Cuisine Canada Scene

A card-carrying carnivore and voracious vegetable lover, Heather Travis left life in the city for life in the country and now boasts an extensive rubber boot collection. Travis is the Director, Public Relations for the Beef Information Centre.

What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
Mains for sure, although I am sucker for apple pie – which in our house is classified as a breakfast main.

Who or what got you interested in food?
Both of my grandmothers – Polish on one side, Irish on the other – hence my extreme love of potatoes, they’re in my blood!

From where do you draw your inspiration?
All over. It could be as simple as seeing what I can make using up leftovers or the smell of barbecue walking the dog at the end of the day. I think inspiration is always waiting to be found, you just have to want to find it.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
My absolute favourite dinner for as long as I can remember has always been a barbecued steak, mashed potatoes with the skins on (the only way!), fresh green beans and corn on the cob. This meal is perfection to me.

What’s the first dish you remember making?
Pinching the edges around the pirogie with my Baba.

Proudest food-related moment?
Serving a sit down dinner for 16 in our very first apartment after University; it was 425 square feet.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Something very mushy at a dim sum restaurant recently – I can’t recall exactly what it was, however I do recall not wanting to eat it again.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
Laughter.

Favourite cooking smell?
Sautéing celery and onions in butter…..only good things happen when this smell starts it all off.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
Fresh snow with real maple syrup drizzled on top.

Molecular gastronomy, best thing ever or the unwearable haute couture of food?
Still undecided.

Cilantro — can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
Love it, grow it, eat it up.

What non-local foods can’t you live without?
Jamaican Ginger Beer. I am sure there are others, but you can’t make a Jamaican ice cream float without ginger beer.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
Drizzling truffle oil on freshly made soups.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
Garlic press, you get better flavour just chopping it yourself – plus it is annoying to clean.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
The manual hand mixer my great-grandmother brought with her from Poland – nothing makes Sunday pancakes better than the love inside that thing!

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  ______ again, I’d be happy.
Mushrooms, fungus and I don’t get along.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
I would love to cook for Johnny Depp. Really for no other reason than to sit and watch him eat.

What would you prepare for him/her?
Something that took a really, really long time to eat, like some extravagant five-course meal.

What  was the last thing you ate?
Fruit salad.

If you had to work outside the culinary field, what would you do?
Own a shoe store.