The opportunity feels kismet, said celebrity chef Vincent Fiore, who returns to Cody this week to begin work on his new television show, “Cookin’ With Cowboys.”
On his last visit to Wyoming, he found himself touring an exhibit on Italian-American cowboys at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
“I’m not a cowboy,” he said, noting he was born and raised in New York and now resides in Austin. “And I didn’t know this until I saw the map in the museum, but Bill Cody actually brought his show to the towns my parents were born in, in Naples and Sicily (during the Wild West show’s 1890 European tour). He brought the horses and the rodeo, everything, to Italy, so it was always there.”
Fiore’s new show, a cooking and travel series that will be distributed by Amazon and Roku, was inspired by that experience and his experiences in Wyoming, including a stint at the guest chef at the historic UXU Ranch on the North Fork.
With previous television credits that include “The Wiseguy Kitchen” and “Coast to Coast,” the new show will spotlight cowboy culture and cuisine, and “the flavors and spirit of America,” Fiore said.
The production team plans to shoot in and around the Cody area over the next week before moving on to Casper. Following their work in Wyoming, Fiore said, the team will go to Texas to shoot in Bandera and Fredricksburg.
Fiore first developed the idea for the show while working as the guest chef at UXU Ranch. During a visit to Yellowstone National Park, a fan recognized him and Fiore joked that, “I’m not cooking with wiseguys anymore, I’m cookin’ with cowboys.”
The phrase stuck, he said, and he went back to his cabin that night to start work on what would eventually become the show bible, a heavily detailed outline used by television productions to chart the thematic elements and structure of a series from start to finish.
“It’s a traveling cooking show, and it’s also about the communities and people we meet,” he explained. “We wanted it to be focused on local communities, local partners, local places.”
And despite producers suggesting he film in Texas, Fiore insisted on returning to Wyoming. After the Cody and Casper locations, the team hopes to return later this year to shoot in Jackson and Sheridan. Fiore explained there is something special about Wyoming, particularly Yellowstone, that prompted him to push for the series to shoot in the state.
“You know, the first time I was in the park, I said it, my brother said it, my friends said it. We all said and thought it independent of each other, but I said to them, ‘Look, I don’t care what you believe, only God could make a place like this,’” he recalled.
The production plans to visit 13 separate locations over the course of its four-day shoot, said director S.R. Gentry. The crew will embark on the trolley tour, take in the Cody Nite Rodeo and Wild West Spectacular, watch Gary Cooper train horses, and spotlight local sites including Creekside Lodge, Double Diamond X Ranch and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. There will be plenty of cooking, Fiore added, with the ranch, lodge and a third location on Jim Mountain serving as backdrops for the show’s culinary heart. Meanwhile, Legacy Meats of Cody, Fiore said, will supply much of the show’s protein, including bison, beef and elk.
“It’s great to do big brand deals,” he said, “but we also wanted to support local brands and spotlight them to our audience.”
“There’s some great surprises that we have planned,” agreed Gentry, who said the show “ticked all the boxes” for him as a director and outdoor enthusiast. “We’re so excited to be out there and we’re feeling the love already – we’ve had so much excitement and generosity from people in Cody, people who are bending over backward to make this happen for us. It’s been very special.”
Fiore said it’s exactly this sense of openness and generosity that originally drew him to the West.
However, Fiore said he originally did not want to host the show, but came around to it after some persuading by Gentry and other members of the team. “I’m a chef, I’m an entertainer, I’m a guy from New York City, but I’ve always loved this way of life. And when you watch the show, the other guys are the cowboys and that’s what we’re bringing to people in their homes.”
Further, Gentry said the show wouldn’t work without Fiore at its center.
“This was always Vinny’s idea,” he said. “Without him, the show didn’t feel as natural. He needed to be the one who told this story and when he agreed to step in, we were able to tailor the show around him as someone who is an outsider, but curious, and also embraces the culture and uniqueness of the West.”
Dining and Cooking