Meet Our Experts

Thrifty Foods Cooking and Lifestyle Centre Coordinator Eva Cherneff

Eva was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. While growing up her family was passionate about good food. As a result, her own culinary passion became hard to ignore. In 2004, Eva completed the Culinary Arts Program at Vancouver Community College. From there she went on to work at restaurants throughout Vancouver, Salt Spring Island and Victoria. Eva brings knowledge in fusion cooking, organic foods, catering and a love for local west coast flavors to her classes. She has worked for Thrifty Foods for the past 4 years and feels honoured to take on the role of Cooking and Lifestyle Centre Coordinator and Chef. In this position she has had the pleasure of working with some of the best chefs in Canada. Eva's wealth of experience brings originality and an appreciation of flavors to her role.

Chef Anthony Sedlak

Chef Anthony Sedlak found his passion for food at the age of 13 when he accepted a job as a busboy at the Lupins Café with Grouse Mountain Resorts Ltd. in exchange for a snowboard pass. Within a year he moved into the resort's main kitchen, becoming the youngest chef proficient in all stations at the restaurant. Anthony then transferred to the resort's high-end dining room, The Observatory, where he was promoted to Chef de Partie.

While establishing his career at Grouse Mountain, Anthony also pursued an education by completing the Culinary Arts Program at Carson Graham Secondary School in North Vancouver and then receiving his BC Chefs' Apprenticeship through Vancouver Community College. After finishing his studies, Anthony moved to London, England to join the kitchen of renowned restaurant La Trompette. When he returned home, Anthony was chosen to represent Canada at the 2006 Hans Bueschken World Junior Chef Challenge, where he won second place.

That same year, Anthony won the Food Network's Superstar Chef Challenge II, which resulted in the launch of his successful television show, The Main, in the fall of 2007. His new cookbook, The Main: Recipes, is a collection of the best recipes featured in the first four seasons of the stylish hit show.

For more information about Anthony, check out his new website. 

Chef Heidi Fink

Heidi Fink is a chef, food writer, and cooking class instructor, specializing in vegetarian and ethnic cuisines. Previously Executive Chef of the renowned restaurant ReBar Modern Food in Victoria, Heidi now shares her cooking expertise and enthusiasm through her cooking classes, food articles, and culinary tours. With these, Heidi hopes to inspire people in the kitchen and bring excitement to the everyday work of cooking and eating well. Committed to the pursuit of authentic Indian home cooking for more than 15 years, Heidi loves to cook, eat, and teach Indian cuisine preparation. Her Indian cooking classes reflect both her passion for authentic Indian flavours and her love of fresh, straightforward food. In each class, she will clarify the complex world of Indian spices and show you how to use the right cooking techniques to get the best flavour from Indian ingredients. For more information, visit her website www.chefheidifink.com.

Chef Karen Barnaby

When it comes to the culinary scene in Vancouver, Karen Barnaby has painted the town red. She has helped shape the evolving face of the Vancouver food scene with her extensive work in the city's kitchens and food media.

After starting her career in Ottawa and then moving to Toronto, Karen came to Vancouver in 1991. She has been executive chef at the acclaimed Fish House restaurant, since 1995.

Outside the heat of the kitchen, Karen is a regular food columnist for the Vancouver Sun and sits on the Board of Directors for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Karen was also the past president and former Scholarship Director for Les Dames d'Escoffier, an international organization dedicated to nurturing women of distinction in culinary professions.

Karen found a passion for writing in Toronto with the David Wood Food Book and The David Wood Dessert Book. Since then, she has authored nine cookbooks, including The Low-Carb Gourmet, three books in The Girls Who Dish!, Pacific Passions Cookbook, Screamingly Good Food, and The Passionate Cook.

Her last publishing accomplishment was editing Halibut: The Cookbook, which was released in the spring of 2006. Her most recent is Shellfish: The Cookbook, a compilation of favorite seafood recipes from Karen's peers in the culinary industry, making for an indispensable best-of collection of shellfish dishes.

