‘I use AI to help me plan—especially provisioning’

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By Julien Perry | The Prep

Seattle-based Harry Mills of Elemental Meals spent more than three decades in professional kitchens before becoming a globe-trotting chef. Now, he cooks for food- and wine-focused retreats around the world, most recently teaming up with boutique travel company Saint Zina for dinner at a chateau in France’s Loire Valley.

Cooking abroad brings a whole new set of challenges and inspirations, and we caught up with Mills to hear how he approaches food on a global scale.

How do you design a menu that respects the local culture and ingredients while still expressing your own culinary voice? 

We go to the markets and buy the best products available, then design a menu onsite, rather than planning a menu in advance and trying to source specific ingredients in a foreign country, often without speaking the language.

What’s the most unexpected lesson you’ve learned from cooking in a completely unfamiliar environment?

Honestly? It’s to get over ourselves. We’re not ever going to have commercial equipment or luxurious amounts of refrigeration or tons of space to work. So, we don’t get disappointed when those things inevitably turn out to be true.

Do you find your connection to food or the act of cooking changes depending on where you are in the world?

Yes! The products are so local, so perishable and so precious that you almost feel obligated to honor them. For example, on our last trip we bought a flat of hand-gathered wild strawberries in the farmers' market from the forager herself. We just hulled them, sprinkled them with a tiny bit of fleur de sel ("flower of salt") and served them with local chevre.   

How do you build trust with local collaborators—farmers, purveyors or hosts—when you’re only in a place temporarily? 

In short, you can’t. You have to trust your senses to pick out great products on your own. My best piece of advice in this regard would be to take all of the time you would spend plotting out every single menu and instead use it to find out where your products are going to be. I create detailed Google Maps to track where and when farmers' markets and regular supermarkets will be running while I’m there. You’ll spend way more time provisioning than you think. Be ready for that.  

What systems or routines do you rely on to stay organized and consistent when cooking in unfamiliar kitchens and environments?

Increasingly, I use AI to help me plan, especially provisioning. ChatGPT can find where the best markets are in other countries in a way traditional Google searches can’t. When I’m assembling my Google maps mentioned above, I use ChatGPT to help me find and place the pins.

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The Prep is written by Julien Perry and edited by Lesley McKenzie.