Season 1

Chef Michael joins Chef Ed Walker in the tiny galley kitchen of the Rocky Mountaineer, a tourist train that follows the spectacular and historic mountain route from Vancouver to Calgary. Our chef deals with the pressure and challenges of preparing gourmet meals in a kitchen that just doesn’t stay still!

Chef Michael dons a Stetson and spurs to rope in the story of how a working ranch, nestled in the heart of the Canadian Rockies, feeds a crew of cowhands and tourists. We’ll see what happens when our city slicker Michael is left alone in the kitchen on chef’s night off at the Three Bars Guest and Cattle Ranch, in Cranbrook, British Columbia.

Chef Michael discovers what it takes to produce thousands of high-quality meals in the chaos of an exotic cruise liner kitchen. He goes into the trenches with everyone from the head chef to the dishwasher, and finds that the world between luxury and labour is a swing of the kitchen door away.

Chef Michael goes back in time and creates an 1800s meal, with ingredients of the day, at Kings Landing Historical Settlement, near Fredericton, New Brunswick. Michael discovers how our ancestors cooked, as he roasts a chicken and vegetables, and bakes bread over an open hearth.

Schnitzel, sausages, and strudel! Chef Michael joins in the hard work and fun involved in feeding thousands of hungry revellers at the Kitchner-Waterloo Oktoberfest, the biggest Bavarian bash outside Germany. It’s a mind-boggling volume of food for up to 4,000 partygoers daily!

What happens when you set loose a talented gourmet chef into a sea of boy and girl scouts cooking over their small propane stoves in a Prince Edward Island Campground? Chef Michael shows the kids a few culinary tricks at the Scouts Canada Jamboree, including a traditional Acadian pig roast.

Chef Michael is going back to basics: feeding hungry people! He joins volunteers at the Out of the Cold community kitchen at St. Andrew’s Church in Toronto where he helps to cook up stews, soups and casseroles. He experiences the challenges and satisfaction of feeding street people who seldom eat well.

Chef Michael and five other celebrity chefs create a fabulous meal at the Starlight Children’s Gala at the International Plaza Hotel and Convention Centre in Toronto. He shows us the preparations, the pressure and the pizzazz of the ultimate cooking challenge-to serve a huge, highbrow crowd some very good food, and on time!

Chef Michael shares in the huge challenge, the high pressure and the drama of feeding NBA’s Toronto Raptors, and all who surround the team - the powerful owners, the directors and the rowdy fans--during an exciting home game against Memphis. Just what do these big guys eat?!

Chef Michael takes an inside look at the life of Judson Simpson, Parliament Hill executive chef. Preparing food for three restaurants as well as catering special events makes for an exciting food career. Michael will help Judson cater a very important wine and cheese party where the representatives of the people will choose the House wine!

Chef Michael visits a kitchen that truly rocks! The Marriott Marquis in Times Square is the largest hotel operation in the U.S. with $90M in food business annually. Michael will have an exclusive look at the life of Executive Chef George McNeill on a busy day that includes a banquet for 1,600 people celebrating football’s Heisman Award.

Ship ahoy! Chef Michael helps out the three chefs on board the navy frigate, HMCS Fredericton as they cook for 225 men and women. The chefs have other jobs too, and so work under great pressure and at great speed. Having to cook five meals a day while the ship lurches to and fro on the North Atlantic will be an adventure like none other!

Chef Michael joins the chefs at Reel Appetites, a large Vancouver catering company, who are feeding the cast and crew on the set of a television series called Jeremiah. Michael will help cook for 150 hard-working film people and he’ll also rub elbows with the stars, Malcolm Jamal Warner from the Cosby Show and Luke Perry from 90210.