Cuisine Canada Scene

Ronald Doering is well known in the food industry having had the lead responsibility for setting up the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and serving as its President for several years. Since retiring from government in 2002, he practices regulatory law (particularly food law) in the Ottawa offices of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, and he writes a popular monthly column on food law as the “food law guy”.

What’s your weakness? Dessert or mains?
Mains and lots of it. None of this small portion California cuisine for me.

Who or what got you interested in food?
Grew up on a farm. Have spent the last 15 years as Canada’s principal food regulator or acting for companies dealing with food regulations. Food law is as interesting as it gets.

What inspires you?
Learning new things. I still learn something new about the food industry and its regulatory system every day.

What was your favourite dinner when you were a kid? Do you like it now?
Roast pork, scalloped potatoes and frozen corn; homemade apple pie and cheese. Still like this food. At 85, my mother still bakes a great pie.

What’s the first dish you remember making?
Toasted scrambled egg sandwich with melted cheese.

Proudest food-related moment?
Receiving a doctorate from the University of Guelph; both my father and grandfather were graduates of the Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph.

Strangest food you’ve ever eaten?
Pickled, diced moose nose on a reserve in northern British Columbia.

Favourite sound in the kitchen?
My wife saying that supper is ready.

Favourite cooking smell?
Roast beef in the oven on a Sunday afternoon.

Quintessential Canadian dish?
My mother’s butter tarts (with vinegar) and my wife’s wild rice dish.

Molecular gastronomy, best thing ever or the unwearable haute couture of food?
Never heard of it.

Cilantro — can’t get enough or tastes like soap?
Love cilantro. I grow it myself. I use it in my soups especially.

What local foods can’t you live without?
The first tomatoes from my garden and local corn on the cob bought from the farmer down the road.

What’s your greatest culinary extravagance?
Tropezian custard cake is pretty extravagant; so is my wife’s Guinness Chocolate Cake.

Most over-rated kitchen gadget?
I don’t have many gadgets but can say that large BBQ’s with all the bells and whistles are highly overrated. I like my simple little 2 burner.

What’s the most treasured possession in your kitchen? Why?
Pepper grinder. Fresh ground pepper goes well on almost any meal.

Fill in the blank. If I never cooked / ate / heard about  ______ again, I’d be happy.
Organic foods. This will not be popular with your readership and outrage some of your fancy chefs. Organic is not tastier, healthier, safer or more sustainable. The inflated price people pay is a tax on the gullible.

If you could cook for anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
My wife and daughter. Best company in the world.

What would you prepare for him/her?
T-bone steaks on the BBQ on the deck at the cottage with baked potatoes and fresh asparagus with butter. Watch the sun set over Otter Lake. It doesn’t get any better than this.

What  was the last thing you ate?
Tuna salad sandwich at my desk.