What is This Year’s Theme?
Four words capture a universal language: The Joy of Food. 2026 marks an epic twenty-year anniversary of Terroir Symposium. The event pays “tribute to the flavours, traditions, and voices that have shaped our shared journey,” and this year’s theme, “The Joy of Food” is ripe with celebration.
“Whether breaking bread with neighbours or exploring how cuisines evolve through migration and shared influence, food reveals how deeply interconnected we are. These shared foodways create understanding, spark conversation, and bring people together through hospitality and culture.”
— Arlene Stein, FOUNDER TERROIR SYMPOSIUM
When Did Terroir Symposium Begin?
Arlene Stein founded Terroir Symposium twenty years ago in Toronto, using food as the ultimate lens for which to foster connection and re-imagine the future of food. “Terroir was created to bring our hospitality community together, strengthen relationships, share ideas, and create space for inspiration, collaboration, and meaningful conversation around food culture.”
“True joy results when we become aware of our connectedness to everything.”
— PAUL PEARSALL
What is Terroir?
The culinary-centric event caters to both everyday foodies and hospitality industry professionals and includes a symposium with speakers from Calgary, Canada and around the globe such as Lily Verney-Downey and Warren Barr (Pluvio restaurant + rooms, Vancouver Island) and Chef Alex Chen (Bocuse d’Or Team Canada lead, Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar and Wild Blue) as well as dining events and culinary focused workshops (craft pizza, how to master Pâte à Choux) throughout the city, and as far away as Edmonton.
2026 Terroir Speakers
This year’s lineup includes: Alex Chen, Amanda Cohen, Arlene Stein, Benedikt Gudgeirsson, Bettina Schormann, Blvck Svm, Chet Sharma, Daniele Uditi, Jason Bangerter, Jason Mcleod, JP Mcmahon, Jess Murphy, Linda O’Flynn, Kate Colley, Kiki Aranita, Lily Verney-Downey, Ned Bell, Peter Mckenna, Peter Pilarski, Shane Harper, Warren Barr.
When Is Terroir?
From May 27-31 2026; terroirsymposium.com
CSL Chats With Terroir Symposium Chefs
In Celebration of Terroir Symposium’s 2026 20th anniversary theme “The Joy of Food,” CSL asked 7 chefs about their Food Journey, Storytelling through food and What Brings Them Joy; read on below.
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Chef Chet Sharma | BIBI, London, UK
“By combining British produce with ingredients like kaji lemons from northeast India, the dish becomes a conversation between memory, migration and place — which is ultimately what my cooking is about.”
Chef Sharma’s Nimbu pani (photo credits: bibi london) ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
My food journey has been shaped as much by memory as by technique. The strongest influence came from my grandmothers and extended family in India, where food was always an act of generosity, patience and storytelling. Alongside that, my time working with amazing chefs like Andoni Aduriz, Mark Birchall, Brett Graham and Simon Rogan taught me how research, seasonality and innovation can coexist with emotion and identity.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
One dish at BiBi that really captures my philosophy is our Nimbu Pani. On paper, it resembles a ceviche — pristine raw fish (at the moment Hamachi), Strawberries from Simon over in Cambridge, and sharp Indian Kaji Lemons — but the flavour memory is unmistakably Indian. The dish is inspired by the nimbu pani you’ll find across India, particularly the balance of salt, sweetness and acidity that feels both restorative and vibrant in hot climates. By combining British produce with ingredients like kaji lemons from northeast India, the dish becomes a conversation between memory, migration and place — which is ultimately what my cooking is about.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Fresh rotis, white butter and achar — simple food eaten by hand, surrounded by family, still brings me the greatest sense of comfort and joy.
Chef Ari Miller | Post Haste, Philadelphia, USA
“The pretzel nicely stands in for a bagel and with the beet mustard speaks of my Philly roots as it does my Ukranian ones. Whitefish salad is pure joy...My Mom Mom raised me on caviar and always told me the black caviar is the good stuff.”
