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Meryl, Co-owner and Executive Chef of Du Monde Gourmet Catering, grew up in Hout Bay, South Africa, a small tourist and fishing village on a beach near Cape Town, and a particularly beautiful part of South Africa, with panoramic views of both ocean and mountains. While Meryl loved growing up in such a naturally beautiful and exciting place, travels abroad during Meryl’s childhood opened her eyes to life outside of Africa, and sparked an interest in the different cultures, languages—and of course foods—of the world. This interest lead to Meryl’s decision to work abroad and see the world and, eventually, to her answering a natural calling to become a chef. This is Meryl’s story…
There were signs of Meryl’s passion for food as early as age three, with some of her earliest memories being of hanging around the cookie counter while Mum was shopping in the local grocery. Later, she would spend a little too much time in the village bakery watching the crazy local baker making his famous “Crocodile Pies”, always watching, always learning. Cooking family dinners was a natural progression for Meryl, and she started flexing her young culinary muscles to the delight of her family. From developing the ability to deconstruct dishes from taste and reproduce local and international foods, to preparing the most delicious abalone steaks, Meryl was now really cooking with gas—at the tender age of five! A trip to Santiago, Chile to compete in an international sports event at age eight opened Meryl’s palate to international cuisine, and a host of new ingredients and flavors. Later trips to Europe and North America expanded Meryl’s culinary horizons further still, and her visions and dreams of becoming a chef really began to take shape. Pursuing her passion, Meryl attended a chef’s apprentice programme at the 5-Star Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Hotel in Cape Town, and it was there that her life-long dream of becoming a chef was shaken a bit. The long hours of monotonous vegetable prep combined with the prima donna attitudes of the Executive Chef left Meryl seriously disillusioned (although later, during her formal French culinary training, she realized this dynamic is the norm in the culinary world!). Turns out that this rather negative experience had a positive impact on Meryl’s career, as it kick-started her global culinary odyssey, in London. As was the case with many young South Africans in the 1990’s, London was a logical international destination due to Commonwealth work visa opportunities. Finding work in London was almost too easy, and an obvious choice was to work with food. Meryl was curious to try something on a simpler, more personal level and on a much smaller scale. A London pub seemed an ideal choice, with simple, wholesome food and a relaxed and casual vibe—quite a change from the scene at the “Vic and Alfred” with its constant high-pitched panic. Meryl took a job serving up hearty “Pub Grub” at the Argyll Arms Public House, located in the heart of Oxford Street, and one of London’s oldest Public Houses. London was a fantastic experience for Meryl, but the nocturnal working hours and the grey skies proved claustrophobic and dull, when suddenly another childhood passion was resurrected—yachting. Yachting was second nature to Meryl, growing up on and around sailboats within a tight, competitive sailing community, and competing herself on an international level. Meryl was introduced to the professional side of the yachting industry by her brother, and she was recruited to join the “yachtie” world. With this new opportunity in hand, Meryl had no reason to remain in London, and suddenly she was off to the Balearic Islands in the Spanish Mediterranean to join a yacht crew. There, in the beautiful City of Palma Mallorca, Meryl’s passion for food was sparked yet again, and for the first time Meryl was able to put together two of the things she loves most: fine food and world travel. In retrospect, it seems that the seeds of Du Monde Gourmet Catering were sown at this point. In any case, Meryl now had the ticket: developing her passion for fine food in the context of professional yachting, served up with her own healthy zest for life. Meryl recognises today how privileged she was to be accepted into such a world and to be paired with the highest caliber of world-class executive chefs. Her training continued in the rarefied environment of the super-yachts, working one-on-one with these fantastic chefs and absorbing their abundance of culinary secrets like a sponge. Through the succeeding years, Meryl continued striving for excellence while preparing the highest level of international cuisines for guests that included royalty, political dignitaries and well-known celebrities. After spending several years sharpening her kitchen skills in this environment, enjoying the flavors, cultures and cuisines of the world along the way, she became frustrated working in an industry that grew too much too quickly, and where everything of quality was suddenly being diluted. |
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Yachts were becoming mammoth in size, as the size of their crews doubled, and the yachting industry was suddenly filled with non-professional land-lubbers looking for short term thrills. And it just turned plain tiresome living out of luggage! Meryl realized at this point that it was time to return to culinary school.
