Brandon Cristiano, a maritime chef with no fixed address, has just returned from eight months in Alaska where he worked as a chef on a chartered hunting & fishing vessel (in photo), The Huntress, preparing high-end cuisine for bear hunters and fishermen.
Want to know what it's like preparing fancy French pastries in a small galley while the boat is rocking and rolling in rough weather?
What do you do with a big black bear that's just been killed? What if the menu calls for salmon, but the weather turns bad and no salmon is caught that day? How do you improvise and still keep customers happy?
Brandon explains this and much more on this NFN Radio News podcast as he talks about what it's like to prepare and serve five-star quality food on such a vessel to discerning clients.
Listen to my interview with Brandon about those experiences as well as exploits that have taken him to Japan, China and Vietnam over the past two decades, working both as a chef and a sailing instructor. Brandon once worked for a pasta company in Beijing and was responsible for making pizzas for the entire Olympic Village.
It's a fascinating story about a guy who’s using his skills and passions to live a life that makes him happy. Brandon is one person who will never say, when his day is done, “I wish I had done that.” Because whatever it is, Brandon will have done it.