About Donald Zammit
Donald Zammit was a successful chef for 23 years until hanging up his toque in 2017. His passion for the culinary world started at an early age, and he worked as a chef at various establishments throughout his career.
As a chef, he enjoyed building flavor foundations, mastering sauteing techniques, exploring sauce-making, perfecting the harmony of sweet and savory, and using fresh ingredients. He believes that a dish’s flavor and texture depend heavily on the quality of ingredients you use. Many ingredients can be found at Farmers’ markets, where flavorful fruits, vegetables, and herbs are plentiful.
As his cooking evolved, he embraced using seasonal fruits and vegetables to get the freshest ingredients and enrich the dining experience.
A Passion for Travel, A Taste for Food throughout Europe
Zammit’s love of exploration and traveling to different parts of the world opened up many cuisines. Food is an integral part of one’s culture, so new ingredients and techniques constantly inspired him.
His passion has taken him throughout most of Western Europe, including the cities and countryside of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, and Malta. He loves immersing himself in each nation’s history, food, and traditions and enjoying their diversity and landscapes. You could say part of why he got into cooking was because he wanted to explore the world.
In England, he enjoyed the flavors of humble pie, which holds a special place in English cooking. The most popular humble pies are cooked with steak and kidney, steak and ale, and chicken and mushroom. A rich pastry holds chunks of meat and thick gravy. It’s served hot as part of a main meal or eaten on its own as a snack. Beef Wellington, a filet of beef brushed with mustard, wrapped in mushrooms, Parma ham, and puff pastry, was another treat Zammit enjoyed in England.
Of course, like most chefs, he enjoyed the culinary delights the French and Italians are known for. French food inspires chefs, and he was no exception when working on his creations in the kitchen. He took a page from the French and used their staple ingredients in his cooking, like garlic, onions, carrots, celery, fresh herbs, butter, cream, and wine, as well as high-quality meats, seafood, and produce.
Italian cuisine also influenced his cooking – from Tuscany’s rustic dishes to Sicily’s seafood fare. He found that Italian cuisine celebrates each region’s bounty and its people’s creativity.
Zammit’s Travels to the Islands
His visits to the beautiful Caribbean Islands—the British Virgin Islands, the American Virgin Islands, Martinique, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Curaçao, and Mexico—added to Donald Zammit’s culinary palate. His love of the outdoors and water made these idyllic places for Zammit to explore.
Some of his favorite cuisines from the Caribbean Islands include stew chicken, savory fried plantains, coconut-infused seafood, and hearty rice and peas, each reflecting the region’s vibrant and colorful culture. As with any other areas, his trips to Mexico introduced Donald to various dishes, including new takes on the taco that included suckling lamb in an avocado leaf adobo and some with braised pork on a smoked tortilla with coriander, red jalapeño and chickpea puree.
In fact, he feels that the chef profession is one where it’s beneficial to get out of your element and explore new things to keep the creative juices going. As a chef, he loved discovering new flavors, new ways of preparing dishes, and new uses for familiar ingredients from the islands he visited.
Hitting the Road Around the U.S.A.
He has also extensively explored our country, having traveled through most of the lower 48 states, where a variety of different cuisines have inspired him. Although he is no longer a professional chef, he loves spending time in the kitchen, bringing all the delicious flavors he was fortunate to taste to life for his friends and family.
The Outdoor Life Draws Donald Zammit
Zammit enjoys everything outdoor living offers, including hiking, sailing, biking, swimming, and hanging out at the beach. One of his favorite activities is fishing offshore.
He is also a sports enthusiast and adventurist. Zammit has his scuba diver’s certification, and he has been skydiving and heliskiing, enjoying the thrill of letting go.
Donald Zammit Retires Early, Gives Back to Community
Zammit retired seven years ago, choosing to give back to his community. He is a board member of the Edward H. Butler Foundation in Buffalo, New York. The private foundation funds various causes, such as education, special exhibit designation, renaissance campaign, Olmsted fund, nuclear camera, mesenchymal stem cell study, low vision clinic, and construction. It provides multiple grants annually to different organizations, including Elmwood Franklin School, Water Compass, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens Society, and others.
His Education
Zammit graduated from Brooks School, a private co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts, in 1995 and later attended the Rochester Institute of Technology, earning a Bachelor of Science in 2000.
Zammit’s Portraits: https://donaldzammit.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/donald-zammit-shares-his-culinary-knowledge-through-cooking-classes-and-demos-1.jpg
Portfolio
Donald Zammit
