The Delicious Libertine - Peter Shoemaker - is a personal chef, a culinary provocateur, and a gustatory evangelist (as well as a pretty nice guy, albeit one who’s pretty passionate about what ends up on a plate).

I don’t believe in food as fuel, in eating, as caloric conversion. Rather I believe in food, and in eating, as an experience that is essential to understanding who we are as individuals. This is not a spiritual thing, it is the most physical and sensual experience we can have with our clothes on (and even that is not strictly necessary).

I cook because I believe that food, and eating food, is about pleasure. It is the rush of heat spreading through your body as your toes curl; it is the shock of the new; the adrenaline of the unexpected; the close comfort of the familiar; it is what makes us relish who we are and how we live.

I enjoy cooking because good food transcends the petty and reminds us that there are things other than the 16-hour days we’re putting in, or the tensions of getting along with those we’re not terribly fond of, or even that we need to reconnect with others in a way that is impossible in a crowded and loud restaurant.

I want to explore new things, to push culinary experience beyond the same-old same-old and find new tastes, textures, or even interpretations. Does this mean things with tentacles, or roving eyes? No, not necessarily, but it does mean that I might discover baby artichokes braised in sambucca are the best things in the world, or rediscover what a simple dish like chicken parmesan can taste like prepared with the freshest ingredients and cooked with Japanese panko instead of Italian breadcrumbs.

I offer in-home cooking classes, tapas and wine pairings for small parties, or anything else that allows people to really connect with what they are eating, and with one another.

drop me a line: peter (at) deliciouslibertine (dot) (com)