Every Thursday, we feature an image from the StarPhoenix archives, curated by the City of Saskatoon Archives. Today, we see delegates to the annual convention of the Canadian Federation of Chefs de Cuisine enjoying an old-fashioned buggy ride en route to the Western Development Museum, from May 28, 1980. (City of Saskatoon Archives StarPhoenix Collection S-SP-A13044-11, photo by Linda Holoboff)
Chefs' Convention Delegates Take Buggy Ride in Saskatoon in 1980
On this day in 1980, delegates to the annual chefs' convention toured Saskatoon in old-fashioned buggies. The following is a condensed version of the story from the StarPhoenix archives, by Eric O. Burt. Writing style, grammar and punctuation that may differ from today's standards has been left untouched to preserve the original story.
There will be no Saskatchewan chefs but there will be Saskatchewan products in use when Canada's national team competes in the World Culinary Olympics at Frankfurt in October.
Pierre Demers, Canadian team manager, says Saskatchewan grain will be used in baking and the Canadian chefs will be cooking turkey and lamb raised in this province as well.
"The event helps the tourist industry, of course, but it helps agriculture, fisheries, just everybody," Demers says.
The retired executive chef of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Montreal was in Saskatoon this week with members of his team and others of their profession from across Canada. The occasion was the annual convention of the Canadian Federation of Chefs de Cuisine.
Interviewed in the test kitchens of the Kelsey Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences (KIAAS), where his team was "holding a practise session," Demers said chefs were losing some of their age-old traditions of dress but were building a tradition of culinary excellence in Canada.
The Canadian team of four years ago placed second among 21 teams from around the world. Demers says his team hopes to do better than that.
"But you can never achieve perfection," Demers says. "And you wouldn't want to. If you became perfect, there would be nothing more to work for."
Before retiring four years ago, he had spent 39 years in hotel kitchens. He remembers the carefully washed and starched cloth hats, the shape still seen in cartoons, and talks of the tradition that nobody wore a hat taller than that of the head chef.
Top men in the various areas might wear hats almost as tall while the lesser help wore hats that were not much higher than a cap.
"But nobody starches things any more," he says.
Today's hats are made of paper, disposable, and made a bit attractive with some pleating. But they come in one standard size and kitchen workers wear them throughout their shift, then throw them away. If a patron wants to identify the head chef behind the buffet table he has to look for some other sign of excellence than the tallest hat.
The men on Demers' team include the chef de cuisine and three executive chefs.
Team captain is Marcel Kretz, chef de cuisine at the Hotel La Sapiniere in Val David, Que. The others are Fred Zimmerman of the Calgary Inn, Hans-Ulrich Herzig of Toronto's Prince Hotel, and Jean Saliou of the Castel de L'Estrie in Granby, Que.