Chef Dan Hayes

Dan Hayes has been a chef for over 10 years. Born in London, England and raised in the countryside from the age of 6, Dan has always been fascinated by the relationship between nature and animals and the food on our plates. In particular, Dan was attracted to the ocean and the plethora of life from a very early age. Spending his summers in the south of Spain with his family, Dan quickly became an avid fisherman, and somewhat of a seafood specialist.

After finishing school, Dan immediately set off the coast of England determined to get a position with renowned English seafood chef Rick Stein. Soon after, Dan began his professional culinary training working as Stein's Commis Chef. Dan quickly moved up the ranks and developed a reputation as a vibrant, creative and hardworking young chef. It is precisely this combination of characteristics that have helped Dan create the rich and diverse career he has had over the past 10 years.

After 3 years with Stein, Dan returned to London where he worked as the Sous Chef at one of London's oldest restaurants, Poissonnerie de l'Avenue. Here, Dan honed his French-style culinary techniques, and developed an interest in classical cuisine - an interesting juxtaposition to the modern English fare he had been cooking with Stein, and the rustic Mediterranean cuisine he had grown up with in Spain.

After Poissonnerie, Dan went on to open two restaurants, including Fish works in London and The Lodge in the Canary Isles. He has also run a successful catering and private chef business in London, and worked as the Food Marketing Manager at Whole Foods London, an 85,000 square foot luxury supermarket. While working at Whole Foods Dan designed, coordinated, and taught at a busy in-house cookery school.

Since moving to Victoria six months ago, Dan has been familiarizing himself with west coast cuisine - getting to know local chefs, working with local produce, flavours and of course fishing the beautiful waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Don Genova

It all started at a 5,000 watt radio station in Terrace, BC. No, seriously! Don's first job in radio was with a private radio station in Terrace in 1983. Since then he's been a journalist in print, radio, television and the internet, all over Canada. In 1997, he started to specialize in covering the food and travel scene in Canada and abroad. One of the people who inspired him is James Barber, Canada's Urban Peasant, who passed away late in 2007. The second cookbook he ever owned was one of James' and he used to take notes from his TV show. For the last part of James' life, Don and James were neighbours and Don feels honoured to have worked with him and to have shared a dinner table on many occasions.

Don's food and travel journalism has been seen and heard on:

• CBC Radio and Television
• The Food Network
• National Public Radio in the U.S.
• The Globe and Mail
• The National Post
• BC Business Magazine
• Northwest Palate
• enRoute Magazine and Western Living, among others.

Don also teaches courses in freelance travel writing at the University of British Columbia and a course in Food Culture at the University of Victoria. You can find out more about Don from his website.

Eric Akis

Eric Akis is a food writer for the Victoria Times Colonist and has inspired a large and loyal following on Vancouver Island, over the last 13 years. His bi-weekly food features, appear in many other Canadian newspapers, including the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Hamilton Spectator, Vancouver Province, and Vancouver Sun. As part of his tenure as a food writer, Eric makes numerous food-related appearances on radio, television and at culinary events.

Prior to becoming a journalist, in the 1980s, Eric trained to become a professional chef and pastry chef, and worked for 15 years in a variety of operations in Ontario and British Columbia, from fine hotels to restaurants, to catering operations. When not writing, Eric works as a food consultant, providing services such as food styling, recipe and product development.

In 2003, his experiences as a chef and food writer inspired him to create the best-selling Everyone Can Cook series of cookbooks, which to date include Everyone Can Cook, Everyone Can Cook Seafood, Everyone Can Cook Appetizers, and Everyone Can Cook Midweek Meals. Eric is currently working on the fifth book in the series, Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations.

Born into a military family in Chicoutimi, Quebec, and having lived in six provinces, Victoria is now officially home for Eric, where he lives with his wife, Cheryl Warwick, also a chef, and his teenage son Tyler.

Sylvia Main

Sylvia Main was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. She moved to Canada with her family when she was a teenager and went on to complete her Bachelor of Arts in languages and literature at the University of Victoria.

