Ballet by Day, Chef by Night
Ryan Jolicoeur-Nye’s relationship with food began in rural Maine with a grandmother who made everyday meals an event. But his transformation into an avid home (and sometimes professional) cook came via an unlikely source: ballet.
At 17, Ryan left Maine to study dance in Winnipeg, Manitoba; a donor who remains anonymous paid his tuition. For more than 20 years he worked, both on-stage and off, with dance companies across the U.S. before landing in Oklahoma City in 2020 as the artistic director of the Oklahoma City Ballet. His wife, Racheal Nye, is the school director for the Oklahoma City Ballet Yvonne Chouteau School.
Through it all, Ryan has cooked in restaurants and for his family, which includes Isaac (7) and Amélie (10). He recently sat down to chat with us for our Family Style series about his life in the kitchen.
I know you grew up in rural Maine, which is not really known for its cultural diversity. How did you develop such a broad interest in food?
I moved to five or six cities for ballet, and ballet is also a cultural melting pot. Some of my best friends in the world are from Venezuela, Japan, Korea, Canada, and Cuba.
When I first moved to Rhode Island at the beginning of my career, I was invited to a barbeque hosted by the Venezuelan dancers. I fell in love with the food. I fell in love with the music. They were dancing the entire time that they cooked. From that moment on, I really saw food as an important part of having a well-balanced life.
Do you have favorite dishes that fellow dancers introduced you to?
There’s an Uzbek version of rice pilaf called plov that I love. You cook it in a Dutch oven with whole garlic bulbs and stew meat in the bottom of the pot. When you dig in and squeeze the roasted garlic, you have this peasant food that’s really wonderful. In Russia, you have vodka glasses at every seat and pickles on the table. My teacher had a tradition that you would toast every time you poured a drink, starting with the youngest person.
I know sushi is a specialty of yours. Not many people are comfortable making sushi at home.
I worked in restaurants for most of my life — from fine dining to turn-and-burn pizza places. I was actually a sushi chef for six years while I was dancing with the Kansas City Ballet.
I think making any food is an art, but there is a special art to making sushi because it is so delicate. The things you think would be difficult aren’t, and the things you would think would be easy aren’t. Nigiri is one of the most complicated things to make — in Japan they won’t let you make it until you have been cooking for 10 years. When it’s done right, it should dissolve in your mouth like it is all one consistency.
I think a lot of people feel that way about watching ballet; when it’s done well, it almost looks easy.
One could spend their entire life studying ballet and working in dance and not really ever attain a point where they are done learning. It is very similar to being a sushi chef. It is kind of an endless endeavor for further enrichment. How can you make the rice better, how can flavors blend? I love that I could spend my whole life doing it and not know everything about it. I think that’s true of any art.
Do you put a lot of time into your daily meals at home, or is something like sushi only for a special occasion?
I cook daily. We could have beef Wellington on a Wednesday if I have time. We often don’t eat until 8. Friday is pizza night, and we order in and watch a movie. Spaghetti is a weekly staple. I also cook a lot of risotto.
It sounds like you’re a meal planner.
One of my favorite things to do is to sit down every Sunday and menu plan. I think about what I’m going to have time to do, and I think about what I already have in my fridge, then I make a list and grocery shop for the week. My daughter Amélie is a vegetarian, so I often cook two things, and once a week I try to cook a vegetarian meal. I try new things all the time. Last week I tried cooking rice risotto-style but adding coconut milk instead of parmesan cheese. It was like a curry.
