ATHLEISURE MAG #87 MAR ISSUE | RESPECT THE PROCESS Chef Kristen Kish

Over the past few months, we have caught up with Chef Kristen Kish to talk about TRU TV's Fast Foodies as well as her partnership with Jongga Kimchi. We love how she enjoys exploring food and the stories that it tells for those that also have taken care to share their experiences through it. This month, she hosts National Geographic's Restaurants At the End of the World that takes her to exotic locales and showcases how people bring their visions to life, creating meals that pull from items that are local to their area and learning about how she can apply these lessons to her personal life; how she navigates her kitchen; and how she approaches food.

In this interview, we are talking about the 4 episodes that will drop each week on Nat Geo as well as streaming on Disney+. We talk about how the show took place, the process of selecting those that are featured and her feedback on dishes that were created during the episodes.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We had the pleasure of chatting with you a few months ago so we got to hear about your latest show and I just saw the 4 screeners in prep for chatting with you and I really enjoyed it! Why did you want to be part of this show and how did you get attached to it?

CHEF KRISTEN KISH: It started back in 2019 with conversations of this idea from a woman named Julia, and it was a scene of food, self-exploration and journey kind of show. Then 2020 happened and things went to a screeching halt and then we were able to pick it up back again. As we started to develop this treatment, the pitches come and when it got pitched, Nat Geo was like, we like this, but also, we’re Nat Geo and we can do something like this! I was like, yes whatever this is I’m totally in for it too! So although they’re very different, it started with this original idea that the core and the heart of this show is very similar to the 2 projects. I love Nat Geo.

AM: It was so good! Watching you immerse

yourself in so many different situations, I had anxiety for you!

I saw the 4 screeners, but how many episodes will there be in total?

CHEF KK: We did the 4 and we filmed them over the summer. With any new series, we have a trial and error to see what works and what doesn’t and I can only just hope that we can continue exploring parts of the world.

AM: What was the criteria in terms of the locales you went to and the people that you featured? Everyone was so different and yet there was a common throughline as well.

CHEF KK: We have Missy, who is one of our Executive Producers and she was part of the creative and Nat Geo of course, has their resources obviously. As you can imagine, there are a lot of moving pieces. There were 100s of locations and subjects that were a potential. You know, it’s coming down to scheduling with them, especially with this first 4 and how we develop them, that we are able to communicate with them in English. I wish that I was able to speak another language and that I could speak all of their languages, but I can’t. It also came down to whether they had a real life thing that they were working towards. Like Chef Rolando wanted to cook for Charlie. Chef Gisela had these important guests that were coming into town – things like that were real. So they needed to have the story already happening in order for us to come in. There were so many that were a possibility and I just hope that we will be able to tap into them one day.

AM: What was your favorite dish to create? I know you didn’t create this, but I loved the Kimchi Sorbet, that blew my mind.

CHEF KK: Same! That blew my mind and I wish that I could take the credit for that one but I mean, he just dreamed that up

in his head and I was just like, how is this going to work? I said, it’s not going to work, there’s no way that this is frickin’ going to happen and then I tasted it and I was like, “oh my God!” It makes sense, it’s actually, a really well balanced dish! I think that the best part of this series for me was that I got to go in, especially for this first 4 and some I created dishes on my own and others I didn’t. I got to go in with a place and to say, I’m your sous chef and I’m so happy doing that! I gave my 2 cents when they asked for it or asked my advice for things – no judgment or hard feelings. If they didn’t take it, I didn’t care, it was about the bigger experience not what I could give to them and what they could give to me in return. It was like this overall experience that we were working towards.

I think that the feeding bag cocktail challenged –

AM: I was going to ask you about that!

CHEF KK: Mind over matter on that one because it didn’t taste great, but it wasn’t awful. It was the color, the idea of what it was and it kind of throws your brain for a loop. Sometimes, you have to work your way through these. But I did find it incredibly impressive because I thought, who thinks of something like that?

AM: Yeah seeing it –

CHEF KK: Oh I know! The brown on the bottom – I was like, oh God!

AM: Just watching your face I thought, nope!

CHEF KK: But I will say that all of them as adventurous as it all was and as different as they each were, they had this care about what they were cooking. They genuinely wanted to show you and they cared for the product and they were excited about it. So that’s all you can really ask for when it comes to food!

AM: Yeah and I actually liked what you just

spoke to, that you were happy being the sous chef. In other circumstances, I can see someone wanting to jump in and I could see the thrill that you had taking on something new and seeing through your eyes the sweet scallops! I would totally want to try that as it looked so amazing.

CHEF KK: Those! It was a wave of sugar! Normally, you’re judging scallops on their brininess and the sweet, salty, salinity and all of that good stuff. These were pure sugar and they were crazy!

AM: That is insane!

CHEF KK: It was absolutely wild! We got to go and I don’t know if it showed in the episode as there’s so much that happens in a week’s time to film this episode. Not everything can make it in. We go to go down and I went diving into it and I swam in between all of the scallops nests and oh my God, it was amazing!

AM: That sounds insane!

What is your biggest takeaway from doing this experience?

CHEF KK: There’s a lot! Professionally, I need to leave more room for experimentation and play without judgement. Whether I’m judging myself or having to serve it to someone that is going to judge me. I think personally, it was continuously layering in this empathy! I cared so much for these people. I cried in every episode for their kindness because these people were so nice to me! We’re often jaded and I think that the state of the world often jades us because reality sucks sometimes. There are a lot of things that are wrong. But when I got to meet these people and to spend so much time with them on camera and off camera with them and they were exactly the same kind of person – they were just so excited to show you who they are. That shit got me and I cried everytime!

AM: That is beautiful!

What would be the next places that you would like to go to should this continue? I hope it does because it is so beautifully done and I love the format.

CHEF KK: There are so many places that I know of and I don’t know of! There are pockets in this world that I don’t even know the name of! Things that were being tossed around during these first few episodes in trying to figure out where we could go, Mongolia was a place, different parts of Peru, there were places in Africa and I was like yes! Get me there! I want to go and I want to feel all of this stuff. There’s countless places that we can go, I just have to find the time and all the things need to align!

AM: Exactly! Well it was amazing to see it come together and of course, it always takes a community for things to thrive. In these stories, you really saw how those with different roles in the culinary community come together for sourcing, transportation etc and I feel like you really brought that out. I’m sure we’ll be talking soon about whatever amazing project you have going on whether it’s additional seasons/ episodes of this show or something else!

CHEF KK: Oh yes! I’ll be talking to you soon and I appreciate you watching it!

@kristenlkish

PHOTOGR APHY COURTESY | PG 56 + 62 National Geographic/Autumn Sonichsen | PG 59 + 60 National Geographic/Missy Bania |