Canada’s Largest Family Meal

The World’s Largest Family is an all inclusive and all participation dinner, curated by a group of true industry Leaders. A meal where every attendee is expected to help feed one another, break bread and eat the bounty of the Pemberton Valley. We are all in this amazing industry together and only united can we make positive change, And it can all be started with a conversation over a plate of food. 

See below for bios of the lead team.

Michael Allemeier

Chef Michael Allemeier has traveled the world and Canada learning his craft. Prior to joining SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) as a Culinary Instructor, Chef Allemeier has run some of Western Canada’s most exciting kitchens. While in Vancouver BC, Chef Allemeier was Executive Chef at Bishops Restaurant, then Teatro Restaurant in Calgary, AB.  Allemeier’s passion for food and wine pairing was realised with the call to man the stoves at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery in the Okanagan Valley, BC.

One of his highest profile meals was cooking for Presidents Clinton and Yeltsin during their Vancouver Summit Meeting. His career has received many awards and accolades the most notable occurring while he was Executive Winery Chef at Mission Hill Family Estate, where he was awarded the honour of leading one of the “Top Five Winery Restaurants in the World” by Travel and Leisure Magazine.

As a proven communicator, he has had many opportunities to be on television. His most notable work being one of the principle hosts of Food Network’s – Cook Like a Chef. Chef Allemeier hosted twenty of these very popular syndicated shows. Other guest appearances include: The Thirsty Traveler, Anna and Kristina’s Grocery Bag, Chef at Large, Great Canadian Food Show and Canadian Living TV to name a few.

A published author, Michael co-authored the book Bishop’s – The Cookbook. In addition to this he has contributed recipes to several cookbooks such as: Anita Stewart’s Canada, Pacific Northwest – Wining and Dining, Cooking with BC  Wines, Barbecue Secret Deluxe, Planking Secrets, On Cooking, Vancouver Cooks, High Plains – The Joy of Alberta Cuisine, Cook Like a Chef, Food and Wine – annual cookbook 2005 and  Fresh Canadian Bistro.

Chef Allemeier completed his CMC (Certified Master Chef) June 2017, becoming Canada’s third Chef to achieve this designation. The CMC (Certified Master Chef) is the most demanding and highest culinary designation in Canada and is internationally recognised in the industry as a Master of the Craft.

Chef Paul Rogalski

Chef Paul is a renowned and passionate gastronomic leader and artist who finds his inspiration in locally
sourced ingredients, the natural environment, and the outstanding people he meets and works with along the way. Classical training and diverse experiences around the globe have allowed Chef Paul to define his own, freestyle approach to the dishes he creates. He is a master of understanding and embracing unique
textures and tastes to build balanced, exceptional, and approachable food. As co-owner and Culinary Director, Chef Paul inspires the culinary vision at the acclaimed Rouge Restaurant and led his team to a place on the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

In addition to filming two successful seasons of Wild Harvest, Paul’s passion keeps him busy as a speaker and guest-chef locally and internationally at events such as Cook it Raw, Terroir Talks Symposium, Eric Ripert’s Cayman Cookout, Devour Food & Film Festival.

Among Chef Paul’s professional accomplishments:

• Leadership and Support of Organic and Sustainable Cuisine, Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Food Day Canada, Good Food Innovation Award
• Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants
• Best Overall Restaurant, Where Magazine, Avenue Magazine
• #1 Tried, Tested & True, Avenue Magazine
• Food Service & Hospitality Magazine, Restaurateur Of The Year
• Alberta Venture Magazine, Alberta’s Most Influential People

Steve Hodge

Steven got his start in the kitchen at 21 years old. He began his career pursuing the culinary arts and attended cooking school in California at the California School of Culinary Arts. He made the move to pastry in response to a challenge.