Chef MILLER’S pretzel (photo credits: KC TINARI) ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
The food and flavors of Jewish Deli have shaped my food journey occupying some of my earliest food memories of culinary pleasure combined with warm recollections of family.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
I currently have a dish on my menu at Post Haste, a soft pretzel and beet mustard with whitefish salad topped with caviar. The pretzel nicely stands in for a bagel and with the beet mustard speaks of my Philly roots as it does my Ukranian ones. Whitefish salad is pure joy. Mine is made with scraps from dry-aged cod smoked over corn husks and mixed with house-cultured cream and black pepper aioli. My Mom Mom raised me on caviar and always told me the black caviar is the good stuff. I use golden osetra because Mom Mom was right.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Bagel and Nova with whitefish salad and purple onion consistently brings me joy. Add on some trout roe and it’s ecstasy.
Chef Liana Robberecht | Calgary, Alberta, Canada
“My childhood best friend’s … family farm became my culinary foundation, surrounded by gardens, cattle, chickens, and preserved foods. It was there I discovered my lifelong obsession with edible florals.”
Chef Robberecht’s fancy persuasions ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
Growing up in Smithers shaped the way I cook and see food. Before social media and fast food culture, we cooked from what was local, seasonal, and available in Canada. My childhood best friend Sandra Hinchliffe’s family farm became my culinary foundation, surrounded by gardens, cattle, chickens, and preserved foods. It was there I discovered my lifelong obsession with edible florals. The first flower that inspired me was chamomile, grown for tea, and I remember wondering in grade eight, “What else could I use this for?” Today, that farm remains my place to recharge. It is my muse for inspiration and deeply shaped the philosophy behind the way I cook today.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
Throughout my 30-year-plus career, all of my dishes have started with a theme or story. One of my favourites was the 2024 “Fancy Persuasions,” vegan dinner created for a signature collaboration dinner at Terroir Symposium, inspired by the 1974 song “How Long,” by Ace. My dish, “Diamonds & Pearls,” featured handcrafted vegan cheese, tempura chestnut squash, citrus pearls, edible florals, and curried mango sauce. Every element reflected the elegance and extravagance behind that one lyric, “Fancy Persuasion.” Each bite layered richness, texture, and unexpected flavour, creating the guilty pleasure feeling of indulging in something irresistibly fancy.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Edible flowers bring me joy because they are far more than aesthetic. They bring aroma, flavour, texture, and intention to cuisine. I especially love adding roses, as they carry the highest vibration of all flowers, linked to wellness and emotional energy through food.
Chef Jeremy Ouellette | Bar Chouette, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
“The dish explored the feeling of reconnecting with a culture I grew up distant from; combining classical craftsmanship with more local & personal ingredients. It was less about fusion and more about finding a place where different parts of my identity could exist honestly on the same plate.”
Chef OUELLETTE Venison Tortellini in Brodo ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
My food is shaped by classical technique, seasonality, and nostalgia. Training in fine dining kitchens and studying pasta-making in Bologna gave me a strong technical foundation, but I’m equally inspired by humble, memory-driven food. I love exploring the contrast between polished execution and flavours that feel comforting, familiar, or deeply personal.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
For an Indigenous collaboration dinner, I created a tortellini in brodo that became one of the most personal dishes of my career. The technique and structure came from my time studying in Bologna, while the flavours and intention were tied to my Anishinaabe heritage. The dish explored the feeling of reconnecting with a culture I grew up distant from; combining classical craftsmanship with more local and personal ingredients. It was less about fusion and more about finding a place where different parts of my identity could exist honestly on the same plate.
The dish: Venison Tortellini in Brodo. Description: Pemmican inspired filling of Milk Poached Venison, Mangalitsa Lardo, Parmigiano Reggiano & Freeze Dried Saskatoon Berries. Wrapped in a dough made from a blend of local red fife wheat & Italian 00 flour. Served in a fortified chicken broth enhanced with juniper & wild herbs.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Good sashimi, cold beer and nowhere to be.
Chef Amanda Cohen | New York, USA
“It wasn’t until I moved to Hong Kong in the ‘90s and encountered that city’s huge number of vegetarian restaurants that came out of a rich tradition of temple cooking that I realized cooking vegetables could be fun, delicious, and about flavour instead of fashion.”
