"The kitchen is like an army: You have the general, you have the colonels, and so forth," remarks Simon Smotkowicz, executive chef of the Shaw Conference Centre for the last 22 years. With the responsibility of filling as many as 10,000 bellies a week, it's easy to picture the kitchen as a war zone.
Smotkowicz, who was named National Chef of the Year in 1998 by the Canadian Culinary Federation, thrives on intensity. Until 2004, he was managing Culinary Team Canada and Culinary Team Alberta, and at almost every world competition he entered, including the Internationale Kochkunst Ausstellung (commonly called the Culinary Olympics), his teams have collected first-place awards like baguettes in a bread aisle.
Steadfastly modest, he describes his work with what should garner him a gold medal in understatements: "It can be quite busy."
Food has always been a way of life for the 59-year-old, who was born in Toulouse, France. In childhood, he loved assisting his mama and grand-mère with the pots and pans, and was serious about wearing an apron for life. At 15, he entered a culinary school.
At 27, Smotkowicz came to Canada to work in its fledging hospitality industry and quickly took over at the helms of a succession of hotel kitchens across the country. In 1988, the Shaw's general manager, Michael Fitzpatrick, met Smotkowicz in Toronto and asked him to head the five-year-old conference centre's struggling banquet facility.
On-board, his first executive order was to change the staffing and get rid of the ostentatious French service that brought each dish to the table one plate at a time, with food often cold by the time it got there.
Now, he has 40 other chefs and apprentices working under him to serve a premium meal to the satisfaction of thousands every day. Yet, he understands well that taste and presentation are not the quintessence of dining. In his lifetime, he's observed the transformation of farming into a mass industry that doesn't always value the quality of food, just the price. Meeting the demands of a growing movement of conscientious eaters, Smotkowicz implemented Shaw's Simple Steps initiative last year to increase the use of regional ingredients from about two per cent to 10 per cent, within two years.
It's a challenge, but he welcomes challenges. That's also why, after a nine-year moratorium, Smotkowicz has returned to managing the Canadian national team for the 2012 Culinary Olympics in Germany, where he hopes to lead the team to gold once more.
Post new comment