Having made a home for herself in the medieval town of Antibes in the South of France (a major port for the super-yachts), Meryl began dividing her culinary training time between France (hands-on, practical training internships in Antibes and chalet-based chef work in Chamonix) and Vancouver (formal training at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts). Later, after a brief period of restaurant work, Meryl realized it was the personal side of cooking that she missed, and she decided that just the right position, on just the right yacht, might just be the thing. So Meryl returned to the yachtie world with enhanced training and a rejuvenated passion for food and life. Her new and improved resumé opened new doors, and hatches, and Meryl accepted a post as Head Chef on-board a luxury mega-yacht based in the Pacific Islands, working for a private family. Owned by an enthusiastic scuba diver, the ship’s itinerary promised loads of adventure, starting in the beautiful island nation of Palau, surrounded by the famous Rock Islands and by world-class reef and wreck diving. But Meryl soon discovered that there was a professional price to pay for such idyllic beauty and isolation—no supplies! Ok, in all fairness, Palau was a smorgasbord of ingredients compared to the neighboring countries, but considering the palates she had to satisfy, hmmm….The locals were surviving on a very limited selection of local fruits and vegetables (but heaps of beautiful fresh fish!), with most foodstuffs arriving monthly from the USA by ship—and frozen. Dairy, meat products and fresh produce were certainly luxury items, even when she could find them. The pressure was on, and Meryl took to the challenge of preparing world class food under such circumstances with curiosity and enthusiasm. This experience pushed Meryl’s creativity to new heights, and her years of training and experience started to pay off. She was creating something from nothing on a daily basis, and “The Family” was extremely impressed. After several months of cruising through the most remote areas of Micronesia and Southeast Asia, Meryl had set a new culinary standard on-board, and was invited to travel with and cook for The Family at several of their estates worldwide. Meryl spent the next several months traveling to The Family’s estates in Miami, New York, Madrid and Caracas, exchanging recipes and techniques with several of their land-based chefs and cooks. While Meryl enjoyed this fast-track, jet-set working tour, it was time to rejoin the yacht in Australia. Easy duty initially, as “Oz” has virtually everything a chef could want. But then came Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, and similar incredibly remote places. Due to security issues in such places, trips to the local markets were brief, and were always chaperoned by local armed security personnel. A good deal of the shopping was done from the afterdeck of the yacht, where Meryl would barter items such as flour and sugar for fish and tropical fruits. After a time, Meryl was not disappointed when the crew received orders to return to the familiar waters of Palau. The particularly rough trip north across the equator made Palau seem even more welcoming than it was the previous year, and reuniting with local Palauans and the expatriate community she had come to know so very well was truly a treat. Meryl had been an avid scuba diver for quite some time by then, and through scuba diving she was re-introduced to Greg, a scuba diving instructor working with a local dive center who had left his law practice and Park City some years earlier. Several months of stand-by duty in Palau gave Meryl and Greg the opportunity to share their passions for life, for food, for travel—and for diving, as well! It soon became clear to the both of them that it was time to start a life together, and combine their amazing experiences into a common effort. Meryl and Greg decided that Greg should send his backpack and dive gear into semi-retirement and join Meryl in Europe, her next destination. The culinary wonders of the South of France proved to be ideal inspirations from which to conceive and organize Du Monde Gourmet Catering, and it was in Antibes, France, that this venture was finally born. Based on an extraordinary series of culinary and other experiences around the globe, Du Monde—“Of the World”—is the culmination of all that Meryl has learned about food and people and places. To her delight, Meryl has found the same appreciation of fine cuisine among Du Monde’s clients in Park City as she experienced among the world’s yacht owners, and she is now thrilled to have the opportunity to pass her experiences on to the residents and guests of Park City in the form of the gourmet cuisines of the world. And to play in the snow when time permits! |
