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I was 16 years old. I was completely infatuated with the concept of becoming a chef and devoting my life to good eating. The year I spent living in Helsinki, Finland provided an amazing backdrop to taste, eat, and explore my developing palate in ways I would have never imagined possible. Due to the cold climate and shortened growing season, the emphasis and value of fresh, local ingredients is ingrained in the Scandinavian way of life, and in many ways contrasts the extended growing seasons found in more temperate climates. The mild Finnish summers become celebrations of the vibrant flavors the Finns have craved for the infinite months of winter.
In the open-air market that sits at the shore of the Baltic Sea, the aroma of roasting sweet corn, fresh dill, and warm rye bread and pastries fills the air. From the aged wooden boats of Swedish and Finnish fisherman, I encountered the most amazing seafood plucked, in all of its frigid beauty, from the waters of the Baltic, mere inches from where I would sit with my family eating lunch and spending the day. Although I was well aware of the path my career would take years prior to experiencing food and culture beyond the continental American borders, I was now set and certain in my devotion to a lifetime in the kitchen.
Since the time I spent in northern Europe, I have slowly gained experience and increased awareness of my craft. My introduction to a foreign culture opened my acceptance and awareness for food as part of our ethnic and cultural identity but also an extension of our personalities, life experiences, and beliefs.
Traveling and exposure to new tastes and flavors is an integral part of what makes my job interesting. As an appreciator of all things delicious, one of the most amazing things about food, on an international scale, is to see the same ingredients being prepared so differently in their various growing regions around the planet. This acts as an amazing commonality between people and ethnicities but also reveals the differences in belief and technique that set apart the cooking from one culture to another. The grassy herbal qualities of fresh dill I used to love with smoke-roasted Ivory Salmon in our home in Helsinki is interestingly reminiscent of the dill, turmeric, and fish sauce paired with traditional fish dishes in Vietnamese culture. In the essence of this simple example of parallel ingredients separated by vast cultural differences, lies a relationship that is the foundation for the creative process I have built my career upon. Through the early stages of our childhood, experiences form and give us the ability to relate and respond to the rest of our lives. I was very fortunate to have this exposure at a time when I was desperately looking to form my own opinions about food. It is through this experience, and countless others, I find endless inspiration to translate into all of my cooking.
Joshua Linton is executive chef at Aja restaurant in The Dana Hotel in Chicago. He keeps things interesting by combining some of the world’s flavorful cuisines: Janpanese-French, Indian, Middle Eastern and Mexican. Joshua has his own retail line of spices named Ajaspice.
Aja
660 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 202-6050