Northern chefs credited for local ingredients in Globe and Mail's list of Canada's next kitchen stars

Eduardo Delascio Burafah, the executive chef of Iqaluit's Discovery Hotel and Tammattaavik Boarding Home, is incorporating country foods into his cooking and keeping money in the traditional economy.

This includes working with local hunters and fishers to offer dishes like caribou and Arctic char.   

Burafah was highlighted in the Globe and Mail as one the country's next star chefs. It identified one chef in each province and territory.

Burafah, who grew up in Brazil, learned to cook early from his Italian and Lebanese family. 

Although cooking was always a passion, he first worked as a lawyer before moving to Canada to follow his dream of working in the kitchen. He went to culinary school and worked in restaurants in Montreal, before taking a job as a sous chef in Iqaluit in 2017. 

It was here that he learned the importance of traditional foods, including in 2018, when a local hunter showed him how to clean a caribou. 

"I will never forget that experience," he said. 

Burafah said traditional country foods were something both tourists and locals, especially elders, appreciated. 

Some of the partnerships Burafah engaged in includes Project Nunavut, an organization that aims to support projects that improve the traditional economy. 

He said this got him involved with Lake to Plate, where he buys local fish like Arctic char. 

Burafah also partnered with Nunavut Country Food, a butcher shop that sells local products like muktaaq, caribou and seal. 

He said a benefit to these programs is the low environmental impact that comes from supporting small scale harvesting. 

Sundog's chef recognized for made-from-scratch ice creams

For the N.W.T., the Globe and Mail credited local Yellowknife resident and chef of the Sundog Trading Post, Calvin Rossouw. 

Rossouw, 27, said he was excited by the news. 

"I read that newspaper growing up," he said. "And knowing that my face was in it was amazing."

The article included each chef's favourite dish, which for Rossouw was the ButterBirch Caramel ice cream. 

"It's like a play on a maple pecan, which is a pretty standard ice cream, but we've made it local and northern," he said. 

Richard McIntosh, the owner of Sundog Trading Post, said Rossouw deserved the recognition. 

"His creativity with the ice cream flavours is amazing, using locally-sourced ingredients for some more unique flavours," he said. 

"It's just fantastic."

His creativity with the ice cream flavours is amazing, using locally-sourced ingredients for some more unique flavours.- Richard McIntosh, owner of Sundog Trading Post

Rossouw has been working in the kitchen since he was 14, starting out at the Black Knight as a dishwasher. 

He said he recognized the teamwork involved in running a successful kitchen — a lesson he took with him to each of his future jobs. 

"It was watching the guys work the lunch rush," he said. "It was amazing watching them work together." 

Rossouw studied culinary arts at Niagara College Canada before returning to Yellowknife. 

He said he's proud of being recognized, but also proud of what Sundog Trading Post has accomplished in its short time in operation, officially opening in 2021.

But he added there's more to come. 

"We're really just scratching the surface of what we can do here," he said. 

"Especially with our ice cream, we're really working toward the wholesale product, getting into the grocery store and other restaurants." 

Rossouw said there's also plans to extend the operations' hours into the evenings. 

In the Yukon, the Globe and Mail recognized Klayton McColl of Whitehorse, crediting him for incorporating fish, wild game and seasonal berries into various dishes.