[music] Kira: Coming up next on this special FOOD episode of Islands Without Cars... Whoa!

Kira: We're taking a closer look at the unique cuisine specific to many of the islands we've visited.

So join us as we discover a 2-Michelin-Star gem... Whoo!

Kira: ...feast on a renowned chef's home cooking... Ivo: Black risotto!

Kira: ...gorge at a fabulous fish truck, and much, much more!

[opening theme music] Kira: Hi, I'm Kira Cook and it's my great pleasure to be your guide as we search for islands lost in time: places where cars are restricted, and whose inhabitants wouldn't have it any other way.

So come with me on a journey that you won't forget.

[theme music] [music] Kira: Our search for islands without cars has led us from the Adriatic Sea, to Galway Bay, from California's Pacific Coastline, to Europe's North Sea.

I have always been a foodie, and consider eating one of life's great joys.

And in every place we visited, food was the welcoming doorway into the cultures and lives we experienced.

Each unique dish was a lovingly prepared offering that combined innovation with tradition.

So, I'm delighted to introduce you to our special food episode.

I hope you'll join us on this island-hopping series of adventures revisiting some of the wonderful people we've met in order to delve a little deeper into some of the glorious food they've made for us.

[music] Kira: The first stop on our fabulous food tour is Italy's lush Garden Island of Salina, one of the seven Aeolian Islands located just off the coast of Sicily.

Here, the Caruso family of four, owns and runs the extraordinary Hotel Signum.

Clara Caruso manages the hotel with her son Luca.

While in the kitchen, daughter Martina along with her father Michele, take Aeolian Island cuisine to the next level.

CLARA: When she was 13, she wanted to be a chef.

I didn't believe her because she didn't know how to cook even one egg!

So, I said she wants to do this so she doesn't have to study.

So, I put her in the kitchen.

I say "Okay, fine, I think you are wrong because the kitchen is very hard work."

So she started very young.

Kira: The hard work paid off.

At 27, Martina received her first Michelin star.

And three years later, she was named Italy's female chef of the year.

Martina calls cooking "an act of freedom" and takes great pride in using the fresh, local ingredients that this garden isle has to offer... [speaking Italian] Kira: ...turning them into creative culinary delights.

[music] Kira: In an area defined and dominated by the Adriatic Sea, we expected the islands off Croatia's incredible coastline to offer freshly gathered seafood, hearty vegetables, and rich olives pressed into "liquid gold" and we got it.

Kira: Mmm.

Maron!

They don't say that here.

Guide: Ukusno.

Kira: Ukusno!

Guide: Delicious.

Kira: Delicious!

Kira: One of the wonders of travel is surprise.

And on the tiny car-free island of Krapanj, located almost half way up the Dalmation Coast, we were delightfully surprised by a private dinner invitation from a man we bumped into at our hotel... Ivo: Two big pictures.

Kira: There he is!

Kira: ...only to discover that he was a world-class diplomatic chef!

Ivo: We have a special we call Octopus Brodetto.

Kira: And is the octopus caught here?

Ivo: Yes.

Kira: Yes.

-Fresh.

-Did you catch it?

-No.

-No?

That's okay!

You don't have to do everything.

Just checking.

Kira: During communism in Yugoslavia, Ivo Svercic moved to the United States, opened several successful restaurants and spent l4 years in Washington D.C. at the Croatian Embassy as a diplomatic chef.

Ivo: Black risotto!

Kira: After receiving many awards and serving Presidents and celebrities, he returned to the place of his birth... and kept right on cooking.

Kira: Okay, so what is this?

Ivo: This is a penne with vodka, and this is octopus and shell pasta.

We have mussels and branzino.

Grilled.

And also salmon with branzini.

Kira: Dinner kept coming, and coming, and coming.

I feel humbled to be included among the ranks of Ivo's elite dinner guests.

And grateful for the unforgettable feast and warm Croatian hospitality.

Kira: Oh, come on!

It was so good!

[music] Kira: About 30 miles off of Ireland's rugged west coast lies the mystical and mythologized island of Inish Meain.

Teresa and Padraic Faherty own and run the lovely An Dun Bed and Breakfast, harvesting ingredients for their inventive meals from the sea, the bushes, and their own greenhouse.

Teresa: I need some lettuce.

A few different varieties of lettuce.

I'll just take...

I have to say, on this island, and small communities like this, it never really changed.

Kira: Right.

