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INTERNATIONAL
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CHARTERChef
Benoit MercierM/Y Far NieNte
S
itting down with Chef Benoit Mercier
on a crisp November day, I could hardly
tell that the acclaimed chef was about
to embark on yet another frenetically
paced winter charter season in the
Caribbean. At his home in the picturesque coun-
tryside near Montreal in the province of Quebec,
Mercier is relaxed and jovial, a man clearly at peace.
In the time since we profiled him in Cellar &
Galley back in 2015, he’s been working on a new
side business during the off-seasonson: a Japanese
holistic practice called Reiki. It’s based on the idea
that a life-force energy flows through us and causes
us to be well. If one’s life-force energy is low, then
he is more likely to get sick or feel stress. If it’s high,
he is more capable of being happy and healthy. Reiki
is administered by passing energy into a client’s body
through hands, but without making physical contact.
“I’ve worked on people who had soreness, pain,
even paralysis,” Mercier says. “I once worked on a cli-
ent who was suffering from total paralysis in his arm.
After a 40-minute session, he was able to pick up a
glass. That was amazing. Another client was dealing
with lingering pain from a past broken ankle. His
soreness completely vanished after the treatment.”
The practice crosses over to another of
Mercier’s passions: the culinary arts.
“You can do so many things with food using
energy,” he says. “You can energize your water, your
coffee in the morning. The next time you have a cup
of coffee, hold it in your hand and say, ‘I want to be
happy and smile a lot today.’ You’ll see it works.”
Mercier started cooking for his family at an
early age, preparing breakfasts on the weekends.
His curiosity led him to culinary school at the
École Hôtelière des Laurentides in Quebec. Since
graduation, Mercier has traveled the world, visiting
more than 30 countries and working in restau-
rants alongside top chefs. Among them was the
Michelin-starred restaurateur Hiroyuki Hiramatsu
in Tokyo, where Mercier learned to apply the feng
shui discipline to the culinary arts.
“I learned how a kitchen could be run without a word spoken,”
Mercier says.
It’s a principle he still employs to this day as chef aboard the
130-foot (40-meter) Westport Far Niente. His zest for life and hisCellar & Galley
A CHEF AND A MASTER SOMMELIER SERVE UP THE
PERFECT PAIRINGS. By Andrew Parkinson