Probably the most standard themed cruises Windstar has supplied over the previous decade, its chef-led partnership with the James Beard Basis, continues in 2025.Probably the most standard themed cruises Windstar has supplied over the previous decade, its chef-led partnership with the James Beard Basis, continues in 2025.
The 5 acclaimed cooks — Jamilka Borges, José Mendin, Jennifer Hill Booker, Jennifer Jasinski and, new to Windstar, Larry Forgione — will convey their regional culinary experience and signature dishes to sea and host market excursions on their itineraries. And it’s greater than that: The enchantment of Windstar’s culinary-themed cruises, friends can take part in cooking demos, get pleasure from particular dishes impressed by the visitor chef, and, one of the crucial standard actions of all: buy groceries with the chef.
In the event you’re contemplating a James Beard Basis cruise in 2025, we thought you may get pleasure from a rundown on every of the 5 visitor cooks:
March 15, 2025, Caribbean: Windward Methods and Tobago Cays with chef Jamilka Borges
The journey: This seven day Caribbean cruise travels from Aruba’s Oranjestad to Barbados’ Bridgetown. Different locations embody Curacao, Bonaire, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad.
She started her profession as prep prepare dinner on the industry-leading restaurant Legume and rose to the place of chef de delicacies. After leaving Legume, Borges held govt chef positions in among the Pittsburgh’s most inventive and progressive kitchens: Bar Marco, Spoon, Impartial Brewing Firm, Hidden Harbor and Lorelei. At every restaurant, Borges found one other piece of her culinary voice.
Enjoyable information: “Somebody mentioned to me years in the past, ‘Oh my God, you’re such a wild baby!’ It’s at all times form of stayed at the back of my thoughts. I’ve at all times achieved issues in a really nontraditional approach.”
April 12, 2025, Mediterranean: Spanish Symphony with Chef José Mendin
The journey: On Wind Surf, the eight day Spanish Symphony James Beard itinerary travels from Lisbon to Barcelona, with calls at Cadiz (for Seville), Gibraltar, Malaga, Almeria, Cartagena and Palma de Mallorca.
Your chef: Miami-based chef José Mendin, a local of Puerto Rico, who traveled to Spain to work with chef Jesus Ramior in Valladolid and, later, with chef Juan Pablo Felipe, of Madrid’s Michelin-starred El Chaflan. He additionally helped open Nobu Miami and Nobu London, with cooks Mark Edwards and Thomas Buckley.
Immediately, he’s proprietor/accomplice of Pubbelly World, which features a portfolio of eating places in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Paris. He’s a five-time James Beard Award semifinalist.
Enjoyable stuff: Chef Mendin first found his curiosity in cooking whereas on a volleyball scholarship in school in Puerto Rico. He has appeared as a decide on Telemundo’s MasterChef Latino. And he likes to wind down after an extended day by watching episodes of “Seinfeld.”
June 29, 2025, Northern Europe: Baltic Magnificence with chef Jennifer Hill Booker
The journey: On this 11 day Baltic cruise from Stockholm to Copenhagen, Star Legend will go to locations similar to Helsinki, Estonia’s Tallinn, Latvia’s Riga, Sweden’s Visby, Lithuania’s Klaipeda, Poland’s Gdansk and Germany’s Warnemunde.
Your chef: Jennifer Hill Booker, primarily based in Atlanta, is understood for including a French accent to her Southern culinary heritage — all aimed toward creating dishes that replicate a seasonal, wholesome strategy. She educated at Paris’ Le Cordon Bleu Faculty of Culinary Arts, and has revealed cookbooks similar to “Subject Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes with a French Accent,” and “Dinner Déjà Vu: Southern Tonight, French Tomorrow. “ She is president of the celebrated Atlanta chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier Worldwide, a member of Sluggish Meals-Atlanta, Atlanta’s No Child Hungry Atlanta Society, and the James Beard Basis Meals Waste Advisory Council.
Chef Booker has revealed authentic recipes in publications similar to Waste Not Cookbook, Southern Residing, Backyard & Gun and Essence. Throughout her Meals Community debut, as a finalist on “Cutthroat Kitchen,” she showcased her mélange of French and Southern inspirations.