Sylvia worked for the elegant Fairmont Empress Hotel in Guest Services for a number of years. In 1999, Sylvia and her husband, Roscoe, opened Fairholme Manor in Victoria's Rockland Estates. Over the years, the two have transformed the mansion into a beautiful European inn.

Sylvia has been inspired by the lifestyle and countryside of Europe, having lived and traveled there extensively. She certainly brings these inspirations to Fairholme Manor, and has created an elegant and relaxing atmosphere for her guests.

Chef Erik Andersen

Erik is a Certified Chef de Cuisine and a native of beautiful Denmark. He completed his four-year cooking apprenticeship in his homeland and furthered his training with a one- year work term in Switzerland.

Erik moved to Victoria in 1974, and continued his culinary career as Chef at the Harbour Towers Hotel, Executive Chef at the Chateau Victoria and Lt. Governor's mansion. In 1981, at 30, he joined the Camosun College Culinary Arts department working as an instructor for 11 years, and serving as Chair for the next 16 years. He's extremely proud of his student's accomplishments in National and International competitions. To date, the Camosun College Culinary Arts department has won the distinction of four national and one world champion awards.

From 2003 to 2005, Erik chaired the National Apprentice and helped organize the "The Next Great Chef" television series. He was named Chef of the Year for Victoria in 1986 and 2000. Now that he's retired from Camosun College, he enjoys sharing his knowledge and years of experience with anyone who has a passion for cooking.

Chef Laura Moore

Chef Laura Moore created The Good For You Gourmet, a Victoria-based whole foods personal chef service that provides delicious, healthy and affordable, individualized alternatives to unhealthy take-out meals for busy families. From 1998 until 2002, Laura was the popular recipe creator for Fresh Piks Organics. The kick-start of her business came when several Fresh Piks customers asked Laura to prepare meals for them. For more information about The Good For You Gourmet, visit Laura's website www.gfyg.ca.

Chef Sonja Limberger

Sonja has 30 years experience in the vegetarian and special diet-cooking field. She has a passion for cooking and a great concern for helping others with their diets. Sonja's experience ranges from working at the Naam restaurant in Vancouver, Hollyhock farms on Cortes Island, and The Mint restaurant in Victoria. Sonja has been teaching at various community centres, as well as offering in home cooking classes for the past 2 years. Sonja has also invented numerous recipes, and is working on a cookbook.

Heather Slade

Heather Slade's passion for great food and creative cooking is evident in her "Heather's Kitchen" column and her small specialty baked goods business. She loves to share her passion for cooking with others, especially children. Her favourite assistant is her son, Andrew, age 2-1/2.

The kitchen is her favourite place to be and what many consider a chore, is a joy for her. Heather creates recipes that taste like "five-star restaurant" dishes, yet are a breeze to make. Her goal is to provide everyone - especially those who think they can't cook - with the tools and recipes they need to create incredible food at home. Heather believes that cooking should be fun and satisfying, never a chore.

Heather unlocks the secrets of simple elegance in cooking, and of having fun in the kitchen. She loves to learn about the culture of food, and her chaotic jumble of a herb garden reflects this sense of adventure. She adores the art of simple foods such as lemon - which she claims is the most versatile and necessary ingredient in any kitchen - but also explores the exotic, like her lavender cream cheese pound cake, an item that is quickly becoming her most requested baked goodie.

Heather lives in Sidney with her family. Her friends are threatening to move in too, just so she can cook for them everyday.

Jessalyn O'Donnell, Registered Dietitian, Nutritionist (RD), Thrifty Foods

As a valuable part of the Health and Wellness team, Jessalyn advocates delivering research-based education and resources that will cultivate awareness and empower individuals to make choices for optimum health, well-being and a balanced lifestyle. Jessalyn has a diverse background of experience working with individuals and groups in hospital and community settings. Registered with The College of Dietitians of B.C., and Dietitians of Canada, Jessalyn completed her studies in Dietitics and Kinesiology at McGill University.

