If Matthew Stowe ever became Speaker of the House, chances are question period would become a whisper-quiet affair.
British Columbia’s MLAs, like the rest of us, aren’t supposed to speak with their mouths full, after all.
This was the case in the legislature dining room on Wednesday when 20 MLAs and guests enjoyed a lunch prepared by this year’s winner on Food Network’s Top Chef Canada. It was easy to see why many were left speechless — for a while anyway.
“It was such a great experience to be able to enjoy wonderful B.C. food, prepared in the B.C. legislature by a great, young British Columbian. What could be better?” said Stephanie Cadieux, B.C.’s minister of children and family development.
The Surrey-Cloverdale MLA also happens to represent the region that, for many years, was home to the Cactus Club Café product-development chef.
Stowe, 30, joked that his main dish might remind some diners of those Jolly Green Giant frozen vegetables from their childhood.
“I looked at the classic combination of peas and carrots we all had growing up,” he said. “When you have those flavours together, it reminds me of ravioli.”
Stowe’s culinary concoction was considerably more gourmet. His Summer Peas Raviolis dish included snap peas, fava beans from Hazelmere Farms, baby leeks, braised king oyster mushrooms and warm carrot vinaigrette.
He said he decided to keep the menu as light as possible, and not just because it was a hot summer’s day.
“They sit down all day in meetings, so you don’t want to eat anything too heavy — no proteins or rich sauces.”
Agriculture Minister Pat Pimm could barely contain his enthusiasm.
“The lunch was absolutely fantastic,” he said. “I can understand why he became Canada’s top chef. When I was able to talk, I told him how I was so impressed how he [used] all these locally grown — and provincially grown — ingredients.”
Stowe, who prepared the dishes from 10 a.m. until noon with a team of local chefs, also got a thumbs-up for his dessert.
His Vanilla Poached B.C. Cherries featured Agassiz hazelnut crumble, white chocolate cremeux and a blueberry wafer.
The Table d’Hote menu beautifully showcased the potential of the province’s Buy Local program, Pimm added.
Other familiar faces spotted during the non-partisan affair included Saanich South NDP MLA Lana Popham, Oak Bay-Gordon Head Green party MLA Andrew Weaver and a relaxed-looking former B.C. finance minister Colin Hansen.
Stowe, who beat 15 other chefs from across Canada on the Food Network series, jokingly acknowledged the MLAs and their guests weren’t as hard to please as Top Chef Canada judges Mark Mc-Ewan, Lisa Ray and Shereen Arazm.
“I’m really happy with how it went,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of pressure. I let the ingredients speak for themselves.”
