Chef Jamie Hodges Sources Absolutely Locally in Ontario

New Zealander Jamie Hodges and his partner Amber Thom operate Epicurious Catering in Kingston, Ontario, and will soon open Juniper Café serving food sourced completely locally.

Originally from Wellington, Hodges graduated from City and Guild’s London Diploma of Culinary Arts in 2001. By 2004 he was working at Whistler in British Columbia, followed by award-winning Cibo Trattoria in Vancouver.

If you love your community, eat local food. That’s the message from Hodges and Thom; they practise what they preach.

Hodges, who co-founded Epicurious Catering in Vancouver eight years ago, explains: “If you source from local farmers you know, you keep the local food economy strong. The more people who work locally, the more people who can shop locally.

“Here [in Kingston], we can see the farms,” he says as he points toward Wolfe Island. “What’s available here is so fresh.”

“There’s a great market for food in this town. The hottest thing in New York City, New Zealand and Australia are the cafés. We need more of them in Canada.”

Original article by Mark Bergin, Kingston Heritage, April 2, 2015.