Behind the Line
Topic: Background
Where It All Started: Family Influences
Growing up, did your family go on any culinary travels or vacations? Taste anything memorable?
![Melissa2_web[1]](/system/avatars/1174/thumb/melissa2_web[1].JPG?1320965073)
- Melissa Trimmer
- Pastry Chef
- Le Cordon Bleu Chicago, Pastry Chef Instructor
- Chicago, Illinois
Growing up with a vegetarian single mom didn’t leave much money or time to travel. However, we have family in and around the Pittsburgh area so we were privy to Pittsburgh treats. Steak salads wi...
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- Andrew Wilson
- Chef
- Carneros Bistro & Wine Bar
- Sonoma, CA
My family did not go on any culinary travels. We were a basic, meat &
potatoes northeastern Yankee family. However, I did visit my grandmother
in Connecticut each summer. She lived very clos...
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- Toni Roberts
- Pastry Chef
- State and Lake Chicago Tavern
- Chicago, IL
My dad took us on a trip to Alaska when I was 13. For lunch on a white
water rafting trip we ate a side of smoked salmon and caribou summer
sausage alongside the river. It wasn't anything super fan...
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- Perry Hendrix
- Executive Chef
- Chicago, IL
It wasn't until college that I started traveling with my parents to Europe - to see the sights, but mostly to eat. Those travels to Europe for me were some of the most influential parts of my cul...
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- Susan Goss
- Executive Chef/Owner
- West Town Tavern
- Chicago, IL
We didn't really travel. Vacations were at my godparent's house in Orlando FL. We drove the big Ford station wagon down and I got car sick every time. Mom would pack the big Scotch Cooler with sand...
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- Sean Sanders
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Browntrout
- Chicago, IL
We went to Hawaii for new years when I was 15. Seeing a traditional lau it pushed me to learn about the culture of food.
- Jennifer Plank
- Toast
- Cleveland, Ohio
We never took any food related vacations, but we always traveled to local farms and butchers to get the freshest ingredients possible. Once I remember my dad taking me to a chef friend of his when ...
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- Kevin Nashan
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Sidney Street Cafe
- Saint Louis, Missouri
We were fortunate to travel a lot growing up and I had many memorable meals. At the end of the day our parents just tried to show us that good food can come on many levels (ie. street food, or shma...
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- Josh Galliano
- The Libertine
- Clayton, MO
We didn't go specifically for food, but we would travel to family reunions and get togethers. Those would have amazing food.
- Belinda Chang
- Beverage Director
- Culinary Concepts Hospitality Group
- NYC
In an effort to teach us more about our parents adopted country, the United States, my mom and dad would pack us into the station wagon and take us on a road trip away from Chicago whenever time al...
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- Gerard Craft
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Niche Restaurant and BRASSERIE by niche
- St. Louis, MO
When I was 12 we went to Normandy and after a lot of arm twisting my brother got me to eat mussels. I fell in love with them.
- Derek Simcik
- Executive Chef
- Atwood Cafe
- chicago, IL.
Oh my god my whole life was a culinary travel… I spent my 27/28 years growing up in different countries with only spending about a total of 7 years or so in the USA… the rest of my life (even being...
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- Brian Reilly
- Chef
- Noodlecat
- Cleveland, Ohio
I wouldn't say culinary vacations. But I do remember eating lobster in Maine for the first time! I was 8 and it was amazing kittle did I know at the time how expensive it was.
- Mark Mendez
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Vera
- Chicago, IL
We visited relatives mostly. i remember eating my grandmother's head cheese once by accident. I freaked out.
- Josh Kaplan
- GM/Beverage Manager
- Eleven City Diner
- Chicago, Illinois
Every summer my family traveled to Door County, Wisconsin. There is one particular food memory that stands out. The Rambo Burger. A cheeseburger topped with a fried egg. Heady eats for a 15 year ol...
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- Elizabeth Mendez
- Wine Director/Owner
- Vera
- Chicago, IL
Road trips were a big part of family traditions. The two seasonal trips that were a constant involved the bounty of Michigan, picking cherries and hunting for morel mushrooms.
- Mark Steuer
- Chef/Partner
- Carriage House and The Bedford
- Chicago, IL
We went to germany quite often when i was young to visit my dads parents, who still lived there. I remember trying all kinds of different meats and cheeses and that the cuisine was hearty and vine...
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- Patrick Fahy
- Pastry Chef
- Sixteen
- Chicago
We went to Florida to visit my grandmother on my moms side. The one thing I remember was getting a pizza from mcdonalds. It must have been an experiment. I never heard of it again.
- Charlie Berg
- Sommelier
- Michael Mina Bourbon Steak DC
- Washington, DC
We traveled very little as a family, except for the occasional trip to visit relatives in Texas; but, my memory of growing up is incredibly rich with thoughts of amazing places and adventures--my p...
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- Rob Levitt
- Executive Chef/Owner
- The Butcher & Larder
- Chicago, IL
Nope.
- Nathan Sears
- Executive Chef/Owner
- The Radler and D.A.S.
- Chicago, IL
Not really.
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- Steve McDonagh
- Owner
- Hearty
- Chicago, IL
Oh yes. I will always have a spot in my heart for Jersey Shore food. Fried clams in a basket, thin pizza with the greasy wax paper, real scallops...not the canned ones but the real ones with the me...
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- Carrie Nahabedian
- Executive Chef/Owner
- NAHA and Brindille
- Chicago, IL
We vacationed every summer in Boston, the Cape abd the Eastern Shore. My mom is from Boston, so we would go visit the family. Great food memories of eating freshly cooked Lobsters right from the Lo...
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- Jill Barron
- Executive Chef/Owner
- MANA food bar
- Chicago, IL
we spent every summer in a cabin outside of montreal, eating foraged berries and fish we caught.
- Cary Taylor
- Executive Chef
- The Southern
- Chicago, IL
I am fortunate to have traveled extensively with my parents growing up. I remember going to Scotland when I was a teenager and my dad wanted to go to Glenfarclas for a tasting. I snuck away and s...
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- Jimmy Bannos
- Owner
- The Purple Pig and Heaven on Seven
- Chicago, IL
We would drive to Florida each year and we would go to see family in Biloxi, Mississippi. That was always a feast: fried catfish, crabs, anything seafood in Biloxi was awesome.
- Paul Fehribach
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Big Jones
- Chicago, IL
We didn't go on particularly interesting vacations, but we loved going to my mom's mom's when she lived in Detroit (between growing up in and retiring to Ft. Myers, FL.) Grandma's second husband, F...
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- Tony Priolo
- Executive Chef/Owner
- Piccolo Sogno
- Chicago, IL
We could not afford it so we pretty much stayed at home