Summary
Shopping with the Chef — at local food markets. Shop a bustling Sicilian market, gather spices in Istanbul or explore the local wines of Tuscany and Provence. Wherever you are in the world, you'll enjoy an insider's look at unique regional markets with an expert Seabourn chef as your guide.
Seabourn chefs have always been encouraged to seek out fresh local produce, seafood, cured meats, cheeses, herbs, spices and other local specialties to augment and enliven their onboard menus. What began as a casual gathering has become one of our most anticipated shoreside activities. Guests contact Guest Services soon after embarking, and request to be alerted when the chef will be making a shopping excursion. Scheduling depends on the chef’s needs for ingredients to supplement the current menu rotation, and the expected availability of items in a particular port. Once a date and place is chosen, guests who have requested the outing are notified, and those without conflicting plans are invited to join the excursion.
Meeting dockside, guests have their first opportunity to get to know the chef. Seabourn chefs are accomplished professionals, who have acquired extensive formal training and continued with professional staging in many of the finest hotels and restaurants around the world. Daily tasks seldom bring our chefs into direct contact with guests, so it is a refreshing experience for everyone. Markets vary widely depending on location. In some cases, guests will find themselves in an open-air location among pyramids of exotic fresh fruits and vegetables or standing before a vivid array of gleaming silver tuna or salmon, gem-like tropical fish, pearl-hued prawns spilling over heaps of ice. Another stop might reveal a case of cheeses in every shape and size, or a charcutier’s hanging pendulums of smoked or cured meats. Time together is passed in tasting, learning and good-humored fun between the local vendors, guests and the chef. Later, back on board, guests will doubtless recognize in various dishes the same ingredients they first saw and learned about in the market, while they were Shopping with the Chef.