Chef Abroad

Following the remarkable success of Chef at Home, Chef at Large and The Inn Chef — which can be seen in 26 countries — Michael Smith is launching a new series blending his passion for food and travel. From his home in rural eastern P.E.I., the affable Smith talked to Lifestyle about circumnavigating the globe, meeting fascinating people and cooking (and eating) in exotic locations.

Lifestyle Magazine: What’s the inspiration for and goal of Chef Abroad?

Michael Smith:We like to say it’s a global culinary adventure show, and it reflects my own travel lust. I remain fascinated by travel and the world. We all have a common bond called “food” and it’s a great way to explore culture and make connections, and that’s basically what we’re off doing. That may sound a bit high-minded, because at the same time we’re doing a lot of fun stuff too. Jumping on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Atlantic is not really an exercise in cultural awareness, but it sure is a culinary adventure.

LM: When you visit new places, what does the local cooking tell you about the culture?

MS: We all tend to celebrate what we have in our backyard. When we were in Sweden, ice fishing north of the Arctic Circle, we got this beautiful fish and prepared it on an amazing outdoor cooking pan like I’d never seen before. And every one of those things might be taken for granted in Swedish culture, but to me they’re all interesting and worth celebrating. We all have a natural curiosity about food and the things that go with it.

LM: Let’s talk about a few of your adventures, for example serving crocodile at the “flying table” 200 feet over the beaches of Cape Town, South Africa.

MS: The chef and I were putting together a high-end, four-course meal for 25 people and we did what chefs do all over the world — we went looking for local ingredients. In that case it meant crocodile. We ended up on a crocodile farm wrestling crocs to make an appetizer. We served a cilantro crepe with a Thai curry crocodile stew wrapped in the crepes with an arugula salad.

LM: Many of our readers probably haven’t eaten a lot of reptile, so what does crocodile taste like?

MS: It tastes like chicken.

LM: What about the safari in Botswana?

MS: That story is very indicative of the series as a whole. We were as deep into the wilderness as I’ve ever been in my life, and there’s a high-end luxury safari camp there. And when I say high end, I mean US$3,500 per person per night. In fact, Oprah Winfrey had just left, and Bill Gates and the Rolling Stones were coming.

But that was just the premise — I was more interested in the guides. The guests ate at tables under the stars with silver, crystal, china and linens, while the rest of us were off in the woods, cooking over a fire with a cast iron pot and having a great time.

LM: What’s the chow like on an aircraft carrier?

MS: They eat surprisingly well. It’s an enormous undertaking — the sheer logistics alone of getting food for 6,000 people on and off the ship, to say nothing of the menu systems and kitchen systems. Nearly everything is frozen. They have very little fresh produce because they’ll be at sea for a month at a time, so they’ve learned to accommodate that.

When you’re out at sea, mealtime is the one thing you look forward to. So they closely associate mealtime with morale, and the command structure sees this as a relatively straightforward way to keep the morale of the crew up. There’s lots and lots of food, and basically any type you might imagine.

LM: How often were your expectations of a place (and its food culture) turned upside down once you actually arrived?

MS: Quite often, actually. For instance, Tokyo is without question the single best food city in the world. I’ve never seen anything like it. The food culture there is stunning — way, way ahead of anything I’ve ever seen, and I’m pretty well-travelled. That was an eye-opener.

When we got to Amsterdam we had a hard time finding Dutch food. We found this very creative, avant-garde food, but no sense of traditional Dutch food, so you never know quite what you’re going to find.

LM: It sometimes seems like the food and culture are divorced (or at least on a trial separation) here in North America. What can we learn from the way others eat?

MS: If there’s one thing that we can learn, it’s that the whole point of everything we do — career, taking care of family, getting to soccer practice — all of it is designed so we can find the time to sit down and have a meal together. Just that simple act is something we seem to have lost track of, but everywhere I go it’s woven into the fabric of culture.

Another lesson is how far removed from death we are in North America. We don’t associate death with our food. Everywhere else in the world, if you want chicken or rabbit or fish, you’ve got to kill it. That’s not a key theme for us, but it’s fascinating and something we’ve stumbled onto quite a bit.

LM: Finally, what gets your mouth watering in the autumn?

MS: It’s our favourite time of year to cook — the garden is just pumping it out. Everything is fresh and local. Local and organic products are huge here (in P.E.I.). In fact, every Friday we get a field box delivered from a local organic farmer for $25. We have no idea what’s going to be in it, but it’s always vegetables from her garden just a few miles up the road. That’s taken off all over the island. It’s called CSA — community supported agriculture — and it’s one of the biggest single trends in food today. People are reaching out and forging relationships with local producers. You save money, and it’s the right thing (to do). That $25 goes straight into Becky’s pocket at Fortune Organics, and that’s the way it was up until 25 or 30 years ago. •

Both Chef Abroad and the fifth season of Chef at Home debut in early October on Food Network Canada.