...Hotel Four Seasons?

Hotel Four Seasons' executive chef Fitzgerald Malcolm knew from an early age that he wanted to be a chef. He became the first male at Kingston Secondary High School to be enrolled in their home economic class in the late '70s.

It was not the most fashionable career path for men, but attempts to get him into more 'suitable' male professions, such as electrical engineering, failed miserably.

"You see, I am afraid of electricity and of getting electrocuted, so I decided to do home economics instead, despite jeering from my friends," he recalls.

After high school, he got his first job at Hotel Four Seasons as a prep cook, and soon after was promoted to sous chef. After four years, he went to the then College of Arts Science and Technology (CAST) (now University of Technology) to study advanced pastry making.

After graduating, he worked on a cruise ship as senior sous chef. While working there, one of the perks he received was to study hospitality management at Johnson and Wales in the United States. When his studies were completed in 1994, he was promoted to executive chef. He recalled that he had 127 staff members to manage and was serving up to 3,000 daily.

Returning home

In 2004, Chef Malcolm decided it was time to return home after working the cruise ship for months shy of 20 years. Shortly after he returned, he received a call from his first employer.

"The executive chef at the hotel at the time was going to retire, so I was asked to take up the position. So I am back where my cooking career began."

Chef Malcolm is no stranger to The Gleaner-sponsored Restaurant Week and he hopes that this year will be bigger and better for the restaurant. He said, last year, they were listed in the seafood category and did well, so he hopes all goes well this year.

"This year, our menu will have a healthier focus. Therefore, people who are health conscious can come and enjoy our food low in sodium and sugar."

Though the chef has a pretty hectic lifestyle managing the hotel restaurant and his staff, he told Food that he still finds time to cook at home for his two sons and wife.

"My sons love Italian food so most weekends I would cook it for them. And when we eat Italian, we speak Italian at the table, as I can speak it, and German as well."

The chef said he just loves cooking and has a passion for it - something he inherited from his mother and is now passing on to his children.

- Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore