Good Food, Wherever You Land: Traveling Chef Gabrielle Kennedy

For traveling chef Gabrielle Kennedy, every new destination brings a new set of ingredients, a different kitchen, and an opportunity to connect with people through food. On the road for most of the year, she's learned to embrace the unpredictability, drawing inspiration from local markets, unfamiliar ingredients, and the people she meets along the way.

Gabrielle brings her passion for nourishing, vegetable-forward cooking to First Descents, a nonprofit providing outdoor adventures for young adults impacted by cancer and other serious health conditions. As a chef with the organization since 2014, she's seen firsthand how sharing a meal can create community, comfort, and connection.

And her history with Pakt goes back even further than you might expect. Gabrielle co-founded the original Malcolm Fontier bag line with Malcolm (her husband), an early chapter in the story that eventually became Pakt.

We caught up with Gabrielle to talk about the art of improvising, what she packs for a cooking trip, and why sometimes the best meals aren't really about the food at all.

You've cooked in a lot of different places and environments. How has traveling changed the way you cook?

I always take a lot of inspiration from the places I have visited. I love to purchase a new spice I'm not familiar with and wander farmers markets looking for fresh, seasonal, local produce.

One of my favorite things to do when I go to a new country is visit the local supermarket. I love seeing all the new brands of things I haven't seen before. It's part of the fun!

From a professional standpoint, travel cheffing has changed the way I cook because I am so used to adapting to different kitchen environments. I never know what I am walking into. Will there be a grill? What kind of stove will there be? Will the oven be cranky? Are the kitchen tools actually as described?

That's why on professional jobs I always come prepared with my knife and kitchen kit. But when I travel for fun, I just wing it.

Has being a traveling chef made you more of a minimalist, or do chefs inevitably travel with a ridiculous amount of stuff?

In my personal life, I travel very minimally. I NEVER check a bag. I like the Cero Travel Backpack with a sling.

When I am traveling for work, I always travel with the larger Pakt 45L Travel Backpack because I need to check it due to my sharp knives, and because I have a ridiculous amount of stuff.

When working for First Descents, I have another wardrobe apart from my everyday life that I wear when on program. Think panther-printed onesies, silly hats, disco balls. You get the picture.

I also have to carry all of my chef equipment, such as knives, a microplane, citrus juicer, and sometimes even a sheet tray and huge metal mixing bowl.

What's the strangest thing you've ever packed in your bag for a job?

A portable disco ball, a leopard-print onesie, large knives, and latex gloves.

All these items serve a purpose: serving food and an impromptu dance/pajama party!!

In First Descents, everyone has a nickname, and mine is "Disco Panther." I travel with a disco ball that attaches to my phone for an instant dance party.

TSA must be like, "WTF is up with this passenger?"

When you arrive somewhere new, how do you start getting to know a place through food?

I go to the local farmers market. Or the local supermarket to get lost in the novelty of all the new items that are foreign to me.

I will buy a product I have never seen before and try it, whether it's a spice, herb, local vegetable, or rice I've never worked with.

I LOVE being out of my element in a food store or market in a foreign country. Sometimes I will just people-watch and see what the locals are buying to get an idea of the flavor profile of the place.

Watching what locals buy and where they shop usually gives you an idea of what's good.

Do limitations—an unfamiliar kitchen, a few ingredients, limited tools—ever make you more creative?

Absolutely! I have made some of the best meals in bare-bones kitchens.

Having to think outside the box and get creative makes you a better cook. You can always improvise. All you really need is a sharp knife, salt, and fresh local ingredients, and you can make a memorable and tasty meal.

I once stayed in a bare-bones Airbnb that had one burner, a microwave, and a coffee pot—and absolutely nothing else. Being a chef, I wasn't about to let that stop me from making a good meal, so I ended up cooking my spaghetti noodles in the coffee pot!

But my number one recommendation is that if your rental has a grill, utilize it. Go to the local farmers market, get seasonal veggies and quality protein, add salt, grill it all, and top with fresh herbs. Voilà!

What's one of the best meals you've ever eaten while traveling?

One of the best meals I've ever had while traveling was during a cooking class in Indonesia.

We started by going to the local market to source our ingredients. We got to experience the incredible variety of fresh, local produce and learn more about the ingredients that are such an important part of Indonesian cooking.

We then brought everything back and cooked this enormous spread of dishes, full of fresh vegetables, herbs, spices, and amazing flavors.

What made it so memorable was the whole experience—connecting with the local food culture, learning from the ingredients, and sitting down to share everything we had made.

It reminded me that some of the best meals aren't necessarily in fancy restaurants. They're the ones where you understand where your food comes from, participate in making it, and share it with other people.

How has working with First Descents changed your relationship with cooking?

First Descents has reminded me why I love cooking in the first place.

Of course, I love the creativity and the craft of being a chef, but what really makes it meaningful for me is being able to take care of people through food.

At camp, food becomes part of the whole experience. People have challenged themselves, built friendships, and shared things with one another that they might never have expected to share.

Then everyone comes together around a table, and suddenly you're not just feeding a group of people—you're helping create a sense of family.

It's taught me that I don't have to do something extraordinary with food to make an extraordinary impact. Sometimes it's simply making a really good meal, making sure everyone feels welcome, and creating a place where people can relax and enjoy being together.

That's a pretty special thing to be able to do.

Why do you think sharing a meal can be such a powerful way to connect with people?

A shared meal reminds us that even when illness changes so much about our lives, it doesn't take away our need for joy, friendship, laughter, and belonging.

Sometimes the most healing thing about a meal isn't what's on the plate—it's who's sitting around the table with you.