Jade Berg was cold.

It was his fourth night in the woods and the atmospheric river had just hit B.C. He was trying to sleep in a makeshift shelter that he described as 鈥渨orse than sleeping under a pasta strainer.鈥�

Everything was wet, his waterproof gloves had been wrung out too many times, his clothes hadn鈥檛 dried out since he fell in the ocean three days prior and the storm was just hitting its peak.

Still, he had to sleep, or at least try to. He dozed, sometimes for up to twenty minutes at a time, but would be woken up again when he rolled over and an icy shower of water that had accumulated on top of his waterproof hood poured into his jacket.

鈥淚鈥檝e never been that cold in my life,鈥� he said.

Berg had spent the last three days in the woods on the Sunshine Coast, but he wasn鈥檛 just camping. He was trying to make a five-star meal, and was doing it all on camera for Hulu鈥檚 new series Chefs Vs. Wild.

Video courtesy Hulu

Chefs Vs. Wild is a new show on Hulu which will be premiering in Canada in late October. The idea is that a fine dining chef is paired up with a survivalist somewhere in the woods on the west coast.

They have four days to gather and wild craft as many ingredients as they can while surviving on their own, then use those ingredients to create a five-star meal.

鈥淲hat they don鈥檛 show on the series is that we had no food with us, the clothes on our backs and a backpack full of sugar and vinegar to make infusions鈥� We鈥檙e not sleeping in sleeping bags. We鈥檙e sleeping on sword ferns in a shelter that we built, trying to stay out of the rain,鈥� Berg said. 鈥淲hen we came across the food 鈥� for example we found oysters on the beach one day 鈥� do we keep it? We have to do an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. Or do we eat it because we haven鈥檛 eaten anything in days.鈥�

In 2008, Berg arrived on the west coast with the dream of being a chef. He had $100 in his pocket, no place to stay, and no job, but immediately jumped in to Vancouver鈥檚 restaurant scene. After paying his dues there for a few years, and bouncing around the coast between Vancouver and Powell River, he eventually settled down in Campbell River and worked in fine dining as a chef. That was until he had a major back injury and was told he鈥檇 have to give up his dream job.

鈥淲ork Safe said 鈥榶eah, you鈥檙e never cooking again,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淭hat led to a lot of soul searching, what was I going to do? That鈥檚 what I tied my identity to. I started driving commercially鈥� and started getting more into the wild food side of things.鈥�

It was through his appreciation for wild food that an unexpected opportunity arose.

鈥淚 started fishing a lot more and really wanted to start getting out and foraging, hunting, and doing everything I could to have that connection to the land and the food I made. I started posting pictures of it on Instagram and somehow it became my marketing. I got a message one day from ITV Casting, saying they鈥檇 like to have me on this new show,鈥� he said.

A few months later, he was dropped off in the bush, and things didn鈥檛 quite go as expected.

鈥淚n the first two weeks that I was there (before filming) the foraging was amazing, but as soon as the wind and rain started hitting the mushrooms went from being in their prime to being rotten and non-existent,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e had to keep it fresh, if you found a bunch of mushrooms, what are you going to keep them in?鈥�

All that time, he was subsisting on about 100 calories per day, and had to be in a cooking competition at the end of it all.

鈥淚t was only four nights, but those four nights felt way longer that that. On night two, I thought 鈥榳hat did I get myself into?鈥� On day three, I hadn鈥檛 eaten anything that day, my partner had been pulled from the game (due to hypothermia) so I was doing all of the foraging myself,鈥� he said.

鈥淚 had some sort of like, I don鈥檛 know man, change of heart or epiphany kind of thing. The first time since entering that depression after the back surgery and ending my career that I felt that alive. I was like 鈥榟oly shit man, I can feel this.鈥� I wasn鈥檛 just numb,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was miserable, cold and hungry, and I don鈥檛 know if it was a combination of not eating for that many days or not sleeping. It sounds stupid and cliche, but holy shit, that was a big turning point for me. It helped me find my passion again.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 about embracing the suck,鈥� he said.

As for the cooking competition part of the show, we don鈥檛 want to give away the ending. However Berg did say he cook something unexpected with a sea urchin.

He hopes that this show gives his Wild Isle Cooking business more exposure, and helps more people realize the amount of food that is available right at their feet.

鈥淭o me it鈥檚 all about connection. You go to the grocery store and get a piece of meat, wrapped in plastic on a piece of Styrofoam鈥� . You don鈥檛 respect the ingredient and you don鈥檛 really understand鈥� that was a living, breathing, feeling animal,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e out there鈥� picking berries for hours and hours to get enough to make the jam you want for the season, you work hard for it, and develop a connection and respect.鈥�

Chefs Vs. Wild begins streaming on Disney+ on Oct. 26, with two episodes per week. Berg is featured on episode 3, which will be available Nov. 2.

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