Elyse Nuff

For the past five years, Elyse has been preparing and serving tasty and colourful Living Raw Foods. As a Live Raw Foods Chef and Whol-istic Health Practitioner, she teaches the public how to achieve optimal health through her workshops and lectures. Her focus is on healing the whole body, with a strong emphasis on implementing a Live Raw Foods diet. Elyse believes we are consuming far too many foods that are not conducive to a healthy and vital body. When the body cannot adapt anymore it begins to break down and disease takes over.

In Elyse's workshops and lectures about Live Raw Foods, her presentations will show you everything you need to know to create a wide variety of delicious, easy-to-prepare raw recipes. You will sample freshly made raw taste sensations, including: appetizers, fruit smoothies, soups, sauces, salads and salad dressings, simple entrées, patés, wraps and rolls, nut milks, non-dairy cheeses, crunchy crackers, dehydrated goodies, and amazing desserts. You will learn sprouting techniques and how to use equipment and supplies for a raw kitchen. She will show you how simple it is to whip up a meal in a very short time.

She will also share tips about how to achieve permanent weight loss, make great tasting healthy foods, save time in the kitchen, eat raw on-the-go, and get the nutrients your body needs.

Her book Alive 'n Raw... As Nature Intended introduces you to the Living Raw Foods management of your food intake and your health. It is full of recipes for every stage of your transition to a Live Food diet. She prepares her five-course dinners from recipes in this book.

To find out more about Elyse, visit her website at www.liverawkitchen.com.

Kallayanee Glover

Kallayanee Glover was born in the northeast of Thailand, in a small village without electricity or running water. Villagers live simply in this beautiful country and their cooking reflects a long tradition of recipes handed down from generation-to-generation. Kallayanee learned how to cook from her mother and still prepares many of the same dishes today. However, she regularly travels to Thailand, where she learns new recipes from some of the best chefs in the country. You'll benefit from her tips when you learn how to make little-known Thai dishes that your friends and family will love! Visit Kallayanee's website for more information at www.kallayaneeskitchen.com.

Maria Elena Cuervo-Lorens

Maria Elena Cuervo-Lorens was born and raised in Mexico City. She moved to Canada with her family in 1976. From 1979 through 1985, she was involved in the family book-publishing business, where she saw many cookbooks being published from other authors. It was then that the idea of organizing and editing her life-long collection of recipes - many passed along from her mother and grandmother - began to take shape.

Maria Elena was a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals until 1998, attending master classes and workshops given by celebrities like Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, among others. She has appeared in a number of TV talk and cooking shows and her visits to Toronto were quite successful, sharing her talents in a kitchen studio and signing books in a local bookstore.

In February of this year, Mexican Culinary Treasures, Maria Elena's second cookbook, was published by Hippocrene Books in New York as part of their series of Cuisines Around the World. This publication was recently reviewed by Eric Akis, the Food Editor of the Times Colonist, the Main newspaper, and by EAT Magazine in Victoria, B.C.

Lately, Maria Elena has been sharing her knowledge of Mexican Cuisine in Vancouver at The Dubrulle International Culinary Institute of Canada, the cook school at the Cookshop, and The Bay Market Square Cooking School.

Chef Meaghan O'Brien

Meaghan grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon. At the age of 12, she began working for a family friend at her bakery. It was at the bakery where Meaghan's love for food turned into a passion. At the age of 20, Meaghan decided there was no escaping the inevitable and set off for culinary school at The Culinary Institute of America in New York. Graduating at the top of her class, Meaghan worked her way up through the kitchen hierarchy in restaurants in New York, Boston and Ottawa before making her way back to the West Coast. Once in Victoria, Meaghan joined the Bear Mountain Resort where she opened Panache as the Restaurant Chef. In 2006, Meaghan left Panache to become a Private Chef. Currently she works as a Private Chef and is expressing her talent and love for pastries with Cake My Day, her budding business.

