Cooking competition will introduce international chefs to Canada’s Food Island

Chefs from all over North America and Europe are testing their skills, competing for prizes, and exploring Canada’s Food Island this weekend during the PEI International Shellfish Festival’s Garland Canada International Chef Challenge.

“The Chef Challenge is not only a great addition to a tremendous event, but it also helps increase the profile of the excellent food and food producers here on the Island,” said Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Heath MacDonald. “The competition will introduce each of these chefs to the fresh, delicious food available here and to the people who produce it, which could lead to more of our products being exported to more restaurants all over the world.”

The challenge is a fierce head-to-head elimination-style cooking competition between 12 top chefs from restaurants in Canada, the US, the UK, and France. Each chef will be given 45 minutes to prepare a shellfish dish -- with Prince Edward Island shellfish as the main ingredient -- in front of a live audience.  The dishes will be judged by a panel of celebrity judges, including celebrity Chef Lynn Crawford, and the final two will compete head-to-head on the festival’s main stage for a chance to win the $10,000 grand prize.

The PEI International Shellfish Festival provides an ideal backdrop for the province and Island businesses to promote the sights, sounds and tastes of Prince Edward Island to many visitors and potential buyers of Island products. The group of chefs will be meeting each day with different representatives from the Prince Edward Island food industry and touring various businesses across the province.
In addition, the competing chefs will explore the potential of purchasing Island products for use in their restaurants.

"The Chef Challenge is a unique opportunity to show some of the top chefs from North America and Europe the high quality of our Island food products,” said Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Alan McIsaac. “Chefs will be able to see, feel and taste why PEI is Canada's Food Island. They will take their experiences from this weekend back to their restaurants and become ambassadors for our Island agriculture and seafood products."

The 21st annual Prince Edward Island International Shellfish Festival wraps up on September 18 when a new Garland Canada Chef Challenge champion is crowned. The four-day festival features live competitions, over $26,000 in cash prizes, celebrity chefs, Atlantic Canada’s largest Kitchen Party, and of course plenty of world famous Prince Edward Island shellfish.

Get in on the action with #chefchallengepei or watch live at  PEI Shellfish.

Media contact:
Andrew Sprague
Senior Communications Officer
Department of Economic Development and Tourism
(902) 368-5535
asgsprague@gov.pe.ca