Robert Oliver

personal information

Contact

 

Best reached by email on guava13@gmail.com,

NZ cell 64 21 256 7939

 

Biography

 Chef, Author:
“Me’a Kai: The Food and Flavours of the South Pacific”

Random House 2010

 

Robert Oliver was born in New Zealand and moved to Suva, Fiji with his family. His father set up a social work network for the YMCA’s of the South Pacific that had the Oliver family interacting constantly with Fijian village communities. The Oliver family then lived for many years in Samoa. During this time, Robert developed his passion for the flavors and foods of the South Pacific.

 

Over the past 25 years, Robert has worked as a Chef in Fiji, New York City, Miami, Sydney, Las Vegas, the US Virgin Islands, Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad. For China Grill Management (New York City) , Robert developed tropical concept restaurant rumjungle at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. rumjungle restaurant, one of the US’ largest restaurants, offers a blend of tropical cuisines — Caribbean, Pacific and Latin American. rumjungle proved to be an immensely popular property, and was named “Best New Restaurant” by the Las Vegas Review Journal. This was followed by SUVA on Miami Beach with actress/friend Marisa Tomei and China Grill CEO Jeffrey Chodorow: a South Seas themed restaurant named after Fiji’s capital. SUVA received similar media accolades.

 

Robert moved to the Caribbean to work with Almond Resorts, Barbados to open three resort properties. As a part of this effort, Robert developed supply relationships with groups of local farmers. This was Roberts “aha” experience. He saw the potential for rural prosperity through his work as a chef and his thoughts went back to his native South Pacific. Robert knew from his work in the Caribbean that one of the barriers to creating an increased demand for locally grown foods was that island cooks viewed their food as being inferior to imported products and cuisine.

 

To address this perception, Robert authored “Me’a Kai; The Food and Flavours of the South Pacific “ (Random House) with co-author and Pacific tourism academic Dr Tracy Berno. He travelled to Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands to track down the most skilled local cooks. Adapting their recipes for modern kitchens, the book showcases both modern and traditional South Pacific cooking, arranged country by country, with 90-plus recipes and all elements of food production including cooks, farmers and Pacific markets.
Roberts niche expertise as a Pacific cuisine expert, and his know-how and experience in brokering supply relationships between hotels and local growers has him now working in the South Pacific and the Caribbean continuing his efforts to support and energize local agriculture and food culture by linking them to the regions largest industry: tourism