Below deck aboard the Spirit of Bermuda is what might very well be the most cramped, stuffy kitchen in all of Bermuda. Just three feet by six feet, the close quarters offer a unique challenge to a chef-at-sea — one that Spirit’s Ben Bernardo has taken on with verve, and more than a pinch of healthy eating.

The Cordon Bleu certified 24-year old has found a unique mixture while in command of the ship’s galley — a cocktail of wanderlust, mentorship, and simplicity — that may at first seem a far cry from his days of impressing palates in the glamorous kitchens of Europe, and working alongside celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey.

While the job may not conjure up the most glamorous of visions — Mr Bernardo admits he wasn’t especially optimistic when he accepted the position — but cooking in this galley among the thousands of children Spirit takes onto its deck every year, he has found that he can change lives.

“Kids that say they like to cook, I definitely engage them,” he said. “That’s one of the responsibilities I’ve taken on I guess, I want to see good come out of these kids.

“And if I have someone who’s going to attach to what I’m doing, and I can engage with that kid, then that’s how I’ll try and get through to them.”

Mr Bernardo makes sure to prepare as healthy of a meal as possible for the crew — no soda or juice while on board, only water — teaching children the importance of healthy eating, something he says is especially important for Bermudians.

“Type two diabetes is a big thing in Bermuda, and it starts young,” Mr Bernardo said. “It’s preventable, and it comes down to healthy eating and your lifestyle, and that’s one thing on Spirit that I really try to get across to the kids. It’s an adjustment, but I definitely think we can promote healthy eating more here, especially for our youth.”

Mr Bernardo first started taking cooking seriously as a 12-year-old, often playing sous chef to his uncle Cliff and aunt Patricia, who would eventually introduce him to his first summer job in the Lemon Tree Cafe kitchen, where he worked alongside award-winning chef Jean-Claude Garzia for three years.

After that, he was employed by the local Italian restaurant group MEF, with Serge Botelli at Tucker’s Point, where he was introduced to the hard realities of cooking as a profession.

“The hardest adjustment for me was letting go of the social life, driving from Somerset to Tucker’s Point for 9am every day and not leaving until 11 or 12,” he said. “That sacrifice, pulling 90-hour work weeks, it was insane, and that for me was my biggest adjustment.”

By 16, the MEF group was sending him to work on the garde manger table at a small, but luxurious, five-star hotel in Austria. With only himself and two other chefs running the kitchen, it was here that Mr Bernardo said his future as a chef was sealed.

“The experience was the whole nine yards. Working in a small space but putting out good meals three times a day, you learn a lot, big time,” he said.

But besides a deeper knowledge of his profession, Austria stirred Mr Bernardo’s itinerant spirit, giving him “the travel bug” but at the same time instilling in him a sense that cooking really is something he could devote his life to. A second stint the following year in Austria, he said, “just sealed the deal”.

Back under the watchful eye of MEF, and Serge Botelli, in Bermuda, he returned Tucker’s Point before being accepted into Gordon Ramsey’s Tante Marie Culinary Academy in England. There he would earn a Cordon Bleu diploma in Advanced French Cookery: Theory, Wine Pairing, and History.

“I got lucky because that’s when Gordon Ramsey took over the school, so we actually got a lot of time with him. A lot of doors and opportunities opened through that,” he said.

“We were all sat in the hall where they do the cooking demonstrations, and he went around to all 20 of us — with all the media there, and everything, because he had just taken over the school — and asked us individually where we are from, why we came to the school, how we heard about it, and what makes us want to be a chef — really serious questions. I got kind of teary because I idolise this guy — not every part of him, but the simplicity of his cooking.

“For me it’s the best part of eating. Keeping everything fresh and using three to seven core ingredients, but never overcrowding the plate ... I love the simplicity, but I also like it to taste good.”