Chef Michèle
Michèle Lavoie is a renowned 5-star Michelin chef from Montreal, Canada. Growing up in a small Canadian village in the Quebec countryside, Michèle was inspired by early cooking shows like Martha Stewart and reruns of the Galloping Gourmet. She started by whipping up creations from a young age out of whatever she could find in the house. For a young Michèle, leftovers and scraps were just ingredients with bonus flavour. Although not always pleasant to look at, her creations always tasted remarkable. Coming from a poorer working-class home, Michèle’s parents worked multiple jobs, but even then, their meagre earnings couldn’t always keep fresh food on the table. What that meant is once she was old enough, her job was to stretch the food budget as far as it could go, as well as being tasked with making meals for the household as her parents came and went in between shifts. Growing up, this way has given her a healthy respect for having access to fresh food but also a master class from the school of life on how to not be wasteful with limited resources.
At the age of 18, Michèle joined the Navy, where she could apply her uncanny skill for making amazing meals out of the most mundane of supplies. This was Michèle’s life for several years, touring the world on a Canadian ship, sailing port to port wherever needed, and running drills, war games, and other defence-focused training exercises. This could have been enough for Michèle, because her upbringing tempered her expectations for greatness. If we’re being honest, she was more than satisfied to live a life at sea surrounded by friends and doing the thing she loved most… cooking. Life, however, had other plans and on one fateful day during a training exercise a live round backfired in one of the long-range turret guns, blowing the ammunition shell through the top deck right into the mess hall where Michèle was preparing the days meal. The last thing she remembered was the sound of an explosion, a bright light, red, and then the world went blurry. When she awoke, they had strapped her to a bed in the medical bay, lucky to be alive considering the shape of the mess hall. And although she escaped with her life, she didn’t escape completely intact. Losing her dominant left arm below the elbow, she would not only be honourably discharged from service because of her injuries but was also forced to re-learn virtually everything using a hand that felt more foreign to her than the prosthetic cap and stump left behind after the accident.
As they say, “c’est la vie”. If anything, Michèle was determined and never one to let life keep her down. For her, when you get knocked down you get back up… you wipe away the blood, the sweat, and you dig deeper to rise above the challenge, and rise above she did. Returning home for a year, she focused on her rehabilitation and her family never ate better for their trouble. Repetition breeds muscle memory and on the saddest days, where Michèle would give anything to have her old life back, she found solace at the stove, mixing and mashing ingredients in exciting new ways to come up with the most amazing dishes one could imagine. Once more confident in her abilities and independence, Michèle moved to Montreal and found work as a sous chef at a small local Italian mom and pop restaurant in the Mile End district. This is where she honed her skills for the classically trained side of cooking that she would never have had the opportunity to experience. She cooked under her mentor for years, and as she worked on her attention to detail, her food presentation skills strengthened, an area that was always lacking with her cooking. Over that time, he gave her more and more control over the menu, guiding her on responsible choices and teaching her how to reign in her quest to punch up the flavour in every bite. She learned about complimenting raw flavours and presenting them as mise-en-place.
One such menu item caught the attention of a local food critic, which brought the eye of the media and, soon after, the local public. As her popularity spread, Michèle was being invited to cook for dignitaries visiting Montreal. This opportunity gave her the chance to show off her creativity and skill, which has earned her the reputation of one of the most sought-after chefs in the world. She is always innovating, experimenting, and exploring new ways of creating the perfect culinary experience. Michèle loves to learn about the different cultures and their foods, because for her, the stories of where the dishes came from can be just as important to the process as fusing the tastes together. Her cooking often incorporating its history and culture into the presentation of the dishes.
Formative – Key Memories 🧠
Michèle takes great pride in her work, but with that pride comes the obligation to be certified in the important areas of her occupation. Michèle’s skill set and certification is brought to every meal, recipe, and instruction card for cuisine preparation. For Michèle, the recipe creation approach at the core, leaning into the idea of mise-en-place as an approach to ingredient curation, that everything has its place. Up-to-date on all HACCP standards, Michèle talent comes naturally, now mixed with trained culinary techniques. ServSafe certified, along with other internationally recognized culinary certifications, Michèle is a master of team leadership while in her flavour lab. No one can run a kitchen or prepare a special menu quite like she can.
Over time, and as her popularity spread, she became a bit of a celebrity chef, with a range of endorsements and a huge social media following. Determined to continue to learn and grow as a chef, her ambition and drive has made her one of the most respected chefs in the world. In between the television sets and special guest appearances, Michèle can be found at home, in her own kitchen, where she experiments with all the new recipes rattling around in her head, just waiting to be brought to life. Some seek stardom, but in her case it was thrust upon her. It’s a double-edged knife, and something she would gladly give back, if it meant having the freedom to be left in the solitude of her creations.
People age, it’s the natural way of existence. As she took on more responsibility at the restaurant, her mentor had slowed down. At the time of her discovery, Michèle was mostly running the kitchen herself, and when the day came where he was ready to retire, with no children of his own, he gifted the restaurant to his protégé. Even with world travel making it difficult to return home, it’s still her favourite kitchen when she is back in Montreal. She spends time nostalgically whipping up all the classic dishes she created in the beginning. The restaurant is still operating to this day, with the same local feeling, and it still has the cult following that launched her career.
Interests and Skill
💟[ Braising ] . [ Caramelization ] . [ Cycling ] . [ Defense Focused Training Exercises ] . [ Fishing ] . [ Flambé ] . [ Food Budgeting ] . [ Glazing ] . [ Hiking ] . [ Marinating ] . [ Meditation ] . [ Philosophy ] . [ Photography ] . [ Pickling ] . [ Poaching ] . [ Running ] . [ Roasting ] . [ Sailing ] . [ Searing ] . [ Steaming ] . [ Stir-Frying ] . [ Stretching ] . [ Tie Dye ] . [ Yoga ] . [ Fermenting ] . [ Frying ] . [ Curing Processes ] . [ Sous Vide ]
🤹[ Baking ] . [ Dancing ] . [ Glass Blowing ] . [ HACCP Standards ] . [ Ikebana ] . [ Ingredient Curation ] . [ International Cuisine ] . [ Martial Arts ] . [ Mise-En-Place ] . [ Recipe Creation ] . [ ServSafe Certified ] . [ Ship Maintenance ] . [ Team Leadership ] . [ Food Grilling ] . [ Food Presentation ] . [ Food Smoking ] . [ Fluently Multilingual French Canadian ] . [ Flavor Balancing ] . [ Cooking ]
Michèle Lavoie is a renowned 5-star Michelin chef from Montreal, Canada. Growing up in a small Canadian village in the Quebec countryside, Michèle was inspired by early cooking shows like Martha Stewart and reruns of the Galloping Gourmet. She started by whipping up creations from a young age out of whatever she could find in…