Michael Smith

Michael Smith

Chef Michael Smith, host of Chef Abroad and Canadas top-rated series Chef at Home, has been cooking professionally for over twenty years. An honors graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York, his career has spanned the globe from stints at a Michelin three-star restaurant in London to South America, the Caribbean, North America and some of Manhattan's finest kitchens.

In 1992, Smith joined Prince Edward Islands now famous country inn, The Inn at Bay Fortune, which soon became one of Canada's top 10 restaurants with the chef noted for his intense focus on regionalism and the foods of the island.

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

In 1999, Smith opened his own restaurant, Maple, in Halifax. 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 series Chef at Large. In May 2002, he was presented the James Beard Award for Best National Television Special for his documentary Saturday Night.

Perhaps his most challenging initiative to date is the recent shift Smith made from professional chef to home cook. His 3rd series, Chef At Home, debuted to rave reviews and top ratings in 2004 and features a behind-the-scenes peak at Smiths home kitchen and how he cooks for his family and friends.

Smith has authored three cookbooks to date. Open Kitchen: A Chef's Day at The Inn At Bay Fortune, published in 1998, took the bronze medal at Cuisine Canadas Cookbook Award that same year. He followed that with The Inn Chef a year later.

Host of Chef at Home, Chef at Large, The Inn Chef, and now Chef Abroad, Michael Smith can be seen in more than 25 countries. He is an award-winning cookbook author, newspaper columnist, roving Canadian cuisine ambassador and home cook. But Smith says his favorite role by far is Dad, at home on Prince Edward Island with his partner Rachel and their son Gabriel!