After culinary school Steven stayed in California and apprenticed at Wolfgang Puck Catering as well as with Porto’s Bakery in Glendale California. From there he ended up in Vancouver working as the executive pastry chef for the Glowbal Group. Next came the opportunity to train with Dominic Jerry at Sugar Art in Steveston, BC. This is where Steven learned how to create with sugar and chocolate. From there London, England, came knocking and he spent three years as a pastry chef at Le Caprice, followed by The Wolseley and finally the 3 Michelin Star Restaurant, Royal Hospital Road with Gordon Ramsay.
After his time in London, he moved back to Vancouver and worked at Thomas Haas

In 2013, Steven set out all opened his own pastry shop, Temper Pastry in West Vancouver. December 2023 will mark its 10th anniversary of being opened. Throughout the years of Temper being opened, Steve begun his TV career with the Food Network, where he currently has three shows airing. 3 years in
the making, in October of 2023 , Steve’s first cookbook will be hitting the book shelves

Taryn Barker

Taryn Barker has held numerous positions in the meat and food industries for over 15 years. She started out her career at the age of fifteen as a customer server in a small family run butcher shop, and now is the owner and head butcher of The Little Butcher in Port Moody BC.
The Little Butcher practices whole animal butchery and works with local food banks like Food Bank On Wheels and Share Food bank to reduce food waste and help ensure food security for many local families. The Little Butcher takes pride in supporting other local businesses, farmers and makers with an approximate 95% of products sold being from British Columbia. The shop won Best New Business in their inaugural year and has won Best Butcher Shop every year for the past nine years.

Taryn is constantly pushing herself to try new things and has had the opportunity to travel abroad and compete in butchery competitions in New Zealand and Brazil. Through online tryouts in 2018, she became a member of the first Canadian butcher team, Butchery Team Canada, who competed in The
World Butchers Challenge in September 2022. Taryn was recognized as Port Moody’s 2019 Young  Entrepreneur of the Year and was a finalist for the Tri-Cities 2019 Young Professional of the Year. Taryn is very active in the community and is currently the president of Shop Local Port Moody and was also part of the Port Moody Economic Development Committee for two years.  Taryn’s favouritething about butchery – “The art of the industry. It’s constantly changing and there are always new things to learn and try.”

ROBIN KORT
Chef/Sommelier/Forager/Owner

In a lifetime of living, harvesting and cooking between the Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean near Vancouver, BC, Chef Robin has gathered an abundance of delicious local plants, wild mushrooms and fresh seafood into culinary repertoire. Her cooking has been influenced by her mother, grandmother and many chef mentors from around the world along the way.  Spain, Italy and Japan have long cooking traditions of using similar ingredients to her home, so regular pilgrimages to those places honed her cooking style. Her passion is sharing her collected research with you, connecting the dots from wilderness to plate and revealing delicious secrets from the forest to sea. Her advice is to gently follow the seasons and harvest what is offered freshest each month; shoots leaves in spring, summer seaweeds, flowers, fish and fruit, fall roots and mushrooms, winter seafood. Take the utmost care to pick only what is abundant and leave the rest for other beasts.

Dez Lo

Chef Deseree (Dez) Lo, born in Hong Kong and grew up in Taiwan, started working in the finance sector in New York City in the early 2000’s after graduating from New York University before deciding to pursue her lifelong passion for cooking.  She enrolled at the French Culinary Institute and embarked on an almost 2 decade long career since then.

Before moving to Vancouver, Canada in 2016, Chef Dez honed her skills and climbed the culinary ladder at some top New York restaurants, including La Grenouille, Oceana and Locanda Verde.  She worked at Cincin Restaurante until August 2019 as the Executive Sous Chef before joining the team at Old Bird as its opening chef in September 2019.  When the pandemic hit, she took on an unexpected role as the Chef and Sales Director at Fresh Ideas Start Here, a Vancouver-based seafood company. Chef Dez competed on season 10 of Top Chef Canada and finished as runner-up.  Most recently she was the Head Chef at Blank Canvas Catering and Chef-in-Residence for the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.  She is currently working as a private chef.