Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 31 July 2019
Gordon Ramsay gets his hands dirty for new travel food show

By MARK KENNEDY not stepping in anyone's
NEW YORK (AP) — For his shoes. I've been doing trav-
latest TV show, famed chef elogues since 2004, study-
Gordon Ramsay has defi- ing Vietnam, Cambodia
nitely left the comforting and India, coming back to
familiarity of his kitchens. my chefs and saying, "Look,
On "Uncharted," Ramsay in Vietnam, there's no dairy.
visits global destinations They don't cook with dairy.
to explore flavors far from They buy produce twice a
routine. He eats guinea pig day. Get out there. Here's a
in Peru, fishes for eel with couple of thousand dollars:
his bare hands to make a Go spend a month there,
Maori dish in New Zealand travel and come back."
and forages for hearts of AP: Do you recommend
palm in Morocco. that every chef do what
"It's a million miles away you're doing and carve
from my high-end, three- some time to explore?
star Michelin kitchen," he Ramsay: I'd recommend
says of the show airing on to every chef in the world
the National Geographic to put down their tools and
Channel. "It's straight to the disappear for a month on
source." This July 24, 2019 photo shows chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay posing for a portrait to a sabbatical. The problem
After spending a week promote his National Geographic television series "Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted," during the 2019 is that when you get good,
learning about the ingre- Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. automatically you stop
dients, Ramsay ends each Associated Press training because you're
hour-long show with a caught up in the rapture of
cooking competition, pit- lades and become a local. doing for 20 years. 40 francs to buy myself the success and you don't get
ting himself against a local AP: What's it like to get up AP: You eat lovely things, most amazing fillet. It was a chance to go back to
chef. Think of it like Anthony close and personal with the like a mushroom pizza and all horse meat. It's still pretty that coal face.
Bourdain crossed with Bear ingredients? mangos. But you also sam- prevalent today in France, AP: Speaking of rough
Grylls and then add some Ramsay: For the last two ple grubs and camel meat. horse butcher shops. That's places, do you think the
"Top Chef." decades, I've spent thou- Was that hard to do on no different to a camel in brutality of life in kitchens is
Ramsay, who is also a host sands of hours in kitchens camera? Morocco. It's about what's lessening?
on Fox's "MasterChef," told with produce arriving at Ramsay: I tend to forget local. Ramsay: It's definitely
The Associated Press about my fingertips. So, to do the the camera. I remember AP: You've taken flak from changing and changing
being a fish out of water for opposite and get straight being 21 years of age and some critics who accuse for the better. The kitchen
once and how kitchens are to the source, it's actually having a tiny studio flat in "Uncharted" of aping An- environment today, with
changing. been, to be honest, more Paris. And underneath my thony Bourdain's "Parts Un- a far more greater female
AP: For the new show, of a therapeutic journey flat was a horse's butcher known." presence, has made things
you're climbing trees, fish- because I'm doing the op- shop. And every week- Ramsay: Yeah. It's like, 'What so much more relaxed in
ing for eels and rappelling posite of what I've been end I used to save 30 or are you talking about?' I'm terms of temperaments.q
down cliffs. Are you having
fun?
Ramsay: I'm definitely hav-
ing fun. It's an extraordinary Scot Harvath returns in 'Backlash'
journey of discovery and
peeling back those layers
with cultures that in this ev- By JEFF AYERS vath might be responsible.
er-moving foodie world — Associated Press They can't obtain answers
of London, New York and "Backlash: a Thriller" (Atria/ from him because he's dis-
Paris — (that) don't tend to Emily Bestler Books), by appeared.
focus on what's going on Brad Thor Harvath has no way to
with Maori cuisine. So it's A Russian plane carrying a communicate with his
traveling to great lengths prisoner in chains experi- team, no support from the
to dig deep. ences engine trouble and Russians in the area and
AP: A more humble side of crashes in the middle of he's being pursued by a
you comes through. You the woods. It's enemy ter- ruthless killer who now re-
aren't often out of your ele- ritory for the captive, who grets not killing Harvath
ment, are you? survives, and now Scot Har- right away. He's used to
Ramsay: I find joy in being vath is in the middle of Rus- being the hunter and not
vulnerable, in a way. It's sia with no hope of escape the hunted, but Harvath
about gaining knowledge in Brad Thor's new thriller, has more on his mind than
and that's never left me in "Backlash." survival.
two and a half decades. Utilizing his unique set of He's wounded and angry,
There's a lot of chefs with skills, he goes on the move and revenge is the stron-
one Michelin star, or two where he believes he can gest motivation of all.
stars or even three stars that cross the border into Fin- Readers know what to ex-
want everything perfect land. pect in a Brad Thor novel:
everywhere they go and In the United States, his non-stop and over-the-top
I'm the opposite. I want to colleagues stumble upon action scenes mixed with This cover image released by Emily Bestler Books shows "Back-
go there and get stripped a horrible scene, and evi- insight into the world of lash," by Brad Thor.
of those highfalutin acco- dence suggests that Har- special ops. q Associated Press