Daniel cooked for years in some of New York's top American, Italian, and French restaurants—starting at the age of 13, when he began staging at the legendary restaurant Chanterelle. He spent nearly a year working on organic farms in Europe, where he harvested almonds and Padrón peppers in Spain, shepherded a flock of more than 200 sheep in Italy, and made charcuterie in France. When not working on, thinking about, cooking, and eating food, he blows off steam (and calories) as an instructor of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art.