B.C. chef, mentor named Canada's Chef of the Year

B.C. chef, mentor named Canada's Chef of the Year

Ronald St. Pierre highlights importance of using local ingredients to craft delicious dishes

A well-known and beloved chef and restaurateur on northern Vancouver Island, who was a pioneer of the local farm-to-table movement, has received one of the Canadian culinary world’s highest honours, in recognition of his leadership in the industry.

Ronald St. Pierre has been named Chef of the Year by the Canadian Culinary Federation.

While St. Pierre, the co-founder of Locals Restaurant, is no longer working in kitchens, he’s still active in the restaurant scene, mentoring young chefs and promoting the use of local ingredients.

St. Pierre arrived in the Comox Valley in 1990, and in 2008, he and his wife founded Locals. He was inducted into the B.C. Restaurant Hall of Fame in 2019, and in 2023, he handed the business off to a group of four new owners.

St. Pierre spoke with CBC’s Gregor Craigie about the honour, and the role his community has played in his career.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I understand you were caught off guard by this recognition. Did you not know you were being considered?

I knew I was nominated, but I mean, I was nominated with other very deserving person and so I didn't think that I would be chosen.

It means a lot. It's nice to be acknowledged for the work that you put in over time. But you know, I think also it was a bit of a surprise, I have to say.

You're no longer in the kitchen at Locals Restaurant. What does your involvement look like in the food community right now?

I'm still deeply involved with the North Vancouver Island Chef Association as well as our national body, which is the Canadian Culinary Federation as a board member. I'm a bylaw chair on the board.

I'm also involved with the Canadian Culinary senior team as a coach mentor. I'm mentoring young chefs. We just had two young chefs from Vancouver Island going to Toronto to compete in Skills Canada and we provide them with member mentorship through their preparation for the competition and so on. So working still, advising some friends and co-workers that are in the industry, trying to help them navigate the challenge of today's market.

How has the Comox Valley influenced your work as a chef?

It has influenced my work a lot.

I grew up in a rural community in Quebec where, you know, back in the 70s, we had to produce a lot of our own food and preserve food for the winter, that was before the globalization of food. When I came to the Comox Valley, I got really close to the farming community, the food source. It got me really excited because I had all the access to all those beautiful food products. But over a few years, I realized that the people that were producing the food did not at that time get a lot of support from the community as far as being able to have a sustainable business. So unfortunately, I saw many of them having to leave what they were doing and do something else.

So over the last 25 years, not only was my mandate to use as much as possible the food that was produced in my area, but also it's been really raising awareness to the community to also support them and want to use that food at home — not only when they come to my restaurant.

I've seen lots of successful stories over time. I think that now it's really changed in that people are way more aware of wanting to know where and how their food is grown or where it comes from.

How do you use those principles to mentor those younger chefs?

The number one thing when you're working with food, you have to respect your ingredients.

I always said to young chefs that I was the lazy type chef, in the sense that you take the best ingredient and you do the least to them to make a really great dish.

How are climate change and challenges with the global supply chain impacting the restaurant business right now?

Yeah, it has been very challenging. However, the way I look at it is that with the pricing increase on the global supply, it has made the local market more competitive.

In the old days, local ingredients used to be a lot more expensive than the global ingredients. Now with the price increase on everything, the local ingredients are a lot more almost at par with the global ones.

The other thing is that when you buy local ingredients, you are supporting a lot more sustainable greenhouse emission then having everything to travel thousands of kilometres.