Michael Hunter has leveraged his identity as The Hunter Chef into two outstanding cookbooks and a Michelin recognized restaurant, Antler. As Antler celebrates a decade of business with a redesigned space and evolved menu, we connected with Michael to learn more about The Hunter Chef.
Tell us about the dance between the passion for hunting, fishing, foraging for ingredients, and the art of preparing those ingredients. Did your interest in hunting come from being a chef? Or did you become interested in cuisine to best experience the food you hunted?
I was a chef first, but hunting, fishing, and foraging gave me a much deeper connection to ingredients and the seasons. Over time, they became inseparable for me because sourcing food myself made me want to understand how to honour it on the plate.
You and Antler have had your share of controversy. Looking back over the last decade, what have you learned from those experiences? How has that shaped your business philosophy today?
It taught me that if you stand for something, you have to be prepared to explain it clearly and stand by it calmly. It also reinforced that Antler has to be about more than provocation, it has to be about hospitality, integrity, and a genuine respect for Canadian ingredients and culture.
How do you feel about the restrictions in Ontario that require the game you serve to be farmed? Do you see a future in which you could serve what you have hunted in the wild.
I understand the regulations are there for traceability, public health and conservation, but I do think they limit an important conversation around truly local, wild food. I’d love to see a future where there’s a safe, well-regulated path for chefs to serve certain wild-harvested game, because it would create a more authentic connection between the land and the plate. Currently in North America people have the choice to buy wild fish and seafood, mushrooms and produce but not wild meat. Europe wild meat is widely available in restaurants. In Australia, Kangaroo is wildly available in grocery stores and restaurants. I think there is a way to regulate wild game safely as it’s being done in other countries.
Jody Shapiro has been your long-term collaborator and business partner. Tell us a little about the importance of this relationship and how you two collaborate.
Jody has been an important creative and business partner because we share a belief in telling honest Canadian food stories in a way that feels thoughtful and accessible. We collaborate well because we bring different strengths to the table and challenge each other to keep evolving the brand and the business.
What inspired you to create Antler Cedar Gin? Is the beverage space something you will continue to explore in the future?
Antler Cedar Gin came from wanting to capture the flavour and aroma of the Canadian landscape in a bottle, something that felt unmistakably tied to our identity. During Covid when we were closed I was geeking out experimenting with fermentation and distillation and wanted to create our own spirit. The beverage side is definitely exciting to me, and I see it as a natural extension of how we tell the Antler story. We have a few projects in the works for the end of 2026 and beyond but they are secretly aging at the moment.
How have your cookbooks The Hunter Chef, and Hunter Chef in the Wild complemented and contrasted what you do with Antler?
The books complement Antler by giving me a broader platform to share the philosophy behind the food, the fire, and the sourcing in a more personal way. They contrast the restaurant because they’re less about refinement and service, and more about storytelling, adventure, and cooking in the outdoors.
What is your favourite wood to cook with?
I love cooking with oak because it burns clean, steady, and gives food a beautiful, balanced smoke without overpowering it. For certain dishes I also like fruitwoods. At Antler we use Binchotan Charcoal for our Yakitori because It burns hot with a clean flavour and lasts a longtime compared to lump charcoa
What is the most surprising bite of food you’ve had in the last few years?
Some of the most surprising bites are often the simplest, something wild or foraged that completely resets your palate and reminds you how powerful freshness can be. A truly memorable one is often raw seafood or wild game cooked over fire in the right moment, where the setting becomes part of the flavour. I’m very much looking forward to the first wild leek I pick this spring.
