Canada’s Largest Family Meal

Bring out your plates and utensils for Canada’s Largest Family Meal at CooksCamp 2024! Throughout the day, a select team of guest chefs will prepare a multiple course, family-style meal for attendees. Chefs will utilize ingredients from the foraging expedition and butchery demonstration, while attendees are encouraged to engage freely: observe, ask questions, or lend a hand!

James Walt – Il Caminetto

One of the country’s leading chefs, a cookbook author and a “farm-to-table” pioneer, James Walt continues to inspire his guests, creating compelling regional cuisine based on local, sustainable ingredients. A graduate of the Stratford Chefs School, his impressive culinary career spans across several of British Columbia’s leading restaurants including a four-year tenure at Sooke Harbour House and as opening chef to sister restaurant Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver. James was also Executive Chef to the Canadian Embassy in Rome, Italy; an experience that helped shape the way he cooks today.

James is Whistler’s only chef to cook at the celebrated James Beard House in New York City where he has performed on three separate occasions. He has been voted best chef in Whistler by Pique Newsmagazine and was inducted into the British Columbia Restaurant Association Hall of Fame in 2011.

James continues to oversee the kitchens of Araxi, The Cellar by Araxi and Bar Oso in addition to his new duties at Il Caminetto.

James lives in nearby Squamish where he works closely with local farmers and producers and personally selects the freshest ingredients featured on the Il Caminetto menu.

 Nathan Lowey – Dosanko

Born and raised in Regina, chef Nathan Lowey is dedicated to learning—and mastering—the traditions of his trade. He received his Red Seal Journeyman Certificate at the Northern Alberta Institute of Training in 2006 and later earned the role of chef de cuisine at Edmonton’s Jack’s Grill, one of the city’s premier fine-dining establishments at the time. In 2009, he relocated to Vancouver with the intention of working under acclaimed local chef Robert Belcham. Nathan was soon hired as chef de partie at Belcham’s now defunct Refuel and would go on to serve as chef de cuisine at the award-winning Campagnolo and Campagnolo Roma. Along the way, he has cultivated relationships with local farmers and become a proponent of “slow cooking”, which values handcraftsmanship, quality products, and upholding the integrity of individual ingredients. In 2017 He and his wife opened Dosanko Restaurant. A Japanese yōshoku concept, Japanese western style dishes, Where he uses local products and his French and Italian cooking techniques to make and create the dishes they serve.

Minette Lotz  – The Restaurant at Poplar Grove

Chef Minette Lotz’s passion is for terroir-driven and locally-sourced ingredients. An avid forager, Minette finds her inspiration from exploring her surroundings and discovering new flavour combinations. A firm believer in what grows together, goes together, Minette creates dishes that are true to the exact time, place, and season they are created in.

Stacy Johnston – The Restaurant at Poplar Grove

Growing up on her grandparents’ Saskatchewan homestead ingrained in Stacy a deep appreciation for excellent farming practices. Focusing on her food system ‘from the ground up’, Stacy strives to create food that tells the story of the ingredients, their farmers, and the season. With her partner in life and work, Minette, Stacy has cooked across western Canada including an impactful time with Ocean Wise and opening the Naramata Inn in 2020. As the Executive Chef of ‘The Restaurant at Poplar Grove’, her menu reflects the micro seasons, farmers, fishers and producers of the bountiful Okanagan.

Nick Musser – Bargreen Ellingson

Nick Musser was born in Boise, Idaho and was educated at Boise State University, where he studied classical viola and conducting.  He moved to the Seattle area in 1986 to continue his musical education.  To pay his way through college, he went to work at the Rusty Pelican restaurant and soon realized that he had a passion for food and cooking. He continued his culinary “education” doing stints as kitchen manager, sous chef, chef and executive chef at such Seattle restaurants as; McCormick & Schmick’s, McCormick’s Fish House, Yarrow Bay Grill and Beach Café and Flying Fish.  Musser’s culinary talents had become well know in Seattle and he was invited to join a new concept, icon Grill, for the restaurant’s opening in 1998. He spent the next 20 years growing it from a company of one restaurant to 4 from Seattle to Northern California as Corporate Executive chef, developing the group’s Aroused Amerciana food concept. Nick was approached by the ownership of Bargreen Ellingson in July of 2017 to take the roll of Corporate Chef for their Northwest based restaurant equipment distribution company to act as the lead culinary educator for their sales team and ever-expanding client base.Deeply involved in the community, Nick has volunteered for such events as Fare Start, Taste of the Nation, and has donated his culinary talents for charity auctions in support of such organizations as the Multiple Sclerosis Society.  He is well-known all-over town for his popular cooking classes at such venues as Sur La Table and Bon Vivant.  Chef Musser has also demonstrated his culinary prowess for KOMO TV, KCPQ 13, and on-stage at “Seattle, Cooks!” and “The Home Show”.

Danny Capadouca – Cacao Barry & Okanagan College

Chef Danny Capadouca had joined the Okanagan College in 2014 as the Pastry Arts Instructor. Chef Capadouca is instructing the fulltime Pastry Arts program, as well as the apprenticeship program, preparing the students to be certified in the Baking and Pastry Industry. Originally from Vancouver, BC, Chef Danny Capadouca attended Culinary School at Vancouver Community College. Upon graduation Chef Capadouca started his apprenticeship in Vitre, France. Returning to Vancouver to complete his apprenticeship training. In 2005 he went on to learn about chocolate at Vancouver’s prestigious Chocolate Arts with Greg Hook. Chef Capadouca relocated to the beautiful Okanagan in 2007.
Chef Capadouca is very active in the community always lending a hand volunteering and spending time with young chefs. Always watching what is going on in the industry his passion is expanding his knowledge of the industry and sharing that knowledge with the younger generations of Chefs and Pastry Chefs.

Daniel Kim – Boulevard Kitchen and Oyster Bar

Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar Chef de Cuisine Daniel Kim has already established his reputation as a rising star in Vancouver’s culinary scene. Armed with creativity, style and technical skills to spare, Kim began his career in the kitchen at South Granville staple West shortly after graduating from high school in 2012. It was during his two years there as a chef de partie that Kim sampled his first taste of high-pressure culinary competitions when he helped then-Executive Chef Quang Dang secure a podium finish at the 2013 Bocuse d’Or national selection competition in Montreal. After a stint cooking at Gastown’s Wildebeest, Kim joined the back-of-house brigade at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar in 2015, where he was mentored by such notable chefs as Bobby Milheron, Roger Ma and Vancouver Magazine’s 2018 Chef of the Year Alex Chen. Kim bolstered his competitive skills by playing a key role in the restaurant’s wins at the 2015 and ’17 Gold Medal Plates regionals in Victoria and the 2018 and 2020 Canadian Culinary Championships and Boulevard’s recent accolades at the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. Kim also won the 2018 edition of the prestigious annual Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Finals in Toronto and the 2021 Garland Competition at the Restaurants Canada Show.