The Award Winning Chef Who Survived Childhood Cancer

How does having cancer as a child impact the way you live as an adult?

Uber successful chef and restauranteur Josh Niland doesn’t do things in halves (no, literally, have you read his book The Whole Fish?).

From opening a restaurant at 26, to becoming the first Australian to win the James Beard Book of the Year award when he was just 30, Josh’s creativity came from a place of desperation to explore every opportunity presented to him.

Diagnosed with cancer 2 days after his 8th birthday, Josh’s childhood transformed in a matter of hours into hospital hallways, chemotherapy and facing his own mortality.

In this episode, Josh joins us in the Vulnerabilitea House to talk us through an experience which profoundly changed him, which he is now grateful for.

Hugh, Ryan and Josh (our Josh), also ask about where his drive and ambitious creativity comes from, and just how close to failure Josh’s culinary career came.

We wish this chat could have gone on longer.

Resources
💌Join 9,400+ people getting a Dr Emily values worksheet and takeaways from this week’s episode in our newsletter
🫖Other Imperfects episodes mentioned on this episode
📺 Things to watch
🍽️ Places to eat
Chapters
0:00
Which fish has fingers
4:12
The BRUTAL first 6 months of Saint Peter
7:37
The Whole Fish Philosophy1237 Mum am I going to die
23:14
The reality of a childhood cancer diagnosis
28:18
Going through chemotherapy as a kid
34:02
The impact of faith and family
39:17
Ambition drive building a life
42:08
Cancers lingering trauma
47:07
The MakeAWish to End All MakeAWishes not really
52:46
A Fishy Metaphor for Life
1:01:24
The High Lows of Leadership Business
Transcript
Written by AI so definitely imperfect
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