Teresa: You know, people always had local produce.

We would take advantage of anything wild.

Our neighbor has chickens.

We got a box of eggs in this morning.

And everybody makes their own bread.

Kira: For that night's dinner at An Dun, Theresa cooked up a menu that included smoked salmon and cream cheese pate, salmon cooked with a cous cous crust, beef casserole, fresh picked blackberry and apple crumble, and homemade brown-bread and hazelnut ice cream!

As the Italians might say... Kira: "Maron!"

[music] Kira: A short walk from An Dun, Marie-Therese and Ruairi Deblacham created the Inis Meain Restaurant & Suites to introduce visitors to the tranquility and unique tastes of this rugged island in the Atlantic.

We started out our day collecting small intertidal snails, known as periwinkles.

Ruari: So, you knock it off the rock like that-- Kira: Yeah.

Ruari: --push it out of the shell.

And just to prove to you that I'm not having a laugh, I'll eat some of it.

Kira: Thanks.

The whole thing.

Ruari: Yeah, pop it in.

KIRA: Mm, that's pretty good.

Ruari: It's not bad at all, is it?

Kira: No.

Slightly salty.

Irish sushi.

Ruari: Sometimes, if you're lucky, it'll be low tide in the morning, so you can come down here in the morning, and you can pick your periwinkles for the week.

A full container like this will do me for a week.

Kira: Okay.

Ruari: And if you're in control of all your ingredients, be it from collecting periwinkles or getting lobsters locally here, which is just literally caught a couple meters off the coast, you know, that's where the whole recipe begins.

Kira: Back in the kitchen, Ruari showed me how to take locally sourced ingredients and turn them into something delicious!

Ruari: We're going to start in Irish stereotypical fashion... Kira: Okay.

Potatoes.

Ruari: Potatoes.

We're very proud of our potatoes here as Padraic might have told you in his B&B when you were staying there.

And he grows his own potatoes.

I grow my own potatoes.

It's an Irish thing I suppose.

Like in Irish, you would always say to somebody, traditionally, in dinner, "Cad a bhí agat leo," which means, "What did you have with them?"

Because you obviously had potatoes.

[Kira laughs] We grow our own beetroot, which is a really dark, intense, maroon, aubergine kind of color, and it's really, really nice.

And we use that with our goat's cheese, so it's kind of an earthy flavor.

A nice cod, which I just got on Friday.

We have fresh scallops, which we got in on Friday as well.

So, get some oil.

Kira: Okay.

Ruari: Pan should be red-hot.

Pour out the excess oil, so you just have a film of oil on the pan.

Kira: All right.

Ruari: And then you just pop them in.

And we just get them brown on both sides, and we give them a quick flash for literally, not even a minute on each slide, quickly onto a flat and then we put them in the oven for another minute.

What we want to do now is we want to de-glaze the pan.

It just takes all the nice juices and flavors off the pan.

Kira: Okay.

Ruari: Then you throw in your butter, so you get this nice kind of brown butter.

And then you throw in your asparagus or your French beans or whatever you have.

Kira: God that smells good.

What?!

Ruari: and when that's heated through, and the only way to check if things are heated through is you pick it up...mmm... and you taste it.

It's important to leave little bit of crunch.

[Kira giggling] And then some hazelnut for contrast.

And then very simply we place our scallops on top.

It's just a really nice combination because the scallops are so soft and moist, it's nice to have a bit of crunchy combination to go just for contrast.

Kira: Lovely.

Ruari: Very good.

[dog barking] Kira: Before saying goodbye to Ruari our last Irish adventure was serving his pigs the leftovers from his restaurant, including a healthy Irish pour of Guinness.

But whether you're a pig... or a human... having a Guinness while you're in Ireland is an easy choice.

Padraic: Perfect pint.

Kira: All right.

Mmm.

Delicious!

Kira: We've also learned that many islands have their own specialty concoctions.

Just ask one of the locals to lead the way!

[music] Kira: So, we are at CJ's, which is home of the "Rocket Fuel."

Bartender: Yes, home of the Rocket Fuel.

Kira: A.K.A.

a Pina Colada on steroids?

Bartender: On steroids.

Little bit of heaven in a plastic cup.

Kira: Oh my gosh, how do we make this heaven?

Bartender: We are gonna start with Cocoa Lopez... Kira: Yup.

Bartender: ...and then one can, a whole can of pineapple.

