My grandmother came to the USA from Ireland, alone, when she was 16 to find a better life.
I grew up admiring her and realized I have the same sense of adventure.
I’m also a Foodie. I’m the person who talks about food anytime, any day. I lived in Cabo San Lucas, MX for a while and worked with crews from television stations where they were filming various sports and lifestyle programs. I learned how to do on-location shoots and found it fascinating. At the same time, I was watching cooking shows and noticed that very few had actual international chefs teaching their cuisine. It was American chefs saying that they just returned from a trip to Italy or Asia or wherever and found an interesting recipe.
I flew to Atlanta and stayed with friends and started researching English speaking International Cooking Schools.
I noticed that Julia Child was appearing at Macy’s and signing books and I thought: why not ask her what she thinks. After all, I’m spending a life savings to travel solo around the world filming cooking schools and chefs; I wanted some feedback.
I was on a mission and nervously waited till she sat at the signing platform and started signing books. It seemed like forever but finally it was my turn in line. When an assistant, Lenada Merrick, asked what I want signed in the book, I requested: To Fellow Leo. When Julia heard this she smirked and I realized it was my time to ask her about my project.
As we know, Julia was 6′2 and bigger than life. When I started telling her about my idea, she listened. When I finished, she stood up and threw her arms up and said: “This is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time!” Standing on that 2 ft high platform with her arms extended, I had a religious experience. She liked my idea!
I contacted cooking schools, made a plan, sold everything, bought a Canon still and a Sony video camera and an around the world airline ticket.
I started in New Zealand. Why? Well, this is an adventure, and I wanted to do something different. After all, some of the world’s best ingredients come from remote places like New Zealand and there were cooking schools!
Julia went on and created her Master Chefs series and I eventually fulfilled my dream and traveled the world solo filming talented teachers and chefs. I still feel lucky to have had her approval.
I’ve added US chefs who weren’t part of the original project but definitely are icons of the 90s. Ironically, they had segments on Julia’s chefs’ series!