After four years of intense internships at restaurants in Provence and Italy, American chef David Shalleck was debating a return to the US when an interesting opportunity presented itself. A wealthy Italian couple challenged him to serve as chef aboard their yacht for five months, using only local ingredients from port cities and never once repeating a meal for the couple and their guests on board.
The result, no surprise here, is Shalleck’s new book, Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France’s Cote d’Azur and Italy’s Costa Bella. Accompanied with a super sleek interactive website and a foreword by Mario Batali, this book is sure to be a hit with fans of fine dining and European elegance. Readers can live vicariously through Shalleck as he whips up gourmet meals from the galley of a luxury yacht on his regatta through the Riviera. With stops in Amalfi, Sardinia, Corsica and Saint-Tropez, Shalleck captures the culture of world-class Mediterranean dining in this culinary adventure.
The book officially hits stores on May 22.