Like mother, like daughter

Some parents play classical music to their unborn child but Nanaimo resident Brenda English took her daughter Erin to the kitchen. Two decades later that same baby is still in the kitchen cooking for customers of the Vancouver-based restaurant Diva at the Met.

"(Erin and her sister) have been working with me in the kitchen since they were standing on milk crates to cut," said Brenda.

Brenda was pregnant with Erin while taking the Malaspina University-College Culinary Arts program in 1982. As her belly grew she continued to work around the large commercial kitchens, only interrupting her studies after Erin was born. Erin graduated from the same program in 2001.

"Since I was 13 I would cater events with my mom. I would do it on my weekends it was so fun," said Erin, now 23.

"Now I step back and learn from her," said Brenda, who has been the BC Ferries Chef, Chief Cook for the past 18 years. "I love working with her because it is amazing to watch her grow."

Both mother and daughter are self-proclaimed ‘adrenaline junkies’ – a necessary addiction in a busy high-pressure restaurant kitchen.

"My adrenaline comes from service on the line," said Erin. "The whole night my head is down and I’m go, go, go."

But just because the environment is stressful, Erin said cooking has the opposite affect on her.

"Cooking is my way of de-stressing," she said, adding when she was a child she noticed her mom did the same thing – she’d head to the kitchen whenever she felt stressed out.

"It was always about food. Even before I could cook I had my hands in the dirt making mud pies," said Erin, whose eyes light up the minute the word food comes up in a conversation. "I find you can get to people with food."

Her favorite ethnic food is East Indian cuisine.

"Indian spices and chilies and the amount of love they put into their food is insane."

She said good food isn’t just about chemistry it’s about instinct and passion.

"If I couldn’t cook anymore I wouldn’t know what I would do. I wouldn’t want to do anything else," said Erin.

Erin especially admires her mom, who taught her details make all the difference when cooking.

"She uses depths of flavours when she cooks – she cooks in layers like (East) Indian and Moroccan food. They take the time to love their food and she does too."

Brenda, who as worked all over British Columbia since she graduated in 1984, loved her Malaspina experience and continues to draw upon her former instructors.

"The chefs are a living library. They provide great support that carries on well beyond graduation," said Brenda.

"I felt really comfortable as soon as I came to Malaspina," said Erin. "Malaspina was probably one of the greatest years I’ve had."

Like her mom, Erin continues to draw on her instructors and in February she worked with them to host a Bocuse D’Or fundraiser at the Nanaimo campus. Money raised during the one-evening event will be used to send English and Diva at the Met chef Hamid Salimian to the Canadian Bocuse D’Or in Ottawa this June. Winners of that event will represent Team Canada at the 2009 Bocuse D’Or.

The Bocuse D’Or is a prestigious international culinary competition started by French chef Paul Bocuse in 1987. Held every two years in Lyon France, the competition attracts top chefs from more than 24 countries world-wide.

While her immediate goals revolve around the Bocuse D’Or, Erin would someday like to open her own restaurant, but not a big one because she doesn’t want to get weighed down with paperwork.

"I would have a restaurant because I love cooking and I would keep it small so I was always in the kitchen."