With their pal Gordon Ramsay in tow, Italian chef Gino D‘Acampo and French maitre d’hotel Fred Sirieix have clocked up a fair few air miles on their TV trips to Europe, Africa and America.
But their new two-part travelogue, Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible, takes them to Austria and Croatia and sees the pair attempting to be as eco-friendly as possible, eating vegan food, using green transport and finding out about the impact of meat production and climate change.
Here's everything we know about Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible...
Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible release date
Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible has two episodes, the first will air on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday, December 16 with the second airing on Tuesday, December 17 also at 9pm.
Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible episode guide
Episode One
The friends start their journey in the Zillertal Alps in Western Austria, surrounded by beautiful but tragically melting glaciers. Despite Austrian beef being some of the most sustainable in the world, one of the biggest factors of climate change is the production of meat. In the shadow of the melting glacier they give vegetarian goulash a go and Gino declares himself a convert, vowing to start ‘meat-free Mondays’ across his restaurants.
After rowing through the Hinterlux glacier (over four kilometres wide and almost three times the size of Monaco) they try their hand at serving beer and dancing the Schuplatter, a traditional folk dance, at The Tiroler Abende in Innsbruk. Moving on to the Capital Vienna, their quest to find alternative food, goes via a 3D printer and ends with some innovative culinary options at a snail farm.
Episode Two
Heading to Croatia for the second episode, Gino and Fred are shocked by the ‘over-tourism’ in holiday hotspot and UNESCO World Heritage site, Dubrovnik. With packed streets, there are an estimated 36 tourists per one resident. Moving from the main old town to the Gruz harbor, they set off on a green safari, which sees Fred pop on the marigolds for a clean-up mission.
As they continue their journey as ‘conscientious travellers’ they head out of the city to Mali Ston, a bay with world renowned shellfish, water polo and lagoon-stored wine. Recovering from their water polo hopes being dashed by a group of expert locals, they head off to road test Croatia’s answer to sustainable travel – Agrotourism – as well as some donkey milk. Finally, Gino and Fred cross the Adriatic, landing on Gubavač for an off-grid adventure, but will the pair cope without their luxuries and each other’s company?
Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible interview
How would you describe Emission Impossible?
Fred: "It’s just me and Gino, we love traveling and we decided to go to Austria and Croatia. In doing so we wanted to explore the possibility of travelling as green as we could. We intended to travel as sustainably as we could, exploring the issue of sustainability and how global warming is affecting the planet and how it's going to affect the way we travel and the way we eat. Along the way we meet all sorts of people, whether they are involved in the climate change business or not. It's just us traveling around these two countries."
Why did you pick these two locations?
Fred: "We chose them because Austria is a mountainous country with the Alps, of course. And Croatia because obviously it's a very coastal country, so to look at the effect of climate change in the mountains as well as near the sea."
Gino: "I think the idea was for us to really understand, is it difficult to be environmentally friendly? Or is it something easy that we could all do? I think that was the main thing because whenever you hear about being environmentally friendly, everybody thinks, "Oh, no, I'm going to have to walk everywhere, bike everywhere.” We wanted to also see what kind of infrastructure we have in place at the moment to be as green as possible. That is the reason we went to Austria. Their infrastructure in the city, with electric bikes and electric cars, everything, it’s incredible, and something that we should learn. That’s the reason we went there - we went to Croatia and Austria to try to pick up tips so then we can bring them here in the UK and say, "Look guys, we tried this and it really works."
What did you think of Croatia and Austria?
Fred: "We really enjoyed it."
Gino: "I had never been to either of them. I think both of them are very charming places, very well organized. Austria is super, super organized. Everything is very nice. Croatia is more like an Italian holiday because you have the sun, you have the sea, and they're more relaxed. Although they blame the Italian people for all the rubbish washing up on their beaches."
Fred: "All the plastic that's being thrown in the sea - the currents are just taking this plastic onto the Croatian coast. In Croatia we met this woman who was doing this green safari, you go on the boat and basically, she takes you to an island and she shows you the disaster."
Have you made changes at home to be more environmentally friendly?
Gino: "Yes, I did. Well, first of all, let me start by saying that although many people would believe that I am not an environmentally friendly guy, I do have a house in Italy where we are 90% environmental. I produce my own electricity, I have my own water."
Fred: "Well, I drive an electric car at home, I made the switch four years ago. You need to produce the car, you need to charge it anyway, so I'm not sure really if it's doing something, but I think it's helping with the environment and the emissions. I don't buy, for example, fruit and vegetables from supermarkets that are in plastic. I go to my local shops to do all my shopping, and I recycle as much as I can. I do wonder where the recycling bins go though. Where do they go? Is this rubbish processed? If I separate them into the right bin but they go somewhere and it incinerates it, what's the future there?"
Were there any funny moments during filming?
Fred: "What was very funny, Gino did not sleep well one day and he was very upset, he was in a very bad mood. I know Gino, if he's in a bad mood, I just say, 'Gino is in a bad mood. Leave him alone. He's tired. He didn't sleep very well.' He was in a bad mood. Then we had to cross on a ferry to go to this island, and I went to the toilet just before the ferry was supposed to dock. So I was late, and then Gino was in the car, but people were beeping because the car couldn't move, I had the keys!"
Gino: "Oh, yeah. He went to the toilet and he left me there, no keys or anything. I’m on the roof going, 'It's not my fault.'"
Fred: "He was furious. He got on top of the car shouting, "Fred, Fred, Fred." After that, he felt better. He needed to just release his tension and the frustration inside him, and then he was better."
You got to play water polo with players in Croatia, what was that like, especially for you Gino as you were roped in?
Gino: "Even for Mr. Superman here, it was so hard. The waves were strong."
Fred: "These guys are professionals. Even the guy who's 70 years old, he's been playing all his life. That's what they do. It's a national sport. It's like you playing football with Ronaldo or Zidane. You can't win!
In Austria you look at alternative foods, like 3D-printed salmon, do you think that’s where we are headed if we don’t change our ways?
Fred: "To eat 3D-printed salmon, I did find it difficult to compute. Now, of course, we could use insects which in terms of carbon footprint is negligible compared to beef. To go there, you have to challenge your culture and where you come from and what you consider acceptable. If you go to Thailand, for example, there are markets where there's just insects and people eat them. They've been eating them for generations and generations. As the population is shooting up across the world and you need to feed everybody on the planet, then we're going to have to make choices here. I think what will force us is necessity. Necessity will force us. We will be in front of a wall and there will be nowhere to go, we will have to change then."
You both come from the hospitality world. What would you be like if you were working together in that environment?
Gino: "He would be outside and I would be inside? He's a pain in the ass in the restaurant!"
Fred: "We’re on a par! I think the restaurant would run well, I don't have any doubt about that."
Gino: "I think the bar would suffer with me and him in the restaurant. Someone will start to say, 'Who's drinking all this champagne? Who's drinking all this Prosecco and the beer?' No. I think it would be quite cool. You like to do certain things in a certain way, which is great. In restaurants, you have to have discipline."
Gino and Fred: Emission Impossible trailer
The trailer gives you a look at some of the beautiful locations that Gino and Fred visit, as well as their cheeky charm as they head off for their adventure together...
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