On the menu, the story of chef François Lessard, this Sherbrooke resident who has returned home, details of the next edition of Montréal en Lumière and an application to calculate the carbon footprint of menus.
First, here is the story of chef François Lessard who, after a career rich in various culinary experiences in Canada and abroad, decided to return home, to Estrie, by launching his table d'hôte Huit5 quatre in Eastman .
His journey began in Banff, followed by culinary training in Sherbrooke, then a 22-year career in Western Canada.
After owning The Alchemist restaurant in British Columbia for ten years, he then moved to Costa Rica, discovering a cuisine based on fruits, legumes and Argentinian and Asian influences.
Finally, François Lessard chose to launch his table d'hôte in Eastman, favoring an online reservation service to rationalize costs and democratize catering.
His restaurant, called Huit5Quatre, officially opened on December 1 with a menu based on the chef's culinary experiences around the world, favoring local produce as much as possible while maintaining an approach open to diverse influences.
Despite his years away from Quebec, Lessard observes that Quebec cuisine remains strongly influenced by French cuisine, although more recently it has incorporated trends of fresher and more colorful cuisine.
Then, the 25th edition of the Montréal en Lumière festival will take place from February 29 to March 10, with a gourmet program starting on February 22. This edition revisits past themes, celebrates countries and regions from previous editions, welcomes international chefs and places emphasis on sustainable gastronomy.
For this edition, 25 renowned chefs will participate in the festivities and 8 green-starred chefs, committed to eco-responsible gastronomy, will also be present.
Star chefs, such as Matthias Marc and Adrien Cachot, as well as indigenous chefs, will be hosted in different restaurants. The organization La Tablée des Chefs will deploy its Culinary Brigades in restaurants in partnership with the festival.
The Quartier Gourmand, located at the Maison du Festival, will offer free activities focused on indigenous cuisine, culinary demonstrations, tastings and happy hours highlighting Quebec alcohols.
Three new features will mark this edition, notably the 25 years x 25 services gastronomic evenings, the Air France 90 Years Dinner at the ITHQ and the Brunches en Lumière. Apéros Montréal en Lumière will feature Italian wines, while partner hotels will offer exclusive discounts to festival-goers.
Finally, the non-profit organization Emission Reduction Now (ERN) developed a web application, Climat en Chef - Restauration, as part of a pilot project with the CHU Sainte-Justine, the Lola Rosa restaurant and the Arhoma bakeries . This application makes it possible to estimate the carbon footprint of recipes, thus helping these establishments to identify levers to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions linked to their food offering.
The project assessed the carbon impact of nearly 1,000 recipes for the three partners. Participants, including CHU Sainte-Justine, consider that the application confirms that their current efforts are going in the right direction to reduce the ecological footprint of their food offering. The founder of ERN, Jean-Christophe Mortreux, plans to extend the project to other entities committed to a responsible approach next year, emphasizing the importance of the absolute footprint on sales.
