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100km Foods Brand Ambassadors, Chefs Jason & Nicole Sawatsky of the Yellow Pear Kitchen discuss their culinary journey & passion for local food.

100km Foods Brand Ambassador, Chef Taylor McMeekin from The Chase shares his passion for local food, his roots & seasonal menu planning tips for chefs.

100km Foods Brand Ambassadors, Chef Lora Kirk of Ruby Watchco shares culinary wisdom & expertise for sourcing local food and honouring each ingredient.

100km Foods Brand Ambassador, Chef Matt Simpson, is the Executive Chef at Toronto's Constantine Restaurant and a fierce advocate for local food. 

Chef Matt would be the first to tell you that he became a chef somewhat by accident. As a young teen, Matt got his first job working at a Kelsey’s in the dish pit and doing prep. He kept with it until he graduated from high school.

When he graduated, culinary school wasn't even on his radar. In fact, he made some forays into different areas. At first, he studied to be an electrician, and then he explored business.

While exploring these different career paths, he wasn't feeling fulfilled. That's when he realized that he’d been working in kitchens for years and had always enjoyed it. He found himself wondering if a career in culinary is the path he should pursue.

Matt’s father encouraged him to complete a post-secondary education, so he enrolled in culinary school at George Brown College Centre for Hopitality & Culinary Arts. After completing the program, he moved from Whitby to Toronto to work in restaurants, and hasn’t looked back. 

Now, working in the restaurant business isn’t for the faint of heart. As Matt puts it, ‘It’s a really daunting business, it can be really long days and it can be really easy to get kind of down in the dumps.’

Why Local Food & 100km Foods?

So, what keeps him passionate in such a demanding job? He says that at the end of the day, it’s all about the people. This is two-fold. On one hand, it’s gratifying to look out on the dining room and see your guests enjoying their meals. On the other, you also get to meet the people that are growing your food.

Their passion, Matt feels, invigorates and renews his passion for food. Matt is also one of the biggest fans of the 100km Foods Meet and Greet we host annually for Chefs and Farmers. He appreciates the opportunity to deepen personal connections with the local food producers we partner with. We see him there every year without fail! 

Matt Simpson's relationship with 100km Foods is very special one. He's been a long time supporter and, as he says, ‘You guys have a special place in my heart.’

Matt isn't one of those chefs who grew up with a strong food history. He doesn’t have a lot of nostalgia or familial food memories that guide many others into a career int he culinary arts. 

Instead, he has come to be a local food champion through years of learning in kitchens and building relationships with farmers. He feels 100km Foods has been a huge component in bridging that gap.

Tips for Seasonal Menu Planning?

We turned then to the subject of sourcing local food and how to build a seasonal menu, Matt always considers the following: "if I were travelling, what would I look for when I'm eating out?

The answer, he says, is a dish that gives him a sense of place, even if it’s a specific style of cuisine from another part of the world.

At Constantine, Matt has a unique opportunity to do just that. It is a hotel that has a Mediterranean menu, but he infuses the cuisine with Ontario ingredients to showcase the terroir of Southern Ontario. It’s exciting and creates endless possibilities to be creative. 

When planning seasonally, Matt says, "if you are attuned to the seasons in Ontario and plan accordingly, prices will be competitive.

Matt uses the example of finding strawberries in the winter that aren’t super expensive. He says, "we need to start asking the hard questions. Why isn’t it expensive? Shouldn't something grown and then flown halfway across the continent be more expensive? Shouldn’t it be more expensive?"

That being said, he’s happy that today’s diner is more educated. They are curious about how we source and grow our food, and they are asking questions. Matt is always more than happy to tell his diners the story of the local food producers and farmers who grew what’s on their plate.

Tips for Sourcing More Local Food?

When it comes to sourcing local foods, Matt says, "it's not just about the idealistic picture of a farmer painstakingly harvesting to order. Sometimes that doesn’t always translate to high-quality ingredients chefs look for."

It’s about knowing both the story and the trace-ability that 100km Foods provides, as well as the guarantee that the products are excellent.

He has other great advice for chefs as well. He says, "if you’re paying a premium for vegetables, make them the star of the plate. If you are able, buy whole animals and serve off cuts to keep your pricing in line."

Trace-ability is Matt’s top priority when sourcing local foods. He makes sure that this translates to both the back of house, and front of house staff who can convey this to the guest.

He isn’t exaggerating when he says, "I know the name of the farmers who grew this food". It's this kind of connection that he see is seeing being appreciated more and more by guests. He says, "I want to live in a world where the little things matter."

Matt also says that 100km Foods makes planning seasonally and sourcing local food easy. Chef Matt Simpson's Favourite 100km Foods products?

We asked Matt for some of his favourite products that he sources through 100km Foods.

Without hesitation, he said, "New Farm Greens." He still remembers the first time he tried them, thinking, "oh it’s just a handful of lettuce." He was blown away by the quality and taste saying, "you don’t even need dressing, it’s SO GOOD."

We absolutely agree! Matt also loves K2 Milling saying, "anything Mark Hayhoe touches is gold to me." He loves the Algonquin grits, even making sure he has his own supply of K2 products in his kitchen at home!

He also loves Welsh Bros sweet corn, citing it as "amazing." Lastly, he rhapsodized about the Highland Blue from Back Forty Artisan Cheese, saying it was one of his favourites (ours too!).  

Favourite Meals to Cook With Local Food?

Naturally, we asked him what his favourite meals are to cook are, to which Matt answered, "anything over live fire." He says that even simple ingredients turn into something awesome over the grill. Asparagus with a little salt and pepper and steak are one of his go-to's.

