Another Culinary
Whirlwind Tour

By: Jo-Anne Lauzer
 Post Date: May 1, 2022

Spring so far has been a bit of a whirlwind for Christine, experiencing what she calls her version of, “Planes, trains and automobiles.” Case in point, her recent trip included four flights, two road trips, several Ubers, and lots of walking and zipping around—all done within a six-day period.

This particular culinary whirlwind tour began in Montreal where she had planned to visit all of her favourite haunts. The weather however, much to Christine’s surprise, decided to put a wrench into some of her plans. “The snow that happened in the middle of the night was a bit of shock,” says Christine, “and put a damper on where I could go the next day as it just wasn’t possible to get around easily.”

“Oh, the hot sesame bagel with the scallion cream cheese…it was heaven and one of my favourite food memories.”

The unexpected spring snowfall and resulting slush puddles, however, were no match for Christine and her deep desire for the perfect classic Montreal-style bagel from the iconic St. Viateur bagel shop. “I went to the original location, it is tiny with wood burning ovens in the back,” says Christine. “Oh, the hot sesame bagel with the scallion cream cheese…it was heaven.” Established over 60 years ago, St. Viateur is one of the best and longest running bagel shops in Montreal.

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St. Viateur Bagel Shop

Christine was also thrilled to have dinner at Stellina’s, a chic Italian restaurant. “It was a fantastic Italian menu and I wanted to have it all. I loved every bite of it, but my favourite was the carciofi,” says Christine, “which was a confit of artichokes that were fried. It was spectacular.”

Stellina Restaurant

The Bocuse d’Or competition is the culinary world’s equivalent to the Olympics.

By Wednesday, the snow was magically all gone just in time for Christine to visit with the Chefs Canada Bocuse d’Or Team who were training at the Institut de tourisme et d'hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ). This year’s candidate is Chef Samuel Sirois. He is from Quebec and will be representing Canada at the next Bocuse d’Or competition—the culinary world’s equivalent to the Olympics. As an Ambassad’Or, Christine is part of a prestigious group of professionals who support the team as mentors. (And are sworn to absolute secrecy, so we cannot tell you what they were working on.)

From there, Christine made her way to SIAL, an international food and beverage trade show also held in Montreal. With restrictions finally starting to lift in Canada, Christine was grateful to be able to attend this show in person and visit with so many familiar faces while being able to taste new and exciting products. Some of the standouts included the Canadian Birch Company from Manitoba. According to Christine, “They have a fantastic line of birch syrups and they also have a birch bacon jam and a new birch balsamic tomato jam that was incredible.”

Another company that caught Christine’s eye, and palate, was Real Treat from Alberta. “Their packaging is impressive,” says Christine, “and the flavours are like your grandmother has just made you a cookie. It is decadent and fantastic.” There was also a very interesting company, Schalk Muehle, which had a pumpkin seed protein powder that Christine is already thinking of all the different ways she could use it.

"It just makes my heart so happy to see that the next generation of culinary professionals are so passionate and so innovative, and so enthusiastic about the future of this industry."

Then before she knew it, time had come for her to get on a plane and fly to Toronto and get into a rental car and drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake to visit with students from the Canadian Food and Wine Institute at Niagara College. As part of her role as Chief Product Innovation Officer at Trendi, Christine had tasked first year students in the Innovation and Food Technology course with a food waste challenge. “They had to take powders from Trendi that were made from rescued fruits and vegetables,” she says, “and create a product to show me what was possible."

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"They were all so creative and innovative," says Christine. "I had ice creams, hot sauces, BBQ rubs, baby food and candy.” Students had to prepare the product, a pitch, and have all the nutritional data—just as if they were launching a new product to market. Christine will be doing similar challenges with different culinary schools all across North America. “It just makes my heart so happy to see that the next generation of culinary professionals are so passionate and so innovative, and so enthusiastic about the future of this industry.”

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Canadian Food & Wine Institute

Back in Toronto, Christine managed to sneak a peek at Eataly’s first ever Wine and Cheese Festa being set up throughout their three-storey marketplace. “If I had another minute,” says Christine “I would have stayed but it was planes, trains and automobiles and I had another plane to catch.”

Christine will be back in Toronto again in May, as she will be moderating a few panels at the next Restaurant’s Canada (RC) Show. Afterwards she will be leading her first Taste Canada Board meeting as National Chair.

As well as being busy on the road, spring is also exciting time for Christine as this is when publishers launch many new and exciting cookbooks. She places her orders long before they are in print, so when they finally arrive she is beyond giddy. “I will spend time going through each book, sometimes only cooking from each book for the next few days,” says Christine. With each new cookbook, she refuses to damage the pages by turning down the corners, but still wants to be able to go back and cook from each one. “I mark recipes with stickies as a reference point and then place stars on the sticky for recipes I have tried. One of my superpowers is that I can remember what recipes I have tried and what book or magazine it was in.”

Christine also loves subscribing to culinary magazines. This spring she was thrilled to receive the first issue for Serviette Magazine, which appealed to all of her senses—even touch. According to Christine, “The magazine is stunning and gorgeous and each page felt like velvet. There were also no advertisements, just wonderful stories.” She was also excited that her latest issue of Cherry Bombe’s magazine featuring food entrepreneurs had just arrived in the mail.

Join us again next month we learn how Christine turns inspiration from new recipes into fabulous meals, as well as the latest trends spotted at the Restaurant Canada (RC) Show.

"I really hope you stop by each month to be part of my culinary journey."

Taste! Taste! Taste!