Roger Mooking sees food and music as artistic expression

Celebrity chef Roger Mooking is adding another ingredient to his already chaotic life: a new hip hop album.

After rising to fame as a member of the Juno Award-winning 90s-era Canadian R&B group Bass is Base, Mooking made a name forhimself in the food world as executive chef of noted Toronto restaurants Kultura and Nyood. That led to a television career as host of cooking and food-related shows such asEveryday Exotic,Heat Seekers and Man Fire Food.

"I've never stopped making music," he told CBC News.

"Food and music for me, they're all the creative process. It's artistic expression. They start with a seed of an idea, development of an idea, refinement of that developed idea and then presenting it for the public to consume, whether orally or aurally. It's very similar type of procedure, but the minutia is obviously different. I'm accessing different skill sets."

In the attached video, Mooking talks with CBC's Zulekha Nathoo about food, music, family and his recipe for mixing them into the perfect dish. His new album, Feedback, debuts July9.