Local Chef. Local Hero.
The dinner table has always been a place to gather with friends and family, but it has taken on a new role recently, doubling as a workspace or a classroom. The dinner table also reminds us how local communities and the foodservice industry are adapting to help keep Canadians fed and businesses running. Canadian egg farmers have seen it first-hand, supporting local initiatives and donating tens of millions of fresh, local, high-quality eggs to food banks and other charities in their communities. This year, even as we rise to our own challenges, Egg Farmers of Canada wants to recognize those among us who go above and beyond for others. In a word: heroes.
Longtime Egg Farmers of Canada ambassador chef Matt Basile hails from one of the country’s largest culinary scenes, where his Fidel Gastro's brand has long been the talk of Toronto. Basile took this opportunity to spotlight an inspirational member of the culinary community, chef Keith Hoare, a Thistletown Collegiate Institute (TCI) instructor who has raised over $300,000 to help less privileged students experience the international culinary world. We join chef Matt and chef Keith in their respective workplaces; stainless steel cooktops and fridges are the backdrops for a conversation on what it means to feed our country.
Chef Matt: We met about ten years ago now and I don’t know about you, but those were formative years for me.
Chef Keith: Yeah, at the Toronto Underground Market in 2011, where they showcased new culinary talent and start-ups. It was TCI’s first time with a booth, a bunch of high school students and hundreds of customers. It really proved what we could do entrepreneurially for the kids and the whole culinary community.
With recent disruptions in the food supply chain you’ve still found opportunities to help.
TCI does a holiday shelter dinner every year, collecting excess food from restaurants and that network has grown, enabling us to start a monthly dinner. So, this year when many restaurants were forced to close, we worked with our network to make sure that food made it to shelters and food banks. But often it was commercial quantities like 50 L of mayonnaise or 100 lbs of marzipan; so a friend and I with our wives ended up making over thirty thousand ready-to-eat meals. And we’re still cookin’!
Why is it so important that the whole food system stays strong right now?
Food is culture. Think of what makes a great city or town or community—it’s usually the food and entertainment industry. It makes you want to visit, stay and live there. From farmers, restaurants, and hospitality workers, we’re talking about the heart and soul of communities across the country.
It really shows the strength of a community, when people find ways to give even when they’re in need. Why would you say it’s so important to support local these days?
We need to make sure that we support the people we live with, the people in our communities. Canadians need to put in that little bit of extra effort to buy from the independent business person, the small food producer, and local farmer.
Absolutely, as an independent, I’m the marketing, sales, stock, and delivery department. You’re someone I look up to, but who’s inspiring you right now?
My students inspire me. Generally, I teach commercial food production, but this year we shifted focus to feeding a family on a small budget and limiting food waste. Now we cook multiple meals, some for at school and some to bring home. It’s all about adapting for the community.
The way I look at it, we’re all part of the hospitality industry, and just because the industry is having a hard time, it doesn’t mean the hospitality part goes away.
We all have the same goal: to feed people, and put smiles on faces. From farmers down the supply chain to the purveyors we just want to make people happy. And we won’t stop trying to help people, it’s just how we’re built.
Chef Keith and chef Matt make the culinary and egg farming industries proud. Let’s continue celebrating them and the many across the country supporting their local communities. Find more inspirational stories on the Egg Farmers of Canada Instagram page @eggsoeufs or by following #LocalChefLocalHero.
