Austrian chef defies injury with floating kitchen seat

Austrian chef defies injury with floating kitchen seat

An Austrian chef who suffered a serious injury that left him disabled has made a remarkable comeback in the kitchen with the aid of device that allows him to "float" around his workplace.

Peter Lammer thought his career was over when he remained unable to stand despite several surgeries and six years of physiotherapy to recover from a motorbike accident.

Then his friend Bernhard Tichy, a carpenter and mountaineer who runs a nearby zipline adventure centre, came to the rescue with a hanging kitchen seat that takes the weight off his injured leg.

"All the experts said that I would never be able to do a standing job again," Lammer told Reuters from the kitchen of his Salzburg restaurant Johanneskeller.

Now, Lammer prepares meals including fresh fish from the nearby Königssee Lake while seated on a bicycle saddle attached to a C-shaped metal bracket dangling from the ceiling.

The seat allows Lammer to swivel and slide down the kitchen aisle with the help of overhead rails.

"It gives people with limited leg strength hope again," said Tichy.