Out in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Chef Jesse Seward is holding things down for the culinary world. With his business A Traveling Man International Street Food, Chef Jesse offer services such as catering for weddings, retirement parties, charity events, and more. Meal prep shipping recently became available in selected states.

At the age of 16, Chef Jesse started taking the hospitality industry and culinary arts serious. He stated,  “I knew then I would aspire to be a chef. My grandmother and mother were “always” cooking, and I mean cooking delicious well prepared meals. I was always captivated by the bold, powerful aromas that lingered not only in just the kitchen but throughout the house.”

Chef Jesse crossd over from being a dishwasher to a line cook at a local steak house.

Prior to obtaining the dishwasher position, I had already considered myself a “cook” or “cook to be.” One of my favorite foods to cook was “steak,” I mean what boy/man doesn’t love steak right? One evening I was working my dishwasher shift and one of the line cooks did not show up for their shift. Prior to this, I had recently voiced my interest to the kitchen manager that I was very interested in learning how to cook and run the grill or work any open position they had available when an opportunity presented itself. This particular evening opportunity presented itself when the line cook that was scheduled to work the grill did not show up for his/her shift. That night we had an extra dishwasher, the kitchen manager then asked me was I interested in coming up to the line to learn how to grill. I felt like that guy that was sitting the bench waiting for his time, my eyes became bright, I smiled and replied absolutely! I was still 16 at the time, I was actually hired on my sixteenth birthday, I had been washing dishes for about four months before moving on to the line.

Like most culinary veterans, Chef Jesse eventually crossed into entrepreneurship.

“A Traveling Man” has several meanings and represents my life for the last 20 years. After cooking at the steakhouse for four years, at age 19, I decided to join the United States Navy where I served for seven years. During my time served, I lived in four different states, I also lived in Japan for six years, and had the opportunity to visit over 15 countries while stationed on a vessel for four years. For the majority of my cooking career I have been a restaurant chef rather it be corporate or independently owned. A year and half ago my wife and I relocated to Virginia Beach, Va from Jacksonville, Florida where we had previously resided for 6 years. My wife is currently an active duty service member with the United States Navy, which is why we relocated here to Virginia Beach, Va. We decided at this point in our life it was time for me to move forward with my dreams of starting my own food service business. Presently I offer private chef service, catering, custom meal prep and cooking classes. “A Traveling Man” also represents the fact that I offer my services not only to my local area and surrounding area, but I do, will and have traveled out of state to provide my service. The “International Street Food” represents my concept and vision for the type of food I specialize in. Some of my fondest and most memorable moments from my travels abroad was the street food, I was fascinated with the different techniques, variations and styles of food I was able to experience. Street food is so simple but yet so delicious, there’s no rules, who doesn’t like a bite of delicious on a stick, or a handheld or some type of “bowl?” My wife actually came up with the name of the company, for many years I have considered and called myself a “traveling man.” One of my original email addresses that I created way back in maybe 2004 and still use to this day begins with “Atravelingman.” As we were discussing possible names she throughout “A Traveling Man International Street Food” and I fell in love with it and we haven’t looked back.

Things are only up from here. Right now Chef Jesse is working on finishing up the build for a food trailer. Possibly to launch by mid summer 2019. Be sure to follow on Instagram and Facebook to stay tuned.