'Top Chef' finalist Eric Adjepong says cooking is beyond the plate of food: 'My responsibility is to educate'
Unique and delish plates of food aside, 'Top Chef' contestant Eric Adjepong brings sustainable food to the mix and that is when it gets interesting.
Recently, the 'Top Chef' contestant concluded a weeklong culinary and educational event on April 24 surrounding the importance of sustainable seafood in collaboration with the Marine Mammal Center, California. He shared his thoughts and experience being a part of the event and 'Top Chef' in an exclusive chat with MEA WorldWide.
Eric is all for sustainable see food. He understands the need and importance of consciously including it in culinary conversations. "As a chef, my responsibility to my craft is to educate and also do all I can to go beyond just the plate of food I’m making," he shared, saying it's vital to him that customers are in the know about the products he uses to cook.
He is someone who is invested in sustainability as an integral part of the food industry and that explains why he'd take any opportunity to use a sustainable product. He enjoys seafood and the fineness of cooking it but he's also someone who understands the vegetarian protein palette as well.
Lentils are a good source of protein, said Eric as he went on to share an easy, quick salad recipe around it. "Simply boil in salted water until al dente and use it as a base for your favorite salad," he said and tossed in the name of his favorite dish from the 'Earth Day' even he did with the Marine Mammal Centre. "The roasted banana grits with cajun shrimp is a favorite of mine," he said and recalled how he had begun working on the recipe a few years ago and enjoys preparing it even today.
Eric has fun cooking and you can tell from how he is when creating delicacies out of the 'Top Chef' kitchen. Sharing memories from his time on the Bravo-backed show, the Washington DC-based chef said apart from meeting with celebrity guest judges every week, he was really taken by the Hollywood mansion the contestants were living in.
And that was just tip of the iceberg. Eric's 'Top Chef' experience dates all the way back to Season 16, where he was a part of the Muhammad Ali elimination round, in which the chefs had to celebrate the life and times of the legendary boxer through food. His daughter Laila Ali was one of the judges for the round. "It was an elimination challenge I won cooking fufu. That win set the pace for me for the rest of the season," Eric shared.
But not all challenges have been the way he had planned. For one of the quickfire challenges, Eric had to incorporate all colors of the rainbow. While it sounds easy, the chef is glad that the dish didn't put in him at the bottom. "I made a tri-color carrot salad with a liquid nitrogen berry dust. I have no idea how and why I came up with that on the spot," he added.
He is rich with experience and knowledge about all things food but that doesn't stop him from being appreciative of fellow contestant Gregory Gourdet, whose philosophy about food is something he loves. In a nutshell, he has his competitive spirit spot on.
Catch all the episodes of 'Top Chef' on Bravo every Thursday.
