Untamed Gourmet, Season I (2010)
(Documentary Series, Seasons I-II, 12x30 minutes)
Untamed Gourmet explores the connection between food and the land, as we watch a meal evolve - from inspiration, to collection, to preparation - all in a landscape where the ingredients are found or grown. Each episode takes us to a new region to follow a different chef and local guide skilled at seeking fresh regional ingredients.
“Reminded me of Heaney and poetry.”
- John Doyle, The Globe and Mail
Canadian Screen Award Nominee
(Best Direction in a Documentary Program or Series)
S1E101: "PASSAMAQUODDY BAY SHELLFISH WITH CHRIS AERNI"
Swiss Chef Chris Aerni's Rossmount Inn changes its menu on a daily basis to accommodate the freshest ingredients land and sea has to offer. Chris dives for scallops in New Brunswick's Passamaquoddy Bay. He collects fiddleheads, samphire greens, cattail hearts, clams, and periwinkle snails.
S1E102: "QU'APPELLE VALLEY MULE DEER WITH DICKIE YUZICAPI"
"Sioux Chef," Dickie Yuzicapi, creates modern variations on traditional Aboriginal cooking. In summer and fall trips through Saskatchewan's Qu'Appelle Valley, he hunts a mule deer and rabbit. He combines these with gathered sage, chokecherries, and rosehips, which he serves to a few local friends.
S1E103: "KANANASKIS RING-NECKED PHEASANT WITH MICHAEL DEKKER"
Chef Michael Dekker's Calgary restaurant Rouge, is world-renowned for using sustainable ingredients. He visits family friends on a ranch in Kananaskis to hunt Ring-Necked Pheasant. He combines the bird with Thistle Root and Greens, Saskatoon, Kinnikinnick, and Bear Berries.
S1E104: "NEWFOUNDLAND MOOSE WITH JEREMY CHARLES"
Newfoundland's Jeremy Charles enjoys a hunt with family friends near his grandfather's hometown. There, they kill a moose, a partridge, and gather wild berries. The meal is served for his friends -- fishermen who sustain themselves on little more than local wild and gardened ingredients.
S1E105: "LAC LA RONGE LAKE TROUT WITH MOE MATHIEU"
Chef Moe Mathieu uses local ingredients in his Saskatchewan restaurants. In the fall, he travels to Lac La Ronge where he harvests wild rice, chanterelle mushrooms, blueberries, and rosehips. Returning in the dead of winter, he nets lake trout, whitefish, and burbot through the ice.
S1E106: "VANCOUVER ISLAND DUNGENESS CRAB WITH ROBIN JACKSON & SINCLAIR PHILLIP"
Sinclair Philip's Sooke Harbour House, on Vancouver Island, features an edible landscape of over 200 herbs, greens, flowers, and vegetables. Chef Robin Jackson and restaurateur / forager Sinclair Philip search the area’s seashore, forests, and rivers for salmon, crab, crayfish, seaweed, and mushrooms.
