‘Eating Words’ Event
Join us for EATING WORDS, a discussion with IVY KNIGHT, our Joseph Hoare Gastronomic Writer-In-Residence (JHGWIR) for 2026, in conversation with hospitality veteran Megan Jones, co-owner of The Starlight, Stratford.
EATING WORDS 2026
Where: Stratford Chefs School Kitchens, 136 Ontario Street, Stratford ON
When: Friday, November 27 from 4:00 to 5:30pm
Tickets are complimentary, but must be booked in advance.
$25 tax deductible donation per person is suggested.
Cash Bar available.
Food Writing
During her two-week residence in Stratford, Knight will lead workshops about food writing, provide one-on-one consultations with students, enjoy Student Chef dinners, and present readings and discussions of her work to both students and the public, with the overall goal of contributing to a well-rounded education for students, a primary objective of the School.
About Ivy Knight
Ivy Knight spent a decade cooking professionally before leaving restaurant kitchens to write full time. Her byline can be found in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Food & Wine, and more. Her short film series OPEN (created with JR Reid), is produced in partnership with the Emmy and James Beard Award-winning Roads & Kingdoms.
Knight also runs the world’s only Céline Dion parody meme account focused on the restaurant industry, @allezceline.
About Megan Jones
Megan Jones has spent 24 years in hospitality. A York University graduate, Megan worked her way through restaurants in Toronto, Southeast Asia and Australia before answering a Kijiji ad for a job at BarChef. When the owner asked what she drank, she said “vodka soda,” and he poured her a glass of bourbon. She had a lot to learn. As the only woman behind the bar there, she picked up her first cocktail shaker and never looked back.
That put her in the middle of Toronto’s cocktail boom. She bartended at Reposado and The County General, repped Fortuna Mezcal, and competed in (and sometimes won) major cocktail competitions as one of only a handful of women in the scene. It also introduced her to some of Toronto’s most influential hospitality people, many of whom she still calls mentors.
With her partner, Tim Pritchard, she opened The Gaslight in Toronto’s Junction Triangle, and later Noble Coffee Co. across the street with her dear friend Elizabeth Rohrich. For ten years, The Gaslight was the neighbourhood’s hidden gem, full of the characters whose stories made Megan fall for this business.
After the pandemic, Megan and her family moved to Stratford, where they now own The Starlight. In three years it has grown from a cocktail and snack bar into a full restaurant, her proudest accomplishment and biggest challenge yet. She credits a tireless team on both sides of the pass: a kitchen with an ambitious food program and a front-of-house crew who make every guest feel like a regular. The Starlight’s weekend live music supports local musicians, and the room welcomes locals, tourists, the theatre community and industry folks alike.
Megan knows the restaurateurs who last are the ones who adapt. Her approach hasn’t changed: create a room where people connect. And she’s far from finished.
About the JHGWIR Program
The widely loved Joseph Hoare, former food editor of Toronto Life magazine, was immensely supportive of young writers interested in food and gastronomy. After his passing in 1997, his family chose to honour his lifelong passion for food and food writing by means of an endowment to the Gastronomic Writer-in-Residence Program at Stratford Chefs School, later renamed the Joseph Hoare Gastronomic Writer-in-Residence Program, now in its twentieth year.
The JHGWIR program welcomed James Chatto as its inaugural writer in 2007. Since then the post has been held by Corby Kummer (6x James Beard Award winner), Molly Wizenberg and chef Gabrielle Hamilton (both JBA winners and New York Times bestselling authors) and James Oseland (former Editor-In-Chief of Saveur), among others.
About Stratford Chefs School
Founded in 1983, Stratford Chefs School is a not-for-profit Culinary School focused on the innovative, hands-on training of high-quality cook apprentices and culinary entrepreneurs, located in beautiful Stratford, Ontario.