Chef Chuck Hughes has joined the CATCH 2010 lineup with plans to attend the festival on Saturday, June 19 to share his seafood expertise.
“My mother always told me, “Don’t play with your food!”… But look at me now, Mom!” — Chuck
If there’s one thing Chuck Hughes has always loved to do, it’s play with food. And whether his mother Francine likes it or not, she definitely had a thing or two to do with it. From the time her curious son insisted on being enrolled in a cooking class at the age of eight, it was clear he was crazy about the kitchen. And 15 years later, when Hughes was on the fast-track to a successful but potentially passionless career in advertising, Mom was the one who suggested he turn his affair with food into a full-time relationship. So, t was back to culinary school for Hughes, this time at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec. He quickly started working in some of Montreal’s hottest kitchens and hasn’t looked back since.
His food philosophy revolves around simple, well-made food. “I worked in restaurants where you’re putting cracked pepper on the side of the plate and there’s branches coming out of everywhere and you have to deconstruct your food before eating it… there’s a place for that out there, but it’s just not me.”
What does define Hughes is his unwavering respect for mother nature’s finest, and his pledge to let quality ingredients speak for themselves. This love of all foods real, coupled with his firm belief in buying and cooking local. He calls oysters the “true love of life” and he regularly competes in oyster shucking competitions and once shucked more than 1,000 oysters for a fundraiser.
In 2009, Chuck invited the world into Garde-Manger’s kitchen with the premiere of Chuck’s Day Off, his first original television series, broadcast on Food Network Canada.
