My Story

The Global Gourmet is owned and operated by Alfred Armstrong, a husband, father of two, professional teacher by day, and local private chef in his spare time.

Chef Alfred’s first foray into the culinary universe was as a teenager serving as cook for Boy Scouts Troop 10 in New London, Pennsylvania. Spaghetti with meat sauce with a spice mix from mom and French toast were his trademark dishes in those days. A move to Shenzhen, China in 2008 and subsequent travels to various regions of China and Thailand opened a new world of possibilities inspired by Peking Duck dinners in Beijing, red curry and shrimp cakes on the beaches of Phuket, and sushi prepared by a private chef at the JW Marriott in Shenzhen. Of course frequent travel to exotic locales and fine dining is limited on a teacher’s salary, so chef Alfred determined that the pursuit of experiencing authentic cuisine from a variety of cultures could best be attained through applying his love of life-long learning to becoming a self-taught home chef.

Chef Alfred relocated to Columbia, South Carolina in 2015 where he continued teaching and dedicating his spare time to the research, experimentation, and perfection of traditional Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Mediterranean, Cajun, and Southern cuisine. Unsure how to best get his creations to those who would most definitely enjoy them, Alfred enjoyed an opportunity to join PrivaChef, a local business offering four course meals to clients in their homes in 2021. This experience has been invaluable to learning what clients are looking for in an in-home dinner service and has inspired me to reach further by offering my talent and experience as a teacher in the form of cooking lessons.

I would be honored to talk to you more about the inspiration for, stories behind, and ingredients that go into my favorite dishes, which I hope to share with you at your next dinner party, celebration, or private cooking lesson. The world is your oyster. I hope you will allow the Global Gourmet to bring it to your home.