[blending] That's your Rocket Fuel mix.

Kira: Perfect.

[dropping ice] Bartender: Fill the blender with ice, and then we go 151.

About a quarter of the blender, is 151.

Kira: What's a regular shot of rum?

Bartender: 90.

Kira: Okay, so it's like, almost double.

Bartender: Yeah.

Kira: Okay.

Bartender: And then we blend.

[blending] Kira: All right, so these are for me.

Bartender: Look at that perfect pour.

Kira: Oh, thank you!

Bartender: Wow.

You're a natural.

Kira: I did go to bartending school.

Bartender: Top it with a 4-count, with a shot of amaretto on top.

And then you just gotta garnish with a cherry.

Kira: All right.

How drunk am I gonna be?

Bartender: A lot.

But you're not driving anywhere, so you're good.

Kira: No, I'm not!

Cheers to that.

Bartender: Cheers.

Kira: Mmm.

Mmm.

That's really good.

[music] Kira: So, we're in the bar with my new best friend Sebilla and she's going to show me how to make the island special drink, Eiregrogg?

Sebilla: Eiergrogg.

Kira: Eiergrog.

Okay.

Sebilla: Take an egg into the glass, and a spoon of sugar.

A little bit hot water.

[whipping] Hansen rum.

Kira: Hansen rum?

Okay.

It's German rum?

Sebilla: 40 proof.

And then Arrak.

Kira: Helgolander.

Sebilla: Helgolander Arrak is a rum.

Kira: It's a type of rum?

Sebilla: Mmhmm.

Kira: Okay, and it's made on the island?

Sebilla: Mmhmm.

Kira: Wow!

That's it?

Sebilla: That's it.

Kira: Simple.

Sebilla: You can drink.

Kira: I will drink!

[laughing] Where's yours?

Sebilla: No.

Kira: No?

You don't drink?

At all?

Sebilla: Only for tourists.

[laughing] Kira: Prost!

[coughing] [music] Kira: So, how does whiskey attract different flavors?

Scot: It attracts different flavors depending upon the cask that it's finished in.

All our whiskey is a minimum of 10 years in bourbon casks.

Some in wine casks, port casks, white wine, red wine, and it just will reflect the textures, the colors, and the flavors.

So it's important to understand whiskey is not one single taste.

It's as sophisticated as you want it to be.

Now this is Oloroso Sherry, okay.

The whiskey has been maturing in there.

Kira: Where's my drink?

Scot: Right.

[Kira giggling] Put it into the barrel and just rock it up and down.

Now lift it out but put your finger over the end of it.

Okay.

You've got to turn it.

Take your finger off, and keep coming, keep coming, keep coming, keep coming, keep coming.

Keep coming.

Kira: Ahhh.

There you go.

There you go!

Scot: A lot of them are in bourbon casks, but that just happens to have been in the Oloroso cask.

Kira: Whew!

Scot: And it is cask shinty.

You might want to put a little bit of water in.

Just to... Kira: I would love a little bit of water.

Scot: Right.

Kira: That is...I'm warm.

[music] Kira: Our exploration of Dutch car-free culture began in Amsterdam... and went on to include the wonderful-- but very hard to pronounce-- island of Schiermonnikoog in the North Sea.

Kira: Schiermonnikoog.

OLD SAILOR MAN: What's that...?

[Kira laughing] Schiermonnikoog!

Yes.

[Kira laughing] DUTCH SWEETIE: Schiermonnikoog.

Can you pronounce it?

Kira: Can you help me pronounce it?

[laughs] Gea: Schiermonnikoog.

Kira: Schier-- Bert: Yeah.

Schiermonnikoog.

Kira: Schiermonnikoog.

Bert: No.

Schiermonnikoog.

[Kira laughs] Librarian: Schiermonnikoog.

Kira: Schiermonnikoog.

Librarian: Yeah.

It's very difficult.

Isn't it?

[Kira laughs] Kira: Schiermonnikoog.

Bert: Ahh, better.

Kira: Yeah, better, but still not it!

Bert: Better, not perfect, yes.

[laughing] Kira: All right.

It's never gonna happen.

Bert: No?

Kira: But it was the interior of the country where we found the storybook floating village of Geithoorn.

Made up of a series of tiny islands connected by bridges.

Kira: Oh, yeah!

Kira: It was here, in the De Lindenhoff Hotel, where we delighted in Chef Martin Kruithof's exciting creations, which earned him two well-deserved Michelin stars.

