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Each month we feature a Chef of Chef Works®. If you’re a fan of Chef Works gear and are interested in being featured, email marketing@chefworks.ca. Pictured above is our November Chef of Chef Works®, Raquel Fox, photographed in her Hartford Women Chef Coat.
Chef Works: Who was your greatest culinary influence?
Raquel Fox: Anyone who knows me would say how much I ‘sing the praises” of my dear grandmother, Mary Campbell. She was my greatest influencer for the love of my craft. In fact, I wrote my cookbook, “Dining in Paradise” (available at Indigo/Chapters) to pay homage to this phenomenal woman who was a humanitarian and known to feed the neighbourhood.
Chef Works: What’s the most rewarding part about your job?
RF: It’s simply making people happy, especially through these difficult and unprecedented times. I’m easily motivated by smiles and gratitude from students, customers or family alike. I enjoy introducing new and elusive Caribbean flavours for my customers and watching their heartfelt expressions. It’s similar to watching a child enjoy chocolate for the first time.
Chef Works: How would you describe your cooking style? Are you a technician? Or do you prefer to improvise?
RF: I’m not strictly one or the other. Cooking is an art form that is also aligned with techniques and rules for successful results. Improvising is how great recipes were developed in the past and still is, so I find a beautiful balance between the two.
Chef Works: What does it mean to be a chef in 2020 in the COVID era?
RF: To be a chef, I think you must be a strong-willed person. We are natural survivors. Many of us have persevered to be the best at culinary school or worked our way up a line to become a chef. During this era, we must use our creativity and reinvent the way we teach our students and connect with customers. I’ve partnered with Hyr Live, a go-to resource for connected in-home culinary experiences. My colleagues are world-class chefs and beverage instructors with live-streamed and on-demand virtual classes. It’s a movement that I’m so proud of.
Chef Works: You can only have breakfast, lunch, or dinner food for the rest of your life. Which do you choose and why?
RF: I’m cheating! I choose brunch! It’s my favourite time of the day, a delightful balance of sweet and savoury with wine to complement. It’s incomprehensible to think of anyone not enjoying the remainder of the day after an exceptional brunch.
Chef Works: If you could cook for one person – alive, dead, historical or fictional – who would it be and what would you make for them?
RF: It would be my grandmother. I would thank her for the gift of cooking that was bestowed upon me with an ambrosial celebratory meal of lobster three ways.
During the early adolescent years of my aunts and uncles, Atlantic Lobster, or crawfish, were considered to be peasant food by some Bahamians even though it was in abundance. My grandfather was a fisherman (and farmer) who kept live lobsters in a tank. My aunts made a fuss about eating lobster regularly, as it was embarrassing for them.
So, for the grief that she encountered, I would celebrate her with a bisque, vol-au-vent and a traditional Bahamian Minced Lobster dish. We’ll certainly have a good laugh as I share with her that lobster is served at some of the most world-renowned restaurants.
You can follow chef Raquel Fox on Facebook, Instagram, and at her website.
To be a featured Chef of Chef Works, email marketing@chefworks.ca
Meet other Chefs of Chef Works:
Year 2020
Year 2019
- Chef Erik Mauke
- Chef Graham Smith
- Chef Marina Mellino, The Spice Chica
- Chef Roberto Bertozzi
- Chef Carlo Curto
- Chef Laura Maxwell
- Chef Pam Fanjoy
- Chef Renée Bellefeuille
- Chef Ned Bell – Ocean Wise Special
Year 2018