Maisie Matthews is taking the Canadian culinary world by storm!
At 18 years old, she’s already roasting the competition and has yet to attend culinary school.
The young Comox chef, a Canada’s Junior Culinary Team member, just took second place in the Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs Competition.
She cooked up a mouthwatering array of courses, including foie gras, snow crab legs, lamb shank and a rack of lamb, all while racing against the clock to get everything done.
She came out less than one point below the competition’s gold medal winner while competing against experienced chefs a decade her senior!
The competition is prestigious and the highest level of modern culinary competition. It was judged by some of BC’s top chefs (including Maisie’s personal idol Scott Jaeger.)
The judges were wowed by her performance.
The Junior Culinary Team gave her efforts a loud shout-out on their social media outlets. “Maisie is the youngest member of our team AND a force to be reckoned with. Way to go, Maisie!”
Maisie told Comox Valley Now she’s just getting started. “That was pretty incredible…(The competition) pushes me to go forward,” she said.
“There’s so much support if you look for it. I’ve taken every opportunity that I can – I even offered to work for free,” she noted.
Maisie certainly won’t have to offer free work for long.
Right now, you can find Maisie working locally as an apprentice chef at Locals at the Old House. She’ll be heading to study in Paris next February.
By 2024 you’ll catch her at the Olympics! She plans to represent our city abroad with the national team in Germany.