Chef Penny Spalding

Penny Spalding is a Certified Chef and Personal Coach whose varied life experiences have given her the empathy and insight to help others successfully reach their goals. Her work in the food industry has spanned 20yrs and has had many different forms. She began in a bakery as a cake decorator and decided to take her Chef training at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. She has since experienced many different aspects including Westin hotels, Working in England, Owning a Bakery/Café, Fine dining and extensive cake decorating and design. Penny has then added her Coach training with Coaching and Leadership International provides her with the tools to effectively guide you in identifying roadblocks, unconstructive patterns and negative beliefs. Combine the two gives you have a talented personal coach with a unique way of delivering her knowledge. She will encourage the use of your strengths and values in implementing the solutions you find while encouraging you to explore yourself through working with food. As a coach Penny is thoughtful, caring, and creative. Penny loves to create by combining flavors to create fabulous dishes. Working with Penny you be able to combine your personal ingredients to create a fabulous, fulfilling life. Learn, have fun and feed your body, mind, and Sprit!

Tara Black

Tara Black completed her culinary training through North Island College and Vancouver Community College, and has spent the last 16 years building her career as a pastry chef. She has worked in Victoria for the last 13 years. She trained as an Apprentice at Patisserie Daniel then moved on to help start Pure Vanilla Bakery in Cadboro Bay. Working also with La Collina and most recently Inn at Laurel Point. Over the last year Tara has been working along side her business partner to create Victoria's first gluten-free dedicated bakery, Origin Gluten-Free Bakery.

 

 

Leanne Halligey, RD

Leanne's avid interest in health and nutrition was launched at a young age as a result of competing in Track and Field at the National level. Recognizing the integral role nutrition plays in performance sparked her interest in becoming a Registered Dietitian. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia and started her career in Victoria 6 years ago. Leanne has experience working in a variety of areas including health promotion and prevention and management of chronic disease (s).

Leanne takes a fresh approach to translating the most current nutrition and health information, and then integrating that information into practical, lifelong behaviours. Her diverse nutrition and athletic background allows for customized programs to help attain all your health and wellness goals.

You can access Leanne's expertise and knowledge in the form of individual or group session(s).

Contact Leanne at 595-6130 or leanne.halligey@hotmail.com

Chef Mark Halyk

President and Executive Chef of Catered Art, Boutique Catering (www.cateredart.com), Chef Mark Halyk has called Vancouver, B.C. home for more than 15 years. Raised in Toronto, Chef Mark started at George Brown College Chef School when he was just 12 years old, only to return after high school to begin formal training. Training at the flagship Four Seasons Hotel for many years, he worked his way through the culinary ranks and studied under several great chefs, including Patrick Lin, Kerry Sear and Susan Weaver. Once in B.C., Chef Mark worked as an Executive Chef at several high end hotels, restaurants and country clubs.

With more than 25 years' experience in the industry, Chef Mark has found his niche by running his own catering company and management team, based in Kitsilano, which specializes in creating uniquely tailored private events.

Also a cooking instructor and consultant, Chef Mark enjoys seeing his students gain confidence and creativity in their cooking. In summer, you'll find him with his team of students at the Kitsilano Sunday farmer's markets, showcasing treats made with local farmers' bounty. A lover of improvisation and cooking with passion, Mark can create something both beautiful and delicious from anything that's left in the fridge. When he's not cooking for others, Mark volunteers with Sprouting Chefs' kids cooking programs and the Vancouver Food Bank, and spends time breaking bread with friends and family.

Executive Chef Wayne Sych

Joining The Cannery Team as Executive Chef in the spring of 2008, Wayne offers a tempting variety of regional and imported seafood, blending his vibrant West Coast style with the freshest local and Pacific Rim ingredients. After attending BCIT, VCC, and the Dubrulle Culinary Institute in the Culinary Arts programs, many years were spent honing his skills at local restaurants. Prior to The Cannery, from 1998 to 2008, Wayne was Chef at The Fish House in Stanley Park. "Spending time with my wife and two sons is my first passion and my other is passing on my knowledge to others". Wayne is currently finishing his PID program at VCC, Wayne spends several evenings a month teaching cooking classes throughout Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.

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