A non-cook in the kitchen. What could go wrong?
Marino Strachan can’t cook, but he can act.
So when he pitched an idea for a new TV series to Bell Media, the title was a no-brainer: “The Man Who Couldn’t Cook.”
They liked it.
Strachan and a small crew have been filming episodes at restaurants and other venues across Niagara this week.
It’s a fish-out-of-water premise — Strachan, the non-cook, works a shift in the kitchen preparing meals alongside real chefs.
If he does well, everything’s good. If the pasta is squishy or the pizza gets burned, he does the dishes.
“We’re throwing him into the deep end every day, with a different restaurant and a different chef” looking over his shoulder, said producer-director Paul Gardner, a St. Catharines native.
On Wednesday, they filmed at Joe Feta’s Greek Village on Lake Street in St. Catharines.
“So far, so good,” said Strachan, who moved from Toronto to St. Catharines about five years ago.
“I’m learning a lot and gaining an appreciation for people who work in the food industry. It’s not easy at all,” The six-episode series will run on Bell Fibe TV1 and be available ondemand for any Bell Fibe customer in Canada. It’s not bound by the usual TV time constraints so episodes will run 15
to 20 minutes.
Gardner called it “a local story that has global appeal … he can’t cook, but he loves to eat.”
At Joe Feta’s, Strachan worked on Greek fare — pork, chicken, pastry and some walnut cake.
At other stops, he made pasta and pizza from scratch at Rollin’ Pizza, also on Lake Street, and Indian food at The Kolkata Club in St. Catharines.
Still to come, making plantbased food, preparing fine dining at a winery kitchen, and working from home for one episode under the online guidance of his mother in the Bahamas.
That’s a lot of learning for a guy who admits, “I can do rice, maybe some baked chicken. Nothing fancy at all. Sandwiches, cold cuts — simple, simple stuff.”
Gardner said it’s the storytelling, and not the cut of Strachan’s linguine, that sold him on the idea for the initial episodes.
“Food is important to the show, but the people who are cooking it — and why they are cooking it — is most important to the story,” he said.
He said that made Joe Feta’s a good stop on the series.
Pierre Kountouris, who owns and operates the 30-year-old venue with his family, has “a wealth of knowledge and stories he’s going to bring” to the episode filmed there, he said.
Kountouris said he liked the idea but had to talk it over first with his staff, to be sure it wouldn’t interfere with their work during the lunch and supper rush.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he admitted.