Turkish chef Salt Bae, who is being investigated by FIFA for entering the field without authorization after the final of the World Cup in Qatar, is a habitué of controversy, especially for the gold-plated steaks offered in his luxury restaurants.
These symbols of ostentation and wealth clad with edible blades of 24-carat precious metal cost thousands of American dollars, but they are not to everyone’s taste, particularly British and American food critics, who consider them “banal” and “bland”.
In 2018, many Venezuelans protested in Miami when the chef received Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whose country is sunk in a serious economic crisis, at his restaurant in Istanbul.
But Salt Bae, whose real name is Nusret Gokçe, doesn’t mind the criticism and continues to attract politicians and football stars — Ronaldo Fenômeno and some players from the Brazilian national team, Maradona, Beckham, Messi, Mbappé, among others — in its 22 establishments around the world, from Beverly Hills to London, passing through Qatar.
“All publicity is good publicity,” the chef once remarked.
His fortune is estimated by the press at US$ 70 million.
The 39-year-old Salt Bae has become a social media star, thanks to videos in which he appears seasoning meat with a quirky, theatrical gesture, and making sexual references as he sprinkles salt on the fillets.
– 50 million followers on Instagram –
His image and characteristic gestures, widely publicized on social media, played a key role in his rise to worldwide celebrity status.
On Sunday (18), after the World Cup final between Argentina and France, in which the “Albicelestes” won their third championship, the chef managed to enter, inexplicably, the playing field of the Lusail stadium, in Doha, in the Qatar.
He appears in several images, including kissing the trophy, which, in principle, could only be touched by world champions, FIFA officials and heads of state and government.
In other images, he can be seen pulling Messi by the arm, which made the Argentine captain visibly angry, and also biting another player’s gold medal.
Fifa is investigating how he gained access to the pitch without having any official ties to football. It is speculated that he would be close to the president of FIFA, the Swiss Gianni Infantino.
A video shared by Salt Bae on Instagram, where he has 50 million followers, shows him being embraced on several occasions by Infantino, who introduces him to other personalities during a reception in Qatar.
Born into a modest family in eastern Turkey, Nusret dropped out of school at the age of 13 to start working as an apprentice butcher.
The chef cultivates an image of a strong and tough man. He posts videos and photos running and exercising in the most exclusive neighborhoods of Istanbul — “the capital of the world”, in his own words in an interview with AFP in 2020.
AFP
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