Kira: When did you begin this restaurant?

MK: I started restaurant in '93.

[Kira whistles] Kira: So, some 20-something years ago.

MK: Together with my wife.

Now we have a small luxury hotel.

Kira: So what is your cooking ethos?

What do you like to bring to your menus?

MK: The best products is the most important for a restaurant.

We have our own 2,000 square meter garden, vegetables, fruits.

We have our own chickens.

If you buy the best food, the best ingredients: fish, vegetables, pigeon, or meat, it's always the half-work, you know.

Kira: Right.

If you buy bad ingredients, then it's very difficult to make something good.

Kira: Sure, sure.

MK: You have to know your profession.

You have to know how to make harmony with the products.

How to cook, how long, which temperature, which technique.

Kira: So is this restaurant Dutch food, or is it international cuisine?

MK: It's international cuisine, with French style.

We have crispy ham.

Kira: And wrapped in a... this looks like a cannoli?

Some chopped scallions?

MK: It's like, onion.

Kira: Onion, yeah.

Shall I?

-Yeah.

Taste.

-Yeah, great.

MK: Crispy outside.

Spicy inside.

Kira: Oh, my god.

MK: Yeah?

Kira: That is a beautiful combination of flavors!

That is so good!

MK: And here we have wakame from Japan, sesame cream, and gravlax tartare.

Kira: Ooh, gravlax tartare.

MK: It's looking like a small ice cream cone.

Kira: Beautiful!

Delightful little summer treat!

MK: Yeah!

And here we have beignets from tomatoes, marinated tomatoes.

And then we make a caramel.

We put the hot caramel tomato in the ice water, and we marinate it to make ice cream... Kira: What?!

MK: And we put the tomato on the ice cream.

Kira: Ugh!

MK: And then you will see, but the most important, you will taste.

Kira: Of course!

Oh, I'll taste it!

MK: Okay.

Kira: Do you bite it in one bite?

Or are you supposed to take little...?

MK: Whatever you want.

One bite is good.

Kira: One bite is good.

MK: Hot.

Cold.

Spicy.

It's a lot of tastes.

Kira: Oh.

MK: Welcome in Holland!

Kira: Mmmm!

Mmm!

Mmm.

This is unbelievable!

MK: You love it?

Have a kiss from me!

[Kira laughs] Kira: I love it!

You should get a kiss from me!

MK: Ha!

Kira: Next time I'm in Giethoorn, I know where I'll be having dinner!

But food isn't just about what's for dinner... Baker: God morgon.

[Good morning in Swedish] Kira: God morgon!

[Good morning in Swedish] Kira: Sometimes there's nothing better than sweet locally-made treats!

Kira: So what's this?

Baker: It's a croissant with pudding and powdered sugar.

Kira: Whew!

Baker: Really nice.

Kira: These are a few of my favorite things!

Baker: You have to try it.

Kira: Okay!

Baker: You don't have to eat dinner or lunch anymore now, I think.

[laughing] Kira: No, I don't.

Mmm.

Whoa!

[music] Kira: So the Bussolà, the Burano cookie, it's very simple ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, with a little bit of lemon as well, so it's a really just nice mellow flavoring.

Kira: Grazie.

Oooh.

Mmm.

Va bene!

Shape is important.

The Bussolà cookie is a round shape, and that stands for the island of Burano, and the Esse cookie is the shape of the Grand Canal in Venice.

How do you make it so perfect?

[laughing] Baker: The other... Kira: Okay!

Not bad.

Another way.

[music] Kira: Ah, water, sugar, fruit.

That's it.

So this uses figs that were picked here.

Mmm.

Extraordinarily good.

So this is his favorite: rum raisin.

Why is it his favorite?

Because it's a very delicate way to use the alcohol in an ice cream, very particular to this particular store.

It's very French, this taste.

Mmm.

Wow, you can taste the alcohol.

[laughs] [music] Kira: In Italy, there's a story behind everything.

This is named after a woman in Sicily, who was just a normal woman named Agatha, who wanted to give her life to God.

But a very rich man fell in love with her and insisted that she marry him.

She refused.

As revenge, he chopped her breasts off.

So, now, in Sicily, there's this pastry which looks like small breasts.

And they're called the Breasts of St. Agatha, or cassata.

Mmm.

So, so delicious.

