Chef Michael Smith, Canada’s best-known chef is the winner of the James Beard Award for Cooking Show Excellence and host of Chef Abroad, Chef at Home, Chef at Large and The Inn Chef on Food Network Canada and in more than 100 other countries. Currently Michael is in production on a brand new series that will begin airing in Fall 2011 on Food Network Canada.

Michael is Prince Edward Islands official food ambassador, an award winning cookbook author, newspaper columnist, professional chef and home cook. In 2010 he led the team of chefs that cooked for the worlds Olympians in the Whistler Athletes Village. He is the National Sustainability Advocate for Sodexo, one of the worlds largest food service management companies.

Education & Experience

Chef Michael Smith, a 1991 honors graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York, has been cooking professionally for almost twenty years. His career has included stints in a Michelin three-star restaurant in London, some of Manhattan’s finest kitchens, South America, the Caribbean and throughout North America. Michael is known for support of young Canadian chefs and the growing Canadian Cuisine movement. He has devoted his career to helping Canadian families create simple, practical nutritious food.

In 1992 Smith joined the staff of a sleepy country inn on Prince Edward Island. The Inn at Bay Fortune soon became one of Canada’s top-ten restaurants with the Chef noted for his fresh, contemporary approach. His first cookbook, Open Kitchen: A Chef’s Day at The Inn At Bay Fortune, was published in 1998 and was awarded the bronze medal Cuisine Canada Cookbook Award that year. His second book, The Inn Chef, followed in 1999. His third, Chef at Home, came out in 2006. His fourth cookbook,The Best of Chef at Home was released in 2009. His fifth, Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen was released by Penguin in Fall 2011 and is a smash hit across Canada!

On to Television!

In 1998 Michael’s television show The Inn Chef debuted on the Life Network. It then helped launch Food Network Canada where TV Guide’s readers voted it their favourite variety entertainment show! It’s now part of the Prime Network lineup.

In 2002, Michael’s culinary adventure series Chef at Large debuted. It became the highest rated Canadian cooking show on Food Network Canada and is still seen around the world. In 2002 Michael won the prestigious James Beard Broadcast Media Award for the best cooking show in North America and was voted best cooking show host in Canada by the readers of the Toronto Star, the country’s largest daily.

Michael’s third series Chef at Home debuted in the fall of 2004 and has been one of the highest rated Canadian series on Food Network. It features a behind the scenes peak at his real home kitchen and how he cooks for his family.

Michael’s fourth series Chef Abroad began airing in 2008. The show follows Michael as he explores cultures and flavours around the world. His fifth series is in production now and will debut in Fall 2012.

At Home

Michael is internationally known for his dedication to the indigenous producers of Canada as well as his contemporary creative cuisine. Although Michael is a true chef at large his favourite role is Dad, home on Prince Edward Island with his partner Chastity, her daughter Ariella, his son Gabriel and their new baby on the way! Michael is an avid map collector, long-time windsurfer and novice kite sailor.