Roger Mooking is a Trinidadian-Canadian chef, musician, and television host. Mooking is the host of the television series '' Man Fire Food'' (2012 to present). He is also the host and co-creator of ''

Everyday Exotic ''Everyday Exotic'' is a Canadian instructional cooking series starring Roger Mooking. It was produced by Magee TV in association with Food Network Canada. Overview Mooking, a third generation restaurateur, takes ingredients that are used in ev ...

''. Both programs aired on the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting ...

and Food Network Canada. He also appears on '' Heat Seekers'' with Aarón Sanchez on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

. Mooking has had many appearances on shows such as ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'', ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'', ''

The Marilyn Denis Show ''The Marilyn Denis Show'' is a Canadian daytime television talk show which debuted on January 10, 2011, on CTV and CTV 2 (formerly A-Channel). Hosted by Marilyn Denis, the show airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on CTV and 11 a.m. ET on CTV 2 (timeslots v ...

'', ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, w ...

'', '' Top Chef Canada'', and ''

Chopped Canada ''Chopped Canada'' is a Canadian reality cooking television series based on the US series ''Chopped''. The program pits four chefs against each other as they compete to win $10,000 and the title of Chopped Canada Champion. It first aired on Janu ...

''.

Early life

Mooking was born in

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

"Everyday Exotic, the Cookbook: It’s About Flavour"
''Quill $ Quire''. Review by Shaun Smith into an extended family made up of food and beverage business providers. "Food Network Celebrity chef Roger Mooking wins 2012 Premier’s Award for Outstanding College Graduates"
Alumni Stories, George Brown College. He moved to Canada at the age of five, and grew up in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, where his parents were in the restaurant business."Eats & Beats: Edmonton-raised Roger Mooking is a hit in the kitchen — and on the mic."
''Avenue Edmonton'', April 2013. by Gene Kosowan He has both

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

and Chinese ancestry."Being a chef 'was in my soul' "
''Globe & Mail''. Aug. 09, 2010 Olivia Stren Mooking was introduced to European flavours by his mother, who prepared dishes from recipes passed on by her Ukrainian neighbours.

Career

Musical career

Under the stage name MC Mystic, Mooking spent the early 1990s as a member of the Edmonton-based hip hop band

The Maximum Definitive The Maximum Definitive was a Canadian hip hop trio, active in the early 1990s. They are noted for their single "Jungle Man", which was a Juno Award nominee for Best Rap Recording in 1993. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, the group was formed i ...

, who received a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall o ...

nomination in 1993 for their single "Jungle Man". The band then moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

to continue their musical careers, but broke up due to creative differences before they could actually complete recording a full album, and Mooking went on to join the soul/R&B trio

Bass Is Base Bass is Base was a Canadian R&B group based in North York, Ontario. History In 1993, Chin Injeti and Ivana Santilli were in the music group Syndicate 305. At the 1993 Music West conference in Vancouver, Injeti and Santilli met MC Mystic (Roger Mo ...

.Michael B. MacDonald, ''Remix and Life Hack in Hip Hop: Towards a Critical Pedagogy of Music''.

Springer Publishing Springer Publishing Company is an American publishing company of academic journals and books, focusing on the fields of nursing, gerontology, psychology, social work, counseling, public health, and rehabilitation (neuropsychology). It was e ...

, 2016. . pp. 96-97. Bass Is Base consisted of

Chin Injeti Pranam "Chin" Injeti (born April 9, 1973 in India) is a Canadian singer, musician, and music producer. He got his start as a founding member of Juno Award-winning group Bass is Base. He frequently collaborates with producer DJ Khalil; together t ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Ivana Santilli Ivana Daniela Santilli is a Canadian R&B singer and multi-instrumentalist, who has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of the 1990s R&B/pop trio Bass is Base. Early life and career Santilli was born to an Italian father and a French-Can ...

on keyboards, and MC Mystic (Roger Mooking) on

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. All three members contributed vocals, Injeti and Santilli as singers and Mystic as a

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. In addition to the early single "Funk-mobile", which garnered the band a deal with

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, their debut album, ''First Impressions for the Bottom Jigglers'', won a

in the Best R&B/Soul Recording category in 1995. A year later, the second consequential album, ''Memories of the Soul Shack Survivors'', gave the band its first Top 20 hit, “I Cry.” Mooking has since released two solo albums, ''Soul Food'' in 2008 and ''Feedback'' in 2013.

Chef

Mooking studied culinary arts at

George Brown College George Brown College is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and ...

