Tastemakers
Chef’s Survival Kit I can’t get through the day without … music. To relax … I climb tall mountains on my road bike. I am currently reading … a supposedly fun thing I’ll never do again by david faster wallace. My favourite culinary destination is … the local food stalls or local kitchens of where ever I happen to be. My favourite kitchen tool is … my 125 yearold butcher’s block that my mother bought from our local butcher when they went out of business.
Blumer says, “I was a jack of all trades, master of none. So that was kind of difficult. Managing was a good thing because to be a manager, you have to problem-solve, wing it, deal with whatever disaster du jour [comes your way]. So it’s a good job for someone who doesn’t have a particular skill they excel at but who can do a bunch of things decently.” Somehow, Blumer made a career out of blending his talents together. According to him, his new book, Glutton for Pleasure: Signature Recipes, Epic Stories and Surreal Etiquette, “ is kind of the best of what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years; it covers the gamut of things from what I’d make for a dinner party to what I make for myself at home. Everything I prepare is very tasty, well thought out, and made with fresh ingredients. I don’t go that last step of making a dish look like a cupcake when I’m eating it by myself. But every dish that I create, I make it like it’s my last meal, flavour-wise.” But this man who admits, “I’m addicted to food. I love food,” also confides, “I take control of a lot of the food I’m eating.” He does that with near-daily exercise and portion control. Now granted, he’s one of few people who doesn’t see exercise as a chore, “I feel so much better when I exercise. Whenever I get sick or if I have to miss a few days, I get twitchy.” And he has some tricks to help keep him on track: “I always keep the same date book and I do little hash marks for every day I’ve exercised. I keep track of whether I’ve cycled, swam, or whatever. In January, because I was home, I only missed one day. I do a 25 km climb on my road bike every day, and when I’m on vacation without 40
my girlfriend, I do bike trips with friends of mine. We have a rule that we don’t get out of bed unless we do 100 km a day. So I take it all pretty seriously; I put in the effort so that I can eat and drink whatever I want. That’s my version of a balanced diet.” So what’s his other secret to success? “I serve small portions, and I believe in portion control. I also think that when you space things out, you’re satiated, not overly full, and you don’t feel like you’ve been shortchanged.” Blumer describes his approach to nutrition as a “Luddite one” of sticking to the basics: lots of fruits and vegetables and some protein. “A friend of mine who’s a chef has a really great rule; she calls it the 80/20 rule: 80% plant-based stuff in your diet and 20% protein.” Blumer isn’t an extremist when it comes to self-deprivation. For one, he recently partnered with Dempster’s to celebrate National Bagel Day 2012 and launched a new bagel recipe. Second, it turns out bacon is “the last thing I’d drop from my diet. But here’s what I do; I don’t eat copious amounts of it. I take a slice of bacon and cut it into quarter-inch strips, and I’ll put that with some greens. So you get that little bit of bacon and the fat that it renders; it flavours the whole dish. Or steak – just 2 or 3 slices of steak with a plate of vegetables, and you enjoy each bite. It’s easy to let auto pilot take over, but if you only have 3 slices on your plate, you’re really going to enjoy those slices.” Balanced living advice from someone who used to ride around in something called a Toastermobile? Yep. You can do and be it all—Blumer’s living proof of that.
WWW.SWEATEQUITYMAGAZINE.COM | Summer 2012
My stranded on a desert island spice is … chipotle powder. I travel with a vial of it to rescue bland food. if I ever end up on a desert island, I’ll be prepared. Who is your mentor? Mary Sue Milliken: friend, chef (recent runner up on Top Chef Masters), and champion of several national food causes. I aspire to be half as good at raising funds and awareness as Mary Sue is. Favourite meal of the day … My work-week breakfast at home consists of freshly squeezed orange juice, homemade granola with goat’s milk yogurt and fresh fruit, and whole leaf earl grey tea. After that, all bets are off. My favourite charity is … Toronto’s Second Harvest. I am an ambassador for this organization that “rescues” 8 million pounds of perishable food each year and delivers it within 48 hours to those in need. And they do it for about 50 cents per meal served. There are so many important charities out there, but none that I am aware of that are more efficient than Second Harvest. Super power you wish you had? I wish I could end world hunger—while keeping pace with the Tour de France peloton.
win
ed ograph an aut f glutton copy o leasure for pus on Twitter & etails. Follow ok for d Facebo