Meet Chef Steven Ferneding

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Steven Ferneding.

Chef, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Over the last twelve years, my culinary journey has taken me on cooking adventures to over 49 countries. My career has provided me with the opportunity to circumnavigate the world three times and truly experience the delicacies in every culture I visit. After receiving my degree in International Business from Arizona State University, I attended the international culinary school, Le Cordon Bleu, and graduated with honors at the top of my class. After graduating, I worked in a premier seafood restaurant in San Diego, alongside a Top Chef contestant. I then ventured over to the Bahamas and Caribbean and cooked on the world’s most prestigious yachts and in celebrities’ homes. Over the eight years at sea, I gained a reputation in the yachting industry as being a healthy, gourmet chef and was featured in international yachting magazines and industry publications. I had a desire to discover more of the flavors of the world and went in search of new ingredients. I moved to India to start my culinary education in Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine.

For a year and a half, I traveled throughout India and S.E. Asia and cooked traditional meals with the locals in their homes. I spent three of those months, climbing the glaciers in the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. As I was making my descent at 17,600 ft from the basecamp of Mt. Everest, I came up with an idea for a global culinary initiative. From this idea, I created, produced, and hosted an international travel cooking series called Trading Dishes, that we filmed over 93 days in Nepal, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Bali. While on location in a village in western Nepal, I learned thousand-year-old recipes, prepared vegetable omelets in a mud hut, and cooked over a wood fire for over 40 villagers. Prepared Palak Paneer for orphans in the slums in Jaipur, India, and created new, healthy dishes with the locals in climate stricken rice fields in Sri Lanka. Based on the recipes I learned during the filming, I authored and published a cookbook called Trading Dishes, which is for sale on Amazon. Over the last three years, I have had the privilege of being the guest chef, conducting live cooking demonstrations 30+ times on ABC, CBS, FOX, and AZTV’s morning and afternoon programs. To support my international cooking productions, I established a luxury personal chef company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, called Cooking with Chef Steven.

Has it been a smooth road?
As a personal traveling chef, it can be challenging to enter a new market and create a specialized service. However, with Scottsdale quickly becoming a major destination for tourism, I was able to design a culinary adventure, unlike any other dining experience in Arizona. Along with my international-based menus and culinary delicacies, I have developed several dinner party services, which cater to the needs and preferences of my out of state clients.

Please tell us about your business.
Cooking with Chef Steven provides my guests with a luxury, world-class dining experience that is based on my international travels. I create new, healthy gourmet dishes using local ingredients while incorporating spices that I have collected from around the world. Specializing in international cuisine and with an emphasis on seafood, I cater to private dinner parties, bachelor and bachelorette parties, cooking lessons, and preparing custom weekly meals.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Finding high-quality ingredients in Phoenix used to be problematic with finding reputable venders. However, in recent years, Phoenix has experienced a surge of local farmers and meat/ seafood suppliers. This has provided me with the ability to be more creative with designing my menus and creating new local and international dishes.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cookingwithchefsteven.com
• Phone: 5038882011
• Email: info@cookingwithchefsteven.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cookingwithchefsteven/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChefStevenFerneding/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cooking-with-chef-steven-scottsdale-5
• Other: www.TradingDishes.com

Image Credit:
Cooking with Chef Steven

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