, and still continues to operate as the chair of the professional advisory committee. Mooking worked at Toronto's Royal York Hotel before co-owning and consulting on many food and beverage operations in Ontario.
"The Marilyn Denis Show, Roger Mooking Resident Chef". During his years as a restaurateur, Mooking was the executive chef and co-owner of Kultura Social Dining and Nyood Restaurant. Currently he is the executive chef at ''Twist by Roger Mooking'', located in Terminal 1 at

Toronto Pearson International Airport Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surr ...

Television appearances

Mooking is the host of several television shows, including '' Heat Seekers'' and '' Man Fire Food''. He is also the co-creator and host of ''

'', a television show in which he features spices and other flavourful ingredients from around the globe and shows viewers how to use them in everyday cooking. As the host of ''Man Fire Food'' on

, Mooking travels around the U.S. exploring different ways to cook with fire and smoke, from small campfires to creative custom-made grills and smokers. ''Man Fire Food'' is in its eighth season. Mooking served as a recurring judge on

's ''

''. He served as a judge on two episodes of season 10 ''

Guy's Grocery Games '' Guy's Grocery Games '' (often nicknamed ''Triple G'') is an American reality-based cooking television game show hosted by Guy Fieri on Food Network. Each episode features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination contest, cooking food ...

''. Mooking has also been the subject of an hour-long biography titled ''Chefography'' for Cooking Channel. Mooking has appeared on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', ''

'', '' Top Chef Canada'', ''

'', ''

Wendy Williams Wendy Williams Hunter ( Wendy Joan Williams; born July 18, 1964) is an American broadcaster and writer. From 2008 to 2021, she hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show ''The Wendy Williams Show.'' Prior to television, Williams w ...

'', '' Martha Stewart Radio'', '' Unique Eats'', and ''

Steven and Chris ''Steven and Chris'' is a Canadian television talk show that aired on CBC Television from 2008 to 2015. The show was hosted by Steven Sabados and Chris Hyndman, formerly of the home renovation shows '' Designer Guys'' and '' Design Rivals'', wh ...

''. Mooking has also made regular appearances at various food and wine festivals, including New York Food and Wine Festival, South Beach Food and Wine Festival, Gourmet Escape and The Essence Music Festival. He is slated to appear in the 2021 edition of ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Frenc ...

'', advocating for

Francesca Ekwuyasi Francesca Ekwuyasi is a Nigerian-Canadian writer and artist.Jade Nauss"Francesca Omolara Ekwuyasi moves from Penance to reconciliation" '' The Coast'', November 28, 2019. She is most noted for her debut novel '' Butter Honey Pig Bread'', which was ...

's novel ''Butter Honey Pig Bread''.

Author

Mooking’s cookbook, "Everyday Exotic: The Cookbook", was published 2011, and won a Gourmand World Cookbook award. The book explains how to add unconventional ingredients to traditional dishes to experience the flavors developed by cultures from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas.

Filmography

Charitable work

In 2011, Mooking partnered up with

World Vision In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Canada and made a trip to Cambodia to exchange information and ideas about child nutrition, and to bring awareness to the issues of healthy food and clean water for families in all countries.
"WorldVision Media" In fall 2012, Mooking traveled to Bangladesh to visit nutrition-related programming run by

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

and to meet with community groups, medical clinics, and local families and explore ways to create sustainable health and nutrition programs so that successful concepts can be applied worldwide. He has continued to work with Save The Children and their programming and has since traveled to Peru as well as worked with the organization locally. Mooking is also committed to Toronto-based charity

Second Harvest Second Harvest is Canada's largest food rescue charitable organization. Second Harvest works with thousands of food businesses from across the supply chain to reduce the amount of edible food going to waste. This model helps redirect surplus fo ...

, co-hosting its annual charity Toronto Taste, for providing rescued food to families in need.

Personal life

Mooking is married and has four daughters. He has claimed to have "never ookedthe same thing twice."
"Williams Sonoma: Meet Chef Roger Mooking"

References

External links

Official website"Toronto Taste"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooking, Roger Living people 20th-century Black Canadian male singers 20th-century Canadian rappers 21st-century Black Canadian male singers 21st-century Canadian rappers Black Canadian broadcasters Canadian male chefs Canadian male rappers Canadian male singers Canadian people of Caribbean descent Canadian people of Chinese descent Canadian philanthropists Canadian rhythm and blues musicians Canadian television chefs Canadian television hosts George Brown College alumni Musicians from Edmonton Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to Canada Year of birth missing (living people)