Benjamin Christie was born and raised in Sydney, Australia and spent much of his childhood surrounded and inspired by the eclectic delights cooked by his mother. His first hands-on culinary experience came when, at just a few years old, he helped bake the bread in his mother’s kitchen. That was a long time ago, and since then Benjamin has established himself as one of the most innovative, and talented chefs in Australia.
Fresh from school and just seventeen years old, Benjamin earned a coveted apprenticeship at the award winning The Watermark Restaurant in Sydney. During his tenure there, Benjamin not only learnt the essential skills of fine dining cooking, but under chef Kenneth Leung was also taught the fundamentals of running a successful kitchen. After completing his apprenticeship, Benjamin was tapped as Executive Chef at Great Keppel Island Resort, The Parkroyal Perth, Angsana Spa Resort and the acclaimed, Banyan Tree Resort in Indonesia.
Transitioning from the heat and pressure of restaurant kitchens, Benjamin quickly became a television fixture in 2003 by co-hosting Dining Downunder with Vic Cherikoff. The duo also wrote and self published the Dining Downunder cookbook, a companion to the TV series which included recipes and experiences about their travels around Australia. Dining Downunder continues to air as a highly acclaimed independent program on the Australian Food TV Channel on Joost.
Since then Vic and Benjamin, now dubbed the Aussie Chefs™ have cooked modern Australian cuisine all over the world from Bangkok to Rhode Island to Prague, and are now the culinary ambassadors of Australia representing their homeland government at several high profile trade and tourism events, including Australia Week in Los Angeles and Moscow.
Benjamin’s fresh and contemporary personality is quite evident in the taste of his cuisine, which features indigenous Australian ingredients carefully paired with accessible ingredients from around the home. His recipes often appear in major international newspapers and leading food magazines throughout the world. Benjamin shares his recipes, blogs and videos about Australian food on his website, which is quantifiably one of the top-ten chef websites in the world.
When not travelling abroad, Benjamin is a culinary judge for Le Cordon Bleu at the Sydney Culinary Arts Institute or a freelance writer for Chef Magazine in the USA. Benjamin is currently writing a book called Kitchen Profitability - A chef’s guide to food costing and menu engineering is planned to be published late in 2008. Away from the kitchen; he enjoys flying light aircraft and taking lots of photos.
