Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Quick Bites

On the chef world: If you're not crazy you'll be there soon

Quick bites with

Shane MacDonald, chef, Palmer’s Gallery

Interview and photos by Maureen Provencal

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

SM: Have an open mind, and try to learn something from everyone you work with. Good or Bad.

PQ: One food you can’t live without?

SM: Fish and seafood.

PQ: One ingredient you can’t live without?

SM: Wine.

PQ: One food you avoided as a child and now you love?

SM: Avocado.

PQ: Weirdest thing you’ve eaten?

SM: Veal tongue.

PQ: Most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten?

SM: Wining and dining in Quebec City.

PQ: Exact moment you decided to become a chef?

SM: Am I there yet?

PQ: Most memorable meal you have ever served?

SM: Backyard cooking with friends and family.

PQ: Most interesting environment you’ve ever worked in.

SM: Black-Box cooking competition with lights and television cameras in my face.

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

SM: Toasted tomato and cheese sandwich.

PQ: Best trend in food/restaurants?

SM: People getting back to comfort style foods.

PQ: Worst trend in food/restaurants?

SM: Complicated food; people masking flavours.

PQ: Greatest professional moment?

SM: When I was given a chef role while I was an apprentice in a kitchen I’d never worked in with a staff I’d never worked with at a function serving 500 people, with a standing ovation at the end.

PQ: Where would you go to eat, if you could go anywhere in the world?

SM: Adria Faran’s Restaurant in Spain.

PQ: What brought you to Whistler?

SM: Lifestyle.

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

SM: I don’t think it’ll ever happen. I’m not planning on leaving.

PQ: Who has been the most influential person on our cooking/career?

SM: My mother and grandmother, both lovers of food.

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

SM: If you’re not already crazy you’ll be there soon.