A chat with Chef Jeremy Charles
Photograph by John Cullen (@johncullen)
At the end of last year we had the great privilege of chatting with Chef Jeremy Charles. The Chef and restaurateur from St. John's, Newfoundland is one of the people responsible for putting NL on the map in the culinary scene. Aside from everything he’s done for the food scene in Canada, he’s a truly interesting person and a really genuine guy. It was an honour to pick his brain and ask him about some things we were curious about.
Srvce: So your cuisine is very deeply rooted in Newfoundland’s food landscape, are there any specific experiences from your childhood or early career that shaped how you source and use local Newfoundland ingredients?
Jeremy: Yeah you know growing up in Newfoundland I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. For me it was really common to be out fishing and growing gardens and picking berries, and there was always salt fish outside. I grew up living in town but spent most of my time out there in the summers. I was really exposed to ways of living around the bay and living off the land. That really stuck with me as I progressed and went to culinary school in Montreal.
When you’re cooking in the big city and seeing all the products coming through the back door it really made me think when I moved back home, why aren’t we using all of the products that we have around us? At that point in time years ago it took a lot more effort to source these ingredients either by doing it myself or with the kitchen staff, and then eventually you had people like Shawn Dawson and other people growing ingredients and foragers who made it easier. Those early experiences really stuck with me you know, spending time in the river and the outdoors and you’re always surrounded by your environment. I really just wanted to educate myself on what's around me and what's edible and how to use it. I’m still learning and it’s so great to talk to people doing new things here and the culinary scene has really evolved in the last 10-15 years, so it’s great to be a part of it and I'm really looking forward to the future.
Srvce: What would you say are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about Newfoundland cuisine?
Jeremy: You know we aren't really known for our culinary scene. For the longest time, the main focus was just on serving big groups of people. A lot has changed here over the last 10-15 years though. We’re surrounded by wild organic ingredients and the Atlantic Ocean, we’re probably one of the most fortunate provinces in Canada in that regard. There are so many wonderful ingredients to be had here, you just have to get out there and do the research and go talk to people like the fishers and the farmers. There’s more to Newfoundland and Labrador than people think, there's more than just deep-fried fish and chips. There are a lot of people out there doing the best they can with what they have available to them, and a lot of people pushing the boundaries. I think that all comes back to education. There's a lot of young cooks coming through right now that are exposed to so many good tools online and so much education at their fingertips, there's just so much to discover here in Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s an exciting time to be cooking here in Newfoundland and Labrador and it really is what you make of it.
Srvce: How have you felt representing Newfoundland sort of on the world stage? Between Atlantica and Raymond's, and then you being such a food ambassador and a cultural ambassador for this place, what has your experience been with going and representing what we have and what we can do and all of that on more of a world stage?
Jeremy: I mean, I've been cooking for the past, close to 20 years here in Newfoundland, and I've been so fortunate to travel the world really. To be able to bring Newfoundland ingredients with me has been a huge honour, and for me, it's a really big passion too. I'm a big advocate for Newfoundland and Newfoundland products. We're so fortunate to live in a place where we're surrounded by so many wild organic ingredients from land and sea. For me to cook in Italy, Australia, I mean all over and bringing products from my home hometown and from Newfoundland, I'm very proud and I get excited about that, because people are always like, "Wow, this is unbelievable”. Diver scallops, the freshest cod they've ever seen, the snow crab, the lobster, the moose, rabbit, and partridge.
Cooking in downtown Chicago with Paul Kahan, a five-course tasting menu with all Newfoundland ingredients. There's something really special about that. I mean, the list goes on and on. I'm not beating the drum here, but it's been an amazing journey and I just feel so fortunate and so proud to be able to showcase all the wonderful things that we do have here. They should be highlighted and talked about, and really celebrated.
Srvce: What would you say that your essential values or philosophy behind your culinary style is? Especially these days with kitchens being filled with people from all over Canada that aren't necessarily from Newfoundland. How did you convey your philosophy and your values to the team that you were working with?
Jeremy: I mean again it all comes back to keeping things simple and ingredient-driven, especially in the days at Raymond’s, people came from all around to come and sit and eat. It's not just about the food, it's about the stories behind the food, the people behind the food, it's about those people jumping in the ocean, pulling up traps, walking through the field, and sourcing those ingredients. Less is more, simplicity and just really pushing the boundaries with local ingredients and making that extra effort. You're not just ordering off a sheet from a massive distributor, it's making that extra effort. Instead of just taking a list and having the product show up at the doorstep, it creates that story that people want to hear. People want to know the story behind the food, people love that and they should have that experience.
Srvce: This one's coming from a bit of a different angle. Just something I've always been sort of curious about. What's your experience been with sponsorships and with branding and working with these different companies that are sort of in the food scene in different ways like Gozney and Yeti? How has that been for you?
Jeremy: For me personally, it's an amazing partnership. You're working with products and people that’s mostly lifestyle-driven. It's not forced on me. I'm working with quality companies. Yeti keeps ice for 5 days in the cooler. Benchmade have beautiful sharp knives. Gozney ovens are a beautiful thing to work with. It's a huge honor and I’m super fortunate to be able to showcase those products with my cooking and I guess with my lifestyle. We're out there fishing, cooking in the wild and you need the gear to be at it, and it helps a lot of my Chef buddies or just people in the culinary scene. I donate a lot of the gear to friends and share products with them. Again, I'm an ambassador, so I have nothing but positive things to say. It's exposed me to a lot as well, with traveling and doing dinners across North America with different companies and whatnot.
Srvce: As someone who helped put Newfoundland's food scene on the map, what would you hope that your legacy would be for future generations of Chefs coming from Newfoundland?
Jeremy: Okay, gosh. I mean I appreciate that, it's always nice to get recognized. For many years coming from Newfoundland especially for me and my generation, if you're from Newfoundland you always admired the mainland. Everything was better in Toronto and Vancouver and Montreal, you're always just second-guessing yourself. It's like geez man they're always so much better, and then I realized I was totally wrong. We're actually better. We have the nicest products probably anywhere in the world. I found the confidence to be able to showcase that and feel good about it. I just really hope that the younger generation of cooks can have that confidence and be proud to be from here and be proud to celebrate the products from here and to cook with confidence. I really lacked confidence as a young cook and it took me a long time to find that, but I'm happy I did.
I just hope people think about me as a good person who is super passionate and always willing to get involved and help out and just be part of the team. Because the biggest part of working in a kitchen is the team; it's not just about the Chefs. There's so many great people and ideas that go into the end product. I was a part of a wonderful team that was in a really magical period here in St. John’s and during Raymond’s days it was like I was out to prove to myself and to the rest of Canada that we are doing something special and unique. I think we really did achieve that as a group which I'm super proud of.
Interview by the Srvce! Team (Tom Billard and Alan O’Brien)
Photography by John Cullen (@johncullen)