GRAY, Maine — Soon after Will Beriau retired in 2011 from Southern Maine Community College, where he had run the culinary arts program for 26 years, he unretired. Granted, the new job took up only about a month of his time, but that month was intense.

From 2011 to 2023, for three consecutive weeks in the summer, Beriau cooked for an art program his daughter and son-in-law ran in France. He planned and prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week, for the art students and others, anywhere from 20 to 30 people in all. It was strictly a two-person operation, with Will cooking and his wife, Gigi—who is a talented pastry chef—making desserts.

This doesn’t sound like most people’s idea of retirement. “It’s really not as difficult as you think it is,” Beriau said. “And I’m not brag

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