He also loves making things in a terrine as well as different kinds of paté. He also really enjoys cooking for his family and friends, and hosts a lot of dinner parties in his home.  

Next, the hard question. When we asked Matt who he’d have dinner with, dead or alive, he couldn’t settle on one person. His first pick is Geddy Lee from Rush. Apparently Geddy is a big foodie and eats in Toronto restaurants, and Matt thinks it would be awesome. He’d also love to eat with Alton Brown, Paul McCartney, or George Harrison! 

If it wasn’t clear by now, Matt’s second great love is music. If he wasn’t working as a Chef, he definitely thinks he’d want to do something with music. Matt’s father is a musician and instilled Matt with a good ear and a deep appreciation for music. 

We loved sitting down with Chef Matt Simpson and listening to him talk to us about local food. His knowledge and commitment to the ethos of 100km Foods is one of the many reasons we’re SO lucky to have such a great supporter in him. We're so thrilled to have him as one of our 2019 100km Foods Brand Ambassadors! 

Welcome to the very first in our profile series on our 100km Foods Brand Ambassadors! We will be releasing each of these in turn over the coming weeks, so you have an opportunity to get to know our unique, talented, and passionate crew of Chef brand ambassadors.

Without further ado, let’s get to know Chef Ash Macneil from Farmhouse Tavern!

Chef Ash came to a pursue a culinary career after working for a decade in an office job and considering becoming an OPP officer. After realizing this career wasn’t for her, Ash’s friends and family encouraged her to explore her love of cooking in a more serious way. Ash took the plunge and started her culinary career by washing dishes five years ago this past Valentine’s Day!

As Ash puts it, getting thrown into the dish pit on such a busy night and showing up again for her next shift was the first clue that she had what it took to thrive in the fast-paced environment of a professional kitchen. Within a few months, Ash was on the line and getting into her stride working with food. She realized quickly how much she loved working in such a physically demanding and creative job.

Becoming a Chef has of course had its own set of challenges, but overall Ash stays passionate because she pushes herself to exceed and learn every day. Since she took over as Chef at Farmhouse two years ago, she has particularly enjoyed developing a collaborative learning approach with the newer cooks she hires.

Chef Ash, and Farmhouse Tavern located in the Junction neighbourhood of Toronto, have been long time 100km Foods customers and one glance at their menu tells you how much they prioritize local ingredients in a genuine farm-to-table atmosphere.

Since Ash in some ways grew up as a Chef in Farmhouse, she is especially grateful to her previous Chef, Eoin. Eoin introduced her to the breadth of local products to source through 100km Foods and she was blown away by what she deems ‘fantastic’ quality ingredients. Eoin shared his knowledge with her to build a farm-to-table inspired menu, and the close relationship Ash has developed with us on her own terms is a huge reason why she is one of our very first ambassadors!

Planning A Seasonal, Local Menu

When it comes to sourcing and costing local ingredients, Ash loves how it challenges her to be creative and strategic. It’s winter in Ontario. What do you do if root vegetables is all that is in season? She encourages other Chefs: find new and different ways to use root veggies; figure out how to do squash eight ways.

She firmly believes that ingredients sourced in season are not only better for you, they taste better. Ash also has a close relationship with her 100km sales rep – in this case – Rachel! Ash says, (and of course, we agree) that Rachels excellent breadth of knowledge about what’s in season has proven to be a valuable resource for Ash when making decisions.

Ash also loves that, through 100km, she has been able to make connections with a larger network of farmers. As she says, “It’s created a kind of community for me that I can rely on for help, because I am still learning, and it’s really creating a network of support for me that I find really helpful!” Facilitating connections like these is at the core of 100km Foods is all about.

When we asked Ash about some of her favourite products she sources through 100km, the answer was very easy: CHEESE! Ash loves finding ways to work cheese into all kinds of dishes, which is something we can all get on board with.

Lately, Ash has also been loving radishes – right now her menu features 5-6 types of radish in a variety of ways. Another one of her newest favourites are the frozen berries from Barrie Hill and Boreal Berry Farms – she makes a killer bread pudding for brunch service – which allows her to capture the freshness of summer even in the colder months.

She’s also been one of the earliest converts to the King Cole Ducks whole duck with head and feet on. She says, “We tried using these ones and the meat is just unbelievable, it’s SO good. Here, we do a whole duck, so you get the legs and wings confit, and then to order we pull the breasts off and pan roast the breasts and deep fry the carcass, so you get the whole duck on the board with some seasonal veg. People are loving it, and we love when we can say its from King Cole...that’s actually probably one of my new favourite things!” We asked Ash what else she loves to cook, and she said although she doesn’t cook much at home, she does love making anything with eggs.

She’s also gotten really into pickling and making soups and sauces. She particularly loves pickling blueberries – and serves them with some of their cheese boards.

Dinner Guest?

When we asked her who she’d love to have dinner with, dead or alive, Ash decided she wanted to have dinner with someone who seems like they’d be adventurous – pick one of everything, share the meal, and have a good time. Ash settled on the Canadian actress Sandra Oh, which we think is an awesome answer!

We truly enjoyed having the chance to sit down with Chef Ash and talk to her about what it’s like being a newer chef in the Toronto food industry. We love that she is both humble, creative, and eager to learn. Her enthusiasm for connecting with our network of farms and showcasing what Ontario has to offer reminds us every day of how lucky we are to bridge the community of Chefs and Farmers in such a special way. 

We can’t wait to see what else Ash gets up to this year as one of our 100km ambassadors!