Roger Mooking

Under the stage name MC Mystic, Mooking spent the early 1990s as a member of the Edmonton-based hip hop band The Maximum Definitive, who received a Juno Award nomination in 1993 for their single "Jungle Man".[6] The band then moved to Toronto to continue their musical careers, but broke up due to creative differences before they could actually complete recording a full album, and Mooking went on to join the soul/R&B trio Bass Is Base.[7]

Bass Is Base consisted of Chin Injeti on bass, Ivana Santilli on keyboards, and MC Mystic (Roger Mooking) on percussion.[8] All three members contributed vocals, Injeti and Santilli as singers and Mystic as a rapper. In addition to the early single "Funk-mobile", which garnered the band a deal with A&M Records,[9] their debut album, First Impressions for the Bottom Jigglers, won a Juno Award in the Best R&B/Soul Recording category in 1995.[10] A year later, the second consequential album, Memories of the Soul Shack Survivors, gave the band its first Top 20 hit, “I Cry.”

Mooking has since released two solo albums, Soul Food in 2008 and Feedback in 2013.[11][12]

Mooking studied culinary arts at George Brown College, and still continues to operate as the chair of the professional advisory committee.[3] Mooking worked at Toronto's Royal York Hotel before co-owning and consulting on many food and beverage operations in Ontario.[13]

During his years as a restaurateur, Mooking was the executive chef and co-owner of Kultura Social Dining and Nyood Restaurant.[5]

Currently he is the executive chef at Twist by Roger Mooking, located in Terminal 1 at Toronto Pearson International Airport.[14]

Mooking is the host of several television shows, including Heat Seekers and Man Fire Food.[15] He is also the co-creator and host of Everyday Exotic,[15] a television show in which he features spices and other flavorful ingredients from around the globe and shows viewers how to use them in everyday cooking.[5] As the host of Man Fire Food on Cooking Channel, Mooking travels around the U.S. exploring different ways to cook with fire and smoke, from small campfires to creative custom-made grills and smokers. Man Fire Food is in its eighth season. Mooking served as a recurring judge on Food Network's Chopped Canada. He served as a judge on two episodes of season 10 Guy's Grocery Games.

Mooking has also been the subject of an hour-long biography titled Chefography for Cooking Channel.[16]

Mooking has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Iron Chef America, Top Chef Canada, The Marilyn Denis Show, Wendy Williams, Martha Stewart Radio, Unique Eats, and Steven and Chris. Mooking has also made regular appearances at various food and wine festivals, including New York Food and Wine Festival, South Beach Food and Wine Festival, Gourmet Escape[17] and The Essence Music Festival.

He is slated to appear in the 2021 edition of Canada Reads, advocating for Francesca Ekwuyasi's novel Butter Honey Pig Bread.[18]

Mooking’s cookbook, "Everyday Exotic: The Cookbook", was published 2011,[2] and won a Gourmand World Cookbook award. The book explains how to add unconventional ingredients to traditional dishes to experience the flavors developed by cultures from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas.[2]