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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 honors in recognition of his leadership in the industry.
Ronald St. Pierre was named Chef of the Year by the Canadian Culinary Federation.
While St. Pierre, the co-founder of Locals Restaurant, no longer works in the kitchen, he is 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 founded Locals with his wife in 2008. He was inducted into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame in 2019 and turned the business over to a group of four new owners in 2023.
St. Pierre spoke to CBC’s Gregor Craigie about the honor and the role his community has played in his career.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I understand that you were surprised by this realization. Didn’t you know you were being considered?
I knew I was nominated, but I mean, I was nominated with another person who was very deserving, so I didn’t think I would be chosen.
It means a lot. It’s nice to be recognized for the work you’ve done over time. But you know, I think it was a bit of a surprise too, I have to say.
You are no longer in the kitchen at Locals Restaurant. What is your current involvement in the food community?
As a board member, I am still heavily involved in the North Vancouver Island Chef Association as well as our national body, the Canadian Culinary Federation. I am chairman of the board of directors.
Ronald St. Pierre and his wife founded Locals Restaurant in 2008 and handed it over to a group of new owners in 2023. (Submitted)
I am also involved as a coaching mentor on the senior team at Canadian Culinary. I mentor young chefs. We just had two young chefs from Vancouver Island travel to Toronto to compete in Skills Canada and we are offering them member mentoring in preparation for the competition etc. So I’m still working, advising some friends and colleagues in the industry and trying to help them overcome the challenges 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 in the 1970s, before food globalization, we had to produce a lot of our own food and preserve food for the winter. When I came to the Comox Valley, I became very close to the farming community, the food source. It really excited me because I had access to all of these wonderful foods. But over the years, I realized that the people who produced the food didn’t have much support from the community at the time to be able to run a sustainable business. Unfortunately, I saw that many of them had to give up what they were doing and do something else.
Ronald St. Pierre says when he moved to the Comox Valley in 1990, there wasn’t much support for local food producers. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC)
So over the last 25 years, not only has my mission been to use as much as possible the food that was produced in my area, but I’ve also raised the awareness of the community to support them too and want to use that food at home too – not just when they come to my restaurant.
I have seen many successful stories over time. I think that’s really changed now because people are much more aware that they want to know where and how their food is grown or where it comes from.
How do you use these principles to mentor these younger chefs?
The most important thing when working with food is to respect your ingredients.
I’ve always told young chefs that I’m the lazy type of cook, in the sense that you take the best ingredient and do the least harm to it to make a really great dish.
How is climate change and global supply chain challenges currently affecting the hospitality industry?
Yes, it was a big challenge. However, in my opinion, the price increase for the global supply has made the local market more competitive.
Local ingredients used to be much more expensive than global ingredients. Now that the prices of everything have increased, the local ingredients are much more and almost on par with the global ones.
The other thing is that when you buy local ingredients you are supporting much more sustainable greenhouse gas emissions than if you have everything to travel thousands of miles.