MEET THE CHEF
SERIOUS ABOUT SEAFOOD BY GHM STAFF
Michael Howell is a renowned Canadian chef and vocal advocate for sustainable seafood and ethical eating. His cooking career has taken him all across North America, and his latest restaurant, Tempest, is in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, one of the hottest food and wine regions in the country. Now in its tenth year, Tempest is among the most well known restaurants in Canada. Michael is also the leader of Slow Food Nova Scotia, part of Slow Food International, a 100,000-member global organization centered on the belief that we need to consume and support good, clean, fair food, produced ethically and with respect for the earth. Earlier this year, Michael also received the distinguished Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the government of Canada for his contributions to the country in the food movement. Chef Michael has a special passion for seafood, and he credits it largely to his DNA— both his father and grandfather plied the North Atlantic as professional fshermen— and the fact that he spent his childhood on the shores of Nova Scotia. As a young man, though, Michael chose acting as an early career. After graduating from Dalhousie University, he worked in Toronto as an actor and director, but got his frst taste of the restaurant world while waiting tables to supplement his income. After nearly a decade, the newly married Howell moved to Chicago and decided it was time for a change. He entered the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago and after graduation, he began building his culinary career, working in well-regarded restaurants in Chicago, Detroit, Boston and New York before moving to the Bahamas in 1999. For three years, while serving as executive chef at the Green Turtle Club, his fnely honed skills were unleashed on a fresh and plentiful supply of local seafood, and the GTC was recognized as the “Best Restaurant in the Bahamas” by the Nassau Wine and Food Society. Having recently sold Tempest, Chef Michael is heading back to the Green Turtle Club (greenturtleclub.com), where he will spend several months each year as the consulting executive chef, creating new seafood delicacies. His cookbook, Atlantic Seafood, is available from Nimbus Publishing (nimbus.ca).
Chef Michael Howell | Green Turtle Club | Bahamas
