recipes for Nurturing Body and Soul, which blends Asian influences with French techniques. A commitment to principles such as ethical living and personal development is a major theme for the chef, who sat down for a video chat with AARP last summer.

Ripert, who was born in Antibes, a charming town on the French Riviera, moved to the United States in 1989. The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize that same year, and his acceptance speech inspired Ripert to read about Buddhism, which shaped his life and career. “In the late ’90s, I was very interested in studying Buddhism. Now we are in 2026. I’m a serious practitioner. I study every day,” says Ripert.

While many top chefs are known for their fiery tempers, Ripert takes a gentler approach with his kitchen staff. “A cook who’s shaking will not cook better than a cook who’s precise. It makes a huge difference. Someone who’s coming to work with the right mindset about making sure that we are going to do a great job to create an experience — that’s real hospitality, and it’s very rewarding,” he says. “If you come to work and you are scared or intimidated, the results probably will be very different.”

For Mindful Cooking, Ripert created elegant, nourishing dishes while exploring themes such as gratefulness, joy, inspiration and love. “All those guiding principles are helpful in having a really good time, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned cook,” he says. “When you cook with joy and from the heart, that makes your cooking better as well.”

The book features more than 75 plant-forward recipes alongside beautiful photographs of his visits to Buddhist monasteries in Japan and Korea.

While Mindful Cooking is inspired by the foods he ate with the nuns and monks he met on his journeys, Ripert says its ideas will benefit any cook, whether at home or in a professional kitchen. “I’m not trying to convert anyone. It’s not a religious book at all,” he says. “I thought it would be good to bring back some guiding principles that are important to make your experience in your own kitchen more pleasant, more joyful, more relaxing, more meaningful.”

Mindfulness extends to all facets of Ripert’s life, including his health. He wakes up each day before 6 a.m. and meditates before enjoying a coffee with his wife, Sandra. He does a short workout, such as push-ups and sit-ups (“nothing too intense,” he says) before walking across Central Park to Le Bernardin.

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Between his pedestrian commute and taking the stairs up and down the restaurant’s three-floor kitchen, Ripert estimates he climbs 30 to 40 flights of stairs and walks up to 17,000 steps each day. He starts every morning with a cup of coffee and a “breakfast cookie” along with a piece of fruit. And because it’s part of his job to taste dishes all day, he skips dinner. He aims to take in around 2,500 calories daily, but “without being obsessed” with the number. In Ripert’s life, as in his cooking, he strives for balance.

Here’s more from AARP’s conversation with Ripert about his new book, one of his most famous friendships and how he approaches food and life.

Starting the day with a cookie is the daily equivalent of eating dessert first.

When asked what qualifies as a “breakfast cookie,” Ripert says, “It doesn’t matter what kind. It’s just that I like to dip a cookie in my coffee. Lately, I have had some Scottish shortbread that are very nice. They are the flavor of the moment. Chocolate doesn’t hurt, either!”

He doesn’t believe in the concept of a ‘guilty pleasure.’

“One thing is very important: Do not feel guilty about eating anything. I think it creates more damage to feel guilty than to eat it. If you’re going to have a glass of wine, enjoy your glass of wine. If it’s a scotch, enjoy your scotch. Now, if you have a scotch every five minutes, that’s another story. But I believe that whatever you do with food and drinking, if you do it in moderation and you are cautious, you can have great pleasure. It has a very beneficial effect instead of feeling bad about it.”

“When it’s time to eat, make sure that you take that time to focus on your meal and enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be a whole hour, but don’t get distracted. Don’t look at your phone. Just give yourself those 20 minutes just to enjoy your meal. Take the time to chew your food. Make it a pleasant experience. Don’t make it seem like you are on autopilot, just getting food into your mouth to nourish your body. It’s good to have pleasure in that moment, even if it’s short.”

Home cooks can level up their cooking with one technique.

“Mastering knife skills is very important. You just need to practice a little bit. Knife skills will change your life. Your food will taste better because you will cut with precision, and you’re not putting chunks [of varying sizes] in a cooking pot.”

His famous friendship with the late author and television star Anthony Bourdain shaped his life in more ways than one.

Bourdain’s memoir, Kitchen Confidential, was the first book Ripert read in English, and because of it, the two New York-based chefs became friends in 2000. They went on to appear on television together, often on Bourdain’s shows No Reservations and Parts Unknown.“The friendship with Anthony was very special. Anthony took the entire planet with him, and we all traveled to destinations that we didn’t even know existed. We were discovering cultures through the food,” Ripert says. “The food was basically the thread in between those cultures and the beauty of those countries. And everybody had Anthony Bourdain on a Sunday night on the TV screen. And I had the luck also to travel with him and do some of the shows with him. That curiosity about connecting with others through food is something that I’m very grateful for. He did that brilliantly.”

The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Jennifer Bradley Franklin is an Atlanta-based journalist, editor and author who has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, People magazine, USA Today and others. She's an avid traveler, ballroom dancer and is more than a little coffee obsessed. Read more of her work at jenniferbradleyfranklin.com.

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