Chef COHEN’S Portobello Mousse ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
Most vegetarian food we encounter today comes out of a long health food tradition — food as medicine, food as self-care, food as something that’s good for you — and that’s why so much of it is so boring. It wasn’t until I moved to Hong Kong in the ‘90s and encountered that city’s huge number of vegetarian restaurants that came out of a rich tradition of temple cooking that I realized cooking vegetables could be fun, delicious, and about flavor instead of fashion.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
The original Dirt Candy was about making vegetables taste good, not about health or politics. It was also about 350 square feet, including the kitchen, the 9-table dining room, all my storage, and the bathroom. It was a tightrope act. When my air conditioning broke one summer I couldn’t get the HVAC repairman to show up. DC was dead. So I took my Portobello Mousse, submitted it to a PETA competition to make a foie gras substitute, and won $10,000. The day it was announced in the press, my HVAC repairman appeared and told me the repairs would cost exactly $10,000. I paid him, my customers came back, and we survived. Maybe that’s not a story about my grandmother teaching me how to make pasta, but it’s a story about what chefs actually do for a living. The answer: everything they can.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Pizza. Even bad pizza is good. Hong Kong Pizza Hut? I ate it 30 years ago and I still remember it today. Slapdash trattoria pizza in Venice? I’ll have more. Street slices in New York City? I remember my first one like I ate it five minutes ago.
Chef Jess Murphy | Kai, Galway, Ireland
“I love serving crab from one of the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway. The community there is seeped in Irish tradition and language.”
Chef MURPHY’S CRAB DISH (PHOTO CREDIT:Nathalie MC) ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
Living half my life in rural New Zealand and the other half on the West Coast of Ireland has pretty much shaped every culinary influence I’ve ever had. Cooking with what’s around me has encouraged me to approach each dish with care and creativity. It’s a real farm-to-table aspect of my cooking that I love.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
I love serving crab from one of the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway. The community there is seeped in Irish tradition and language. Our suppliers there are an amazing husband and wife duo, Niahm and Bertie. The crabs are sent from the islands and we pick them up from the docks. Within three hours they’re served fresh on your plate in the restaurant.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Irish farmhouse cheese every time.
Chef JP McMahon | Aniar Restaurant, Galway, Ireland
“Baking celeriac in hay gives it a deep, earthy sweetness while connecting it to the fields and agricultural traditions of Ireland. The hay brings both a historical and contemporary flavour to the dish, grounding it in the Irish landscape while reimagining what Irish cooking can be.”
Chef McMahon’s baked celeriac ^
What culinary tradition(s) have shaped your food journey?
A myriad of traditions have shaped my culinary journey, from traditional and contemporary Irish food to Italian, Spanish and Nordic influences. I began cooking at fifteen in an Italian restaurant owned by a chef from Naples, and that experience coloured my earliest understanding of flavour and the generous simplicity of good food. In my early twenties, I fell in love with Spanish food through travel, eventually opening a Spanish restaurant in my late twenties. Later, New Nordic cuisine helped shape my thinking around Irish food, especially in relation to wild ingredients, seasonality, fermentation, preservation and seaweed.
Which dish(es) that you have created best tell a story?
Oysters with seaweed and sea herbs: This dish tells the story of contemporary Irish cooking through the landscape of the Atlantic. It brings together oysters, one of our most ancient foods, with seaweed and coastal herbs gathered from the shore. For me, it speaks of the West of Ireland, of ocean, rock and memory. It is both old and new: rooted in a long history of eating from the sea but presented through a modern Irish lens.
Celeriac baked in hay: I love cooking vegetables because people do not always associate them strongly with Irish food. This dish places the vegetable at the centre of the plate. Baking celeriac in hay gives it a deep, earthy sweetness while connecting it to the fields and agricultural traditions of Ireland. The hay brings both a historical and contemporary flavour to the dish, grounding it in the Irish landscape while reimagining what Irish cooking can be.e the response goes. This is a serif font.
What food/dish always brings you joy?
Since childhood, I have always loved a good spaghetti Bolognese. My father cooked it for us as kids and cooking it now for my own children brings me great joy, as the familial culinary tradition keeps going.
All photos courtesy Restaurants, Chefs, Terroir Symposium.
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