The Current - Winnipeg teens win global culinary competition

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

A team of Canadian high school students took the top prize in an international culinary competition in France. We speak with cooking champions, Matea Thiessen-Unger and Avery Van Solkema about their journey from an after-school cooking program in Winnipeg to the Tablée des Chefs' Kitchen Brigades International Final in Paris, and Canadian celebrity chef Ricardo Larrivée about learning cooking skills for life.

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This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. In another international competition recently, Canada beat France over the weekend. No, not on the soccer pitch, but in the kitchen. A team of high schoolers from Winnipeg's Gordon Bell High School took home gold at the Tablet Chef Kitchen Brigade's International Final in Paris out-cooking the locals from Nice. It is a massive win for the after-school program, which teaches youth essential culinary skills. In a moment, we'll speak with the Quebec celebrity chef Ricardo,

spokesperson for this initiative. But first, we're joined by two of the champion chefs, 16-year-olds, Avery Van Sulkama, and Matea, Tessen Unger. They're in our Winnipeg studio. Good morning to you both. Hi. Good morning. Avery, congratulations.

Thank you so much. How does it feel to be called a champion? It's pretty amazing. Winning in Montreal was amazing enough, you know, getting the Canadian title. and then being flown out to Paris and being able to defeat a city known for their food in a cooking competition was just incredible.

Matea, what was it like in Paris? It was so much fun. Yeah, we got to see a lot of cool things, meet some awesome people, and I feel like the team just bonded overall. And you won. Yes. You were out, this was on a barge under the Eiffel Tower.

Is that right? Yeah, that's right. What was it? It was so cool. It was very hot cooking outside. As you know, the weather in Paris was like over 30 degrees each day. But, you know, it was very pretty and it was so cool to be able to cook under the Eiffel Tower. That's amazing. Avery, describe this competition. How does it work? So for our international final, all the ingredients are hidden from you before the competition starts. and when it does start, you get five minutes to prepare, take a look at all the different items they give you. They're just regular pantry items,

but you don't know what you're going to get. And you must include one Canadian ingredient and one French ingredient. So some Canadian ingredients were like maple syrup or corn, and French had olives, parmesan, goat cheese, stuff like that. And then you have an hour to prepare a dish highlighting your French and Canadian ingredients to present to the judges. And so what was your winning dish, Avery?

What did you cook? So we had pan-fried cod with maple-seared vegetables and potato chips with Burmontea, butter sauce, pesto, and a killer puree. How did you decide Matea on what it was that you were going to cook? As Avery said, there's a bit of mystery to all of this. There's some things that you can bring or that you have to bring, but you kind of have to think about what you're going to make. How did you decide what you guys were going to cook? Yeah, so it was a little unexpected, but we were actually able to make a last minute call to our chef back in Winnipeg. And during the planning time, we showed him our ingredients. He helped us

choose what we were going to use. And we've been in the competition a lot before. So we kind of have go-to recipes and I think that helped us a lot to decide what we were going to make. Just a guess, but was the maple, that was the Canadian element there? You brought some maple syrup? Yeah, that's right. Excellent. What sort of, you've been in these competitions before, Matea, so tell me about how you practice for something like this. How do you, it's like the Olympics, how do you train for a moment like this? We really have our chef trainer to thank for all of the training. he teaches us ways that we can cook whatever mystery ingredients we get. For example, hard vegetables, we will usually turn it into a puree or whatever protein we get.

We like to pan fry it. So it's just knowing these little tricks that really help us plant a dish. So there are those techniques that if you see those hard vegetables, you know, you don't freak out. You're like, this is what I'm going to do. I know what to do with this. Exactly. Avery, how do you stay calm? Because it's timed, right?

You have a certain amount of time to cook this. Yeah, it is. You get, it's an hour and five minutes. First five minutes is planning, and the rest you have to cook two or three plates, depending on what the judges want. I would say the easiest way to stay calm is just to focus on what you're doing.

You know, in this competition, for example, we had a scare when we were making our butter sauce. The pen was too hot. when we put our oil and butter in, and it totally exploded. The pan was popping and sizzling. And it was really scary and we lost a lot of points for it. But in the moment, you can't think about that.

You just got to keep on moving. If it's really bad, you just laugh it off, turn off the heat and keep on moving. When you're doing this, I mean, are there things that you're thinking about, that you have to focus? You want the dish to be delicious,

but does it all need to be prepared at the same time? What to you is the most, pressing kind of obstacle that you have to overcome in doing this? We have a lot of practice doing this because we've done it so much. We were competing last year as well. But I would say for us, we choose to do a lot of different techniques and a lot of different things in our dish. We make many different types of sauces.

We had, you know, three different sauces, this competition, as well as, you know, potato chips and glazed vegetables. So just finding the right time to do each of these is a, you know, especially difficult, especially considering this competition we had no oven and only two burners to work with. Matea, why did you want to do this? How did you fall into this world and why did you want to get involved in this? Yeah, so I actually joined the program last year and I had just heard about it through school. But before joining, I had been baking as a hobby and I'd also been cooking a little bit. So I thought this was a good opportunity to, you know, expand my cooking skills.

And, yeah, it just sounded like a lot of fun. Did you grow up in a house where there was a lot of, you were encouraged to cook? Or how did you end up falling in love with food? Yeah. So my parents believe that cooking is a very important life skill. They're right. Yeah. When I was about 10, I think,

they said I had to start making dinner once a week, so I could learn this life skill. And I would say it's helped me a lot. When they announced that you had won and that you had beat this team from Nice, Nice, to your point, Avery, is one of the great food cities in Europe. What was your reaction? I was really happy. It was a little bit funny because because we were in Paris and none of us know French, they announced it in French.

