Category: Alberta Culinary Hero’s

  • Shonn Oborowsky | Creative Appeal

    “I LOVE WHEN CUSTOMERS FEEL AT HOME.  Sometimes they’ll walk in the back door of the kitchen. I like that. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job right when they’re that  comfortable,” says executive chef and owner of Characters Shonn Oborowsky. With a menu that announces “the only thing in the world not…


  • Alison LaFrance | Queen of Cakes

      TRAINING: In high school I used to decorate cakes, and the artistic bug bit me. I ended up going to university for a Bachelor of Commerce, but something about sitting behind a computer all day wasn’t for me and something was missing. I then went back to school in 2004 – SAIT’s baking and…


  • Chris Picek | From Inuvik To Calgary

    In 1998, Picek graduated with a red seal from SAIT’s culinary arts program, eagerly clamouring for the opportunity to flex his skills in the real world. “This is an industry that is very much about on the job training,” he concludes. The chef worked at the Rimrock and Wedgewood hotels in Canada before spending time…


  • CSL Interviews | Paul Hughes of Calgary Food Policy Council

    Chair of the Calgary Food Policy Council (CFPC) , Paul Hughes spoke to CSL about advocacy, the Calgary food system and why the CFPC got started. CSL: What is a Food Policy Council? Hughes: Food Policy Councils (FPCs) are comprised of individuals from all aspects of a local food system. They are often officially sanctioned…


  • Justin Leboe | Risk Taker

    Growing up in Vancouver, food was an important part of the Leboe household, whether picking chanterelles in winter on Vancouver Island, collecting beach oysters or crabbing with cousins. For ten years, the chef worked in some of the top kitchens in North America (The French Laundry, Daniel, Jean-Georges). Sensing that the best way to advance his…