Paul J. Menta arrived in Key West over thirty years ago, after graduating from culinary school in Philadelphia and honing his cooking and philosophy skills traveling throughout Europe and Latin America. However, as Key West does to most who visit, the funky, quirky, and proudly weird island changed Paul. Even better, it allowed him to become the person he was meant to be.From the time of childhood vacations to the Jersey Shore to today as a professional career kiteboarder, Paul Menta has always found solace, peace, and freedom in the vastness of open ocean. The open expansiveness and seeing endless nature of the ocean provided respite from the claustrophobia Menta felt on the streets of inner-city Philadelphia. PA. Though he spent the first eighteen years of his life on the streets of Philly, his intensity and travels always led him back to the calming influence of the ocean, and Paul's friends and family were not at all surprised to see his inner-nature take to the water world that is Key West.Paul Menta's arrival in Key West - aka The Conch Republic - as a young chef with an passion for fresh foods and native flavors. From the beginning, he had an unwavering commitment to fresh-grown local fruits and vegetables and sustainable harvests such as fish, crabs, and lobsters. As chef, Menta's passion for island flavors quickly evolved his own signature style.Paul attributes time spent in Latin America, just prior to arriving in Key West, as being his most culinary transformative influence. Living with host families, he learned from community elders the importance of going directly to the source to best understand ingredients and build dishes , whether they be fishermen, farmers, or abuelitas with centuries-old family recipes. Local almost always meant best.This philosophy was put into motion upon Paul's arrival to Key West. Instead of only locating the experts, under their tutelage he often became one. Menta began commercial spearfishing to better understand the species local to his new home, that would become staples of his menus; he co-founded Three Hands Fish, a sustainable seafood market, to ensure that his restaurant, in addition to all other island restaurants and community members, always had access to fresh, local seafood; and he founded Key West Legal Rum, the first and only distillery in Key West, to both better understand the distillation process and to provide the island and its restaurants with locally-made rum.Along with owning and running various restaurants - Amigo's, Cuban Coffee Queen, The Stoned Crab - commercial fishing, and launching and managing Three Hands Fish and Key West Legal Rum, Paul found time to continue his passion for kiteboarding and expanding the boundaries and popularity of the sport, to become the owner of not one but two bona fide Guinness World Records, and to write a noted cookbook on Key West cuisine.Key West Native Fuel is the culmination of Paul Menta's experience cooking, fishing, sourcing, and rum distilling. Paul Menta's Key West Native Fuel is the essential guide to serving Key West's most famous, freshest, funkiest, and most flavorful dishes, drinks, cocktails, and desserts–wherever you live. Long live the Conch Republic!Read more about this authorRead less about this author