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Quick Bites

Ellie Scott Freelance/private chef currently living it up at Whistler Cooks

Photos and text by Maureen Provençal

PQ: What’s your food/wine philosophy?

ES: Love life, cook with integrity, dine with passion.

PQ; What’s the most important principle in cooking?

ES: Appreciate your ingredients.

PQ: How far would you go for a great meal?

ES: When I lived in London we would fly down to the south of France or Italy for gourmet weekends. I fly down to San Francisco and LA for an overnight trip to try out new restaurants.

PQ: One food you can’t live without?

ES: The basics: salt, pepper, olive oil, foie gras.

PQ: One ingredient you can’t live without?

ES: TLC.

PQ: Weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

ES: I had to cook an iguana once.

PQ: Most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten?

ES: I had a perfect mango once in the Marquesa Islands – it was the size of a small basketball and the texture of a ripe peach. It was intoxicating, absolute bliss. Yet another example that Mother Nature knows best.

PQ: What’s your solution for a last minute meal?

ES: Smelly cheese, artisan bread, good olives, and great wine.

PQ: Best trend in food/restaurants?

ES: The dawning awareness that we are poisoning ourselves with the mass production and over-processing of modern day foods.

PQ: Worst trend in food/restaurants?

ES: Bastardizing stuff under the guise of creativity.

PQ: Greatest professional moment?

ES: Helping friends open their own restaurants – it’s so satisfying to be part of the fulfilment of a dream.

PQ: Do you dream of opening your own restaurant?

ES: Yes, almost as often as I have nightmares of doing the same.

PQ: How would you describe what it is to be a chef?

ES: A good cook makes food taste good; a chef turns food into money.

PQ: Where would you go for your last meal in Whistler?

ES: Home. My husband makes an incredible linguine alla vongole.

PQ: What brought you to Whistler?

ES: I met a real cute guy in a bar in France many years ago. We got pretty drunk and when I finally sobered up I was married, with a big mortgage and a garage full of ski gear and bicycles – "loving life and living the dream."

PQ: Who has been the most influential person on your career?

ES: My life is a mosaic of all the great and wonderful people I have been privileged to know.

PQ: What would you advise anyone wanting to come into this industry?

ES: Look carefully at where it will take you as you get older. The attrition rate is huge.