I am originally from Montreal, but moved to Kingston to attend Queen’s University, where I studied Philosophy and Classics. I fell in love with the hospitality industry while I was still in school, and ultimately decided to pursue a career in the kitchen. A chance meeting with the then-Executive Director of SCS (KP!) while working in a restaurant owned by SCS Alumni (Olivea!) brought me to Stratford to study, and now Stratford is home…
It is not particularly easy to tease a dinner menu out of a work of fiction, even when cooking and sharing food figures prominently in the story itself. Five Roses, by Alice Zorn is an engrossing story of the complicated relationships and histories between four women living, loving and working in St. Henri, a working-class neighbourhood in Montreal.
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to have lunch with Gabrielle Hamilton at Rene’s Bistro. We talked about food writing, being a chef and her process for choosing menus. These are the bits of the interview that weren’t just us rambling about drinking at the Boars Head and our mutual love Eddie Huang. It’s a lot to read, but a person like Gabrielle Hamilton has a lot to say.