Planet Food is a true taste of the exotic. Follow our traveler Merrilees Parker as she takes you on a culinary journey exploring the food culture of Japan! Brought to you by the producers of the popular travel series Globe Trekker.
Japan is a country steeped in tradition, yet eager to embrace the future. This applies to the food culture just as much as it does to the rest of life. A group of mountainous islands 500 miles east of Asia, Japan's isolated position has helped to develop a unique food culture. Japanese cuisine isn't just about sushi, it runs way deeper than that. It's all about seasonality, color and meticulous attention to detail.
Merrilees begins her journey in the capital, Tokyo, where she attends the Tsukiji market, the world's largest seafood market selling seafood to over 60 countries! While in Tokyo she learns the art of sushi making from a master, then takes a short journey through Tokyo to Yokohama, where you can try ramen from any region of Japan. Traveling by the Shinkansen bullet train, Parker heads 200 miles southwest to a little farm near the small town of Matsusaka to find out how Japan manages to feed such a large population. Here she learns the trade secret behind the world's most expensive beef and samples sukiyaki with the locals. She then takes a short hop over to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, where the top Western chefs also come to learn about the art of Japanese cuisine. While here she learns the ancient etiquette behind the tea ceremony from some local women. She then heads back north to the annual Summer Fire Festival at mount Fuji where thousands of pilgrims pay homage to the mountain goddess. After a night of celebrating and sampling numerous types of local street food, she drives back to Tokyo to cook at a restaurant called Legato, situated high above Tokyo, where they specialize in fusion dishes.
Ian Cross is a fairly recent convert to the pleasures of golf; he took up the game in 1994 upon turning 40 years old and soon became a keen aficionado of the sport. He believes it's a perfect recreation for men of his age as it's not too strenuous, very healthy, and good for stress-busting for the busy executive. Although Ian has discovered the game comes with its own stresses - he's occasionally lost his composure and taken it out on the greens. Whilst filming for Adventure Golf on the King's Course in Gleneagles, he met his downfall at "Whaup's Nest", the 8th, where he took 18 shots to get out of a bunker. Bunkers are his most feared golf hazard.
Ian was born in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in Canberra where he began his sporting interests as a junior tennis and cricket champ. He began his professional career here as a cadet journalist for the Canberra Times. Ian's media career in newspapers, radio and television spans 30 years and three continents - the United States, his native Australia, and the UK where he now lives with his wife and two children. For three years he was European correspondent for ABC-TV, then in 1988 he produced the Beyond Tomorrow science series for Fox Networks in the United States.
When he's not on the course, Ian is the Managing Director of Pilot Productions, the television company he founded in 1991. Specialising in factual programming, in particular travel, Ian has been the Executive Producer of over 250 hours of quality television including 11 series of the multi-award winning adventure travel series Globe Trekker, the most watched travel program in the world, food and travel series Planet Food & World Café Asia, and Adventure Golf. The company now have offices in Los Angeles, London, and Singapore. After years spent sending film crews and presenters to some of the most exotic and intrepid places in the world, he thought it was about time he joined them on the road.
Ian is a handicap 18 golfer who leads a nomadic-cum-jet-setting golfing life; he has no homeclub but enjoys playing the game internationally - particularly in Northern France and Links Golf in Scotland and Ireland. During the first season of filming for Adventure Golf, Ian has experienced some of the greatest golf courses in the world in Scotland, Dubai, Southern California, Japan, South Africa, and Florida. He was bowled over by the high-tech and futuristic golf experience in Japan, in particular the Gotemba Course overlooking Mount Fuji.
His dream trip would be to take a year out to travel the four corners of the world, Phileas Fogg inspired, to play the world's best golf courses and explore the most exotic regions at a leisurely pace - notably Hawaii, Bali, and the little explored courses of Latin America. He enjoys international travel for work and pleasure and regularly jets off to his favorite spots of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, skiing trips, and city breaks in Paris and New York.
