Wes Wolfe
Kinston Free Press
June 30, 2013
Zach Frailey / The Free Press
Documentary filmmaker Cynthia Hill said that whenever she and Chef & the Farmer’s Vivian Howard got together, talk would inevitably turn to the idea of doing a series about the restaurant and the local farmers who supply it.
Finally, Hill said, they decided to stop talking and start doing. In September, the 13-episode first season of “A Chef’s Life” debuts nationally on PBS.
“Every episode is about one ingredient,” Howard said. “With that ingredient, we talk about the person or the place where we get it from, we meet the person, we learn things about them, we learn things about their farm, their business, whatever.
“We also do something old school, old-timey with that ingredient, and we do something modern with that ingredient within the context of the restaurant.”
Howard’s husband and business partner Ben Knight said filming began in the summer of 2012 and continued into the fall.
“I think the cool thing about the show – obviously the first few episodes are about developing a character thread, when you see repeated characters throughout the season, so we can follow some of the staff and the family,” Knight said. “We’re really excited about developing that character base and going out and exploring more of the area, more of the region.
“Finding great stories that are really representative of where we live and the culture of Eastern North Carolina and the South.”
Some things Howard like most about the filming process was getting out into the area and talking and interacting with local farmers.
“That part was really fun – going out to the farms and doing these culinary traditions with local people – those are the parts that I really enjoyed,” Howard said. “And so, that was why we wanted to do it, was to highlight these people and bring back, or make relevant, these old culinary traditions within our region.”
Hill, a Pink Hill native, said initially members of the restaurant’s staff were wary about being in front of the camera, and Howard wasn’t fully comfortable about playing such a central role. However, as filming went on, she said everyone became used to the presence of the cameras and crew.
Filming in the kitchen and in the front of the restaurant wasn’t easy, Howard said, but both the restaurant staff and film crew found a way to make it work.
“Well, it’s pretty stressful,” she said. “Our kitchen is a nice-size kitchen, but we’ve got a lot going on in there, and when you put three camera people sometimes, and a director in the mix, it makes things pretty complicated.
“But, I think the fact we are actually running a real kitchen and we have service every night at 5:30, and we really are working toward real goals – they just worked their way around the camera crew, and it just made things a little slower for everyone.”
Now, well before the first episode airs, preparation for another 13-episode season is already underway – filming begins Tuesday. Fundraising continues to finish financing Season 1 and start funding Season 2. The “A Chef’s Life” campaign on crowd-funding site Indiegogo raised $25,400 of a $50,000-goal by Sunday.