Michael Smith (chef)

Michael Dixon Smith

Cooking style	Canadian Regional
Education	Culinary Institute of America & Rochester Institute of Technology
Current restaurant(s) Chef Emeritus, The Inn at Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island
Television show(s) The Inn Chef, Chef at Home, Chef at Large, Chef Abroad

Michael Dixon Smith is a Canadian chef and writer, host of The Inn Chef, Chef at Home, Chef at Large and Chef Abroad (all of which have appeared on the Food Network Canada).

Life and career

Born in the state of New York, United States of America.^[1] Michael Smith graduated with honours from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York in 1991. He then worked in restaurants in London, South America, and the Caribbean before coming back to North America to cook in different restaurants in Manhattan.

In 1992, Smith joined Prince Edward Island’s now famous country inn, The Inn at Bay Fortune in Fortune Bridge, Prince Edward Island, which was soon regarded as one of Canada's top 10 restaurants^{[citation needed]} with the chef noted for his intense focus on regionalism and the foods of Prince Edward Island.

Six years later, Smith’s television show The Inn Chef debuted on the Life Network and later moved to Food Network Canada. The series featured Smith as he took viewers inside the inn’s real-life country kitchen. The Inn Chef won best Variety/Music/Cooking Show in TV GUIDE Canada ’s 2001 Reader Poll. The series currently airs on Prime TV.

In 1999, Smith opened his own restaurant, Maple, in Halifax, N.S. It quickly became recognized as one of the top venues in the country for Canadian Cuisine. In the fall of 2001 Smith left Maple to focus on his new Food Network Canada series Chef at Large. In May 2002, he was presented the James Beard Award for “Best National Television Special” for his documentary Saturday Night. He is 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall; and often jokingly refers to himself as the "World's Tallest Freestanding Chef" (a play on Toronto's CN Tower, which for years was billed as the "World's Tallest Freestanding Structure").

Perhaps his most challenging initiative to date is the recent shift Smith made from professional chef to home cook. His third series, Chef at Home, debuted to rave reviews and top ratings on Food Network Canada in 2004 and features a behind-the-scenes peek at Smith’s home kitchen and how he cooks for his family and friends. Chef at Home currently airs on Food Network Canada, Discovery Home U.S., and in more than 40 countries around the world.

Smith has authored four cookbooks to date. His most recent, The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today's Kitchen was published in the fall of 2009. Chef at Home: Cooking With and Without a Recipe was released in 2005. His first book, Open Kitchen: a Chef's Day at The Inn at Bay Fortune, took the bronze medal at Cuisine Canada’s Cookbook Award in 1998. He followed that with The Inn Chef a year later.

In 2008, Smith launched a new show on Food Network Canada entitled Chef Abroad. Interestingly, Smith was at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 (having just filmed an episode of Chef Abroad in Northern Thailand) when the airport was seized during the Thai political crisis.

In 2009 Michael amicably separated from Rachel Leslie, they remain friends and he has moved on. In 2010 he committed to his new partner Chastity Fizzard, together they are parents to his son Gabriel and her daughter Ariella. They are expecting a third child in 2012.

On January 31, 2010, Smith competed on the Food Network show Iron Chef America against Iron Chef Bobby Flay in battle avocado. He lost the battle 54-40.

Filmography

Television
Year	Show	Role	Notes
1998–2000	The Inn Chef	Host
2004–Present	Chef at Home	Host	Also is a writer
2004–Present	Chef at Large	Host
2008–Present	Chef Abroad	Host
2010	Iron Chef America	Challenger[2]	Battle Avocado
2011	Top Chef Canada	Guest judge	episode seven: "Life's Little Milestones"
2011-Present	Chef Michael's Kitchen	Host	Web series

Books

• The Inn Chef: Creative Ingredients, Sensational Flavor (March 4, 2000 Callawind Publications ISBN 1896511147, ISBN 978-1896511146)
• Open Kitchen: a Chef's Day at The Inn at Bay Fortune (August 8, 2005 Callawind Publications ISBN 1896511104, ISBN 978-1896511108)
• Chef at Home: Cooking Without a Recipe (October 13, 2005 Whitecap Books ISBN 1552857166, ISBN 978-1552857168)
• The Best of Chef at Home: Essential Recipes for Today's Kitchen (October 1, 2009 Whitecap Books ISBN 1552859843, ISBN 978-1552859841)

References

1. ^ (2009) Canadian News. Promo for PEI Fall Flavours festival http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5JdgXKnKFU
2. ^ from The Food Network website [1]

External links

• Official website
• Food Network Canada biography
• Michael Smith (chef) at the Internet Movie Database
• 2009 Interview
• Michael Smith (chef) at the Chef and Restaurant Database

Persondata
Name	Smith, Michael
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