Enjoyable stuff: In her first illustrated youngsters’s e-book, “Jelly Fries A Fish For Dinner,” (Tallahatchie Tales, March 2021), Booker highlights the meals of the Mississippi Delta by way of the eyes of her daughter Jenelle. The chef realized about French delicacies when dwelling in Europe, the place her then-husband, a U.S. Military officer, was stationed.
August 27, 2025, Mediterranean: Adriatic Archipelago and Greek Goddesses, with chef Jennifer Jasinski
The journey: This nine-day cruise from Venice to Athens takes place aboard Star Legend. Ports of name embody Croatia’s Zadar, Break up and Dubrovnik; Montenegro’s Kotor, and Greece’s Corfu, Katakolon and Monemvasia.
Your chef: Denver-based Jennifer Jasinski owns and operates quite a few award-winning eating places similar to Rioja, Bistro Vendôme, Ultreia, and Stoic & Real. Every restaurant’s delicacies (similar to Rioja for Spanish dishes, Bistro Vendôme for French, and Ultreia for tapas and Portuguese petiscos) displays Jasinki’s ardour for journey and world culinary cultures.
The chef was honored with a James Beard award for finest chef within the Southwest and was a finalist on Prime Chef Masters.
Her philosophy is {that a} improbable restaurant expertise is greater than the delicacies. “You’ll be able to have nice meals, however if in case you have unhealthy service, no one will come. Our philosophy is straightforward. On cooking, it’s easy: good components, nicely executed. On the restaurant, it must be a spot the place you may come and get taken care of, the place the standard of service is at all times the identical, the place there’s nice consideration to element, and the product and repair are at all times considerate and thoughtful. We prepare our workers to behave like they’re welcoming somebody into their house. I’m at all times out within the eating rooms of my eating places, speaking with friends concerning the menu, about our merchandise, or about Denver and Colorado.”
Enjoyable stuff: “In highschool in Santa Barbara, I used to be both going to be a chef or a musician,” she mentioned in an interview for Denver.org. “I considered being a ravenous artist and figured, if I turned a chef, no less than I’d at all times have meals! My first cooking job was at Taco Bell.”
October 7, 2027, Canada/New England: Southeast Canadian Explorations with chef Larry Forgione
The journey: Chef Larry Forgione is visitor chef on the 12-day voyage onboard Star Delight. The cruise from Montreal to New York calls at ports similar to Gaspé, Cap-aux-Meules, Louisbourg, Halifax and Portland, Maine.
Your chef: Forgione’s affect on American delicacies is profound. He helped pioneer the farm-to-table strategy to meals that’s now ubiquitous in American delicacies. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Forgione started his culinary profession working at eating places in Europe and the U.Ok. After heading again to the U.S., he was chef at high New York eating places similar to El Morocco, Regine’s and the River Café.
“It was at Regine’s the place I began to get into analysis, and I adopted by way of with the components that I felt weren’t obtainable within the states, and didn’t perceive why they weren’t,” he mentioned in an interview in Restaurant Insider journal. “It dawned on me after I was working in London, all this stunning produce and recent butchered meats would come into the kitchens and it didn’t make sense to me that in America it was reversed. In Europe, farmers and producers have been producing for eating places and on daily basis, cooks obtained to make use of the identical components, whereas in America all people was producing for the plenty, and the cooks additionally had to make use of what was produced. So after I got here again I believed that it was time that we began to reverse the wheel a bit of bit, and I began working with a number of farmers and producers.”
He opened his first restaurant, An American Place, in Manhattan in 1983 and in the end expanded his empire to incorporate quite a few eating places and cafés.
Forgione is the co-founder and culinary director of the American Meals Research: Farm-to-Desk Cooking curriculum on the Culinary Institute of America. He’s additionally the founding trustee of the James Beard Basis, founding father of Recent Begin, and founding father of the Annual American Cooks tribute to James Beard and Citymeals-on-Wheels.
He is also a prolific cookbook writer. His “An American Place” cookbook acquired a James Beard Award for finest American cookbook.
Enjoyable stuff: Forgione’s son Marc Forgione can also be a chef. He started his profession at his father’s An American Place earlier than in the end proudly owning his personal eating places and has gone on to be one of many youngest American cooks to be awarded a Michelin star. Father and son cooked collectively on “Iron Chef America.”
Editor’s Observe: For extra info on Windstar’s 10 12 months partnership with the James Beard Basis, try our Q&A with Peter Tobler.