[music] Kira: So here we are at Murdick's Fudge on Main Street and we are at the first part of the fudge-making process.

What are we looking at here?

FUDGE MAN: Well, we're looking at a lot of fudge, to start, 32 pounds of fudge, and it all starts as a Michigander being born and raised here.

It starts-- we do our hand this way-- it starts in the thumb area.

That's where we get our sugar.

It's almost there, right Darnell?

Kira: Yeah, super thick!

FUDGE MAN: But he thought it was right there.

He stopped, and paused, but he thought well, move it one more time.

Kira: And how do you determine the perfect consistency?

Darnell: Oh, You can feel it.

After doing it for so long, you can feel the texture changes.

Kira: This is all mine.

Oh, yeah!

Mmm.

That's good fudge.

[music] Kira: Nobody does fish and seafood quite like Scandinavians.

That's something we learned after visiting a series of car-free islands just off the coast near the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

Bounty from the cold, clean waters that surround these islands are pretty hard to match.

Our first stop is Ardvissons Fisk fish truck, a fourth generation business located on the island of Marstrandson.

Kira: Hej!

Fisker: Hej!

Kira: Hur mor du?

[How are you?

In Swedish] Fisker: Hej, bra [Good in Swedish] Kira: You are Ardvissons.

Fisker: Ardvissons, yeah.

Kira: I've heard that you're the best fish and chips in town.

Fisker: Definitely.

Well, I mean, there's a few places around the island, but the best is right here.

We have perfect fryers, we salt them, we have delicious sauces, aioli and remoulade sauce, tartar sauce, and we have a little coat for it, which everyone likes the design of it.

It gets a little messy but that's what people like.

Kira: Yeah, me too.

Server: There you go.

Kira: Oh!

Thank you, tack tack.

[Thank you in Swedish] it's beautiful.

How many pieces of fish?

Fisker: Two.

Kira: Two.

And then, the rest are chips.

Server: Yeah.

Kira: With remoulade that you made this morning.

Great.

[giggles] Tack!

Mmm.

Oh, yeah.

It's so good!

Kira: Our next Swedish culinary adventure was at the Styrso Skaret guesthouse on the island of Styrso.

At this unique guesthouse, Ola and his wife Ylva, offer a carefully curated setting, and old world comfort.

Their chef, Erik, uses all locally and organically sourced ingredients for his exclusive creations.

Kira: Oooh.

Like a Maryland crabcake.

Erik: Yeah.

I don't know the English name for it, but it's Haddock in it, and salmon.

It's more like a fishburger.

Kira: Yeah, Swedish fishburger.

[music] Kira: Dinner is served in a formal, choreographed, and low-key manner that seems to describe the Swedish personality as much as define their culinary pride.

This is dinner theater with the procession of courses as all the entertainment needed.

[music] Our final Swedish island was Vrango, the southern-most island in the archipelago.

Vrango's economy, historically, was completely dependent on fishing.

I got first-hand experience with that legacy on a fishing expedition led by our captain, Andreas.

Andreas: Swedish tradition on Vrango, every fisherman needs to kiss an eel.

Kira: No!

Andreas: Yes!

Kira: Are you gonna do it?

[kissing] Kira: Ick!

[giggling] Andreas: Your turn!

Kira: No!

Andreas: Yeah!

Kira: Not the mouth!

Andreas: Whoo!

Kira: [kiss] Okay, okay, I did it.

[giggling] Kira: Back on dry land, I became an impromptu intern in Andreas' fish truck, slinging a few "fishburgers" of my own.

Kira: A fish-ternship!

They're very good today.

Customer: You made it?

Kira: I did, so they're extra delicious!

[customer giggles] [music] Kira: On our last night, there was a concert in the harbor restaurant, attended by basically the entire island.

The islanders all made us all feel so happy to be welcomed into this community.

And while someone told us that you cannot know Sweden unless you know it from the water... [music] ...I'd say that's true for each of the wonderful islands we've had the good fortune to visit.

Whether harpooning swordfish on California's Santa Catalina Island... ...or catching crabs and lobster on Helgoland in Germany... [screaming] ...it's easy to take our oceans for granted.

But it's not enough to enjoy our incredible natural resources, we also have to keep them clean.

And islands in particular remind us of our wondrous interconnectedness... to each other... and our world.

[ending music] Kira: For more information about our series visit our website at www.islandswithoutcars.com.

[music] [music]