So we had to wait a second for our translator to get it. the message through to us. But once we heard it was happening, we were incredibly happy. Last year, we made it to the same spot. We were competing internationally and we lost. So just to be able to reclaim that against, you know, one of the most famous culinary cities in the world. We'll be right back with more of the current podcast. I am an actor, fresh out of theater school with big dreams and an even bigger drug habit. But things are pretty good. That is until my best friend is set up on a date with

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And okay, let's just say that not everyone in this story is who you think they are. Personally, Discount Dave and the Fix. Available now on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. So I mentioned him in the introduction. Ricardo is one of Quebec's best-known chefs, former TV host, cookbook author,

spokesperson for Le Tablet de Chef, which runs the Kitchen Brigade program. And he's been listening in. Ricardo, good morning to you. Good morning to you all. When you listen to these young people talk about winning and just also just talk about their love of cooking. I mean, what goes through your mind? Well, I still have like goosebumps when I hear at the end. I see this because it's exactly what we were dreaming of when we created this non-profitable

organization. It's about self-esteem. It's about giving back. It's about learning. It's about realizing when you're looking for who you're going to be, what you are going to do for living, when you start your life, you're in high school, everyone, generation to generation, we're just a big question mark, looking for answers. And when we started this program, we were only in difficult school, where it's socially, economically, it was tough. Now we are in overturned 350 schools in the country. And all of a sudden, it shows them that, hey, it doesn't matter where you're from. What's your language? What's your religion? What's your color? You can be who you want to be in this country. You can change your life.

life. But then you change your community, you change your country. And these kids, when I was looking at them, I was giving interviews to two of the radios and TV in Montreal and Toronto. And I was saying, look at them. They are what our politicians should be. They're managing problems. They're not screaming. They're organized. They're helping each other out. They know their forces. They know where they need help. And it's so much, I'd say, powerful. It's beautiful to look at them doing this. And again, self-esteem. Just to explain how the program works. As you mentioned, it's in, what, 350 schools, about 100,000 people have gone through this. How does it work? We have two big pillars. One is feeding people in need. So by requiring surplus food from hotels and restaurant, institution, big stadiums,

We do that through Canada, and this food that before was going to garbage is now redistributed. We're talking tons of food to all sort of charity program across the country. Then it's educating the next generation. We know they need to be able to cook for themselves, something healthy, affordable meals, develop long, live food skills, be able to read a label, to go to a grocery store, and to know what to choose and why they want to pick it. And then when you are around the table, we know that, that all of a sudden, especially in schools in cities like Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary,

where the new immigration, the new Canadians are arriving, what better place than learning, playing, eating together, learning how to cook, to discover, I mean, people that are different than you, but who are seeking the same thing as you. I mean, being listened to be able to love and to be loved, there's so many things we transfer through these classes. Can you explain, and it was interesting, Matea's parents talked about this,

that learning how to cook is a life skill. And I agree with that. I think it's really important. But we live in a time now where you don't have to. You can get, you know, your breakfast can be grab and go. You can eat as you're walking or you're on the subway or you're in a car and people order Uber eats. It just delivers to your.

your house and somebody knocks on the door and you get a paper bag and bring it into your home. What is the value of learning how to cook? Make the pitch for learning how to cook. Well, when you learn how to cook, not only are you going to be able to be in a healthier position in your life, but more than that, all the numbers are there, people are cooking who are eating together, have a better life, happier, less violence, bigger revenue, and you are less in need for any social security or health or or anything like that. Your couple is going to be happier. Whatever your couple is going to be. I mean, there's only good things. And through food, you're learning math, you're learning science.

you're learning English, a comma, a dot in a line, you need to know how to read to be able to cook properly. So many people, they call me, especially guys, I'd say, I've tried the recipe, but I did this and this and that's, yeah, of course it didn't work. You didn't read it properly. Read it properly. And these kids, they learn how to do that. When you want to double, they didn't mention it. But when they give the advice to the teams before, they know they have to prepare like four plates.

They have to sometimes double, divide, add. So there's a lot of skills around that. And more than that, I'd say even democracy is there. This five minutes where you are on a tremendous pressure, you have to decide where are you going to aim this recipe, how are you going to battle this? You have to listen and vote. and then take a stand and say, this is where we're going.

But each competition I see, sometimes it doesn't go as it was planned. All of a sudden, in a fraction of time, you have to take a decision again. And if a team is happy and working well together, they have better chances to win. And this is what they do. They learn how to work in the society when they have a class, where you have fun. And sometimes in certain schools in Toronto or Montreal where there's problems. You know, kids are fighting. There's not kids anymore.

It's almost like adults' problem where this is no Walt Disney World. But after a year or two of cooking together, they won't be, baby, best friends. But they realize they're aiming for the same goal in life. And that for an adult who's aiming, you know, a balance in after. society, when there's so much hatred right now, I think food can change things. And it starts in your house. And remember, when you cook with your family, when you eat together, eventually, you'll have a friend. You cross the street and you will have a meal in front of your house. But all of a sudden, you will discover, oh my God, it's different. They're not having the same food.

And you come back and you will share this with your family. All of a sudden, you open your eyes on the world. And this is what we want to do. We want to open their eyes on everything they're, they're capable of. They will be the next generation of Canadians. They will have to solve problem. We don't know how. And I think that one recipe at a time, we can have a better Canada. It's amazing that this is done in schools because I'm old enough to remember, and it still exists in some schools, but I had a home economics course where I had to go in and we went in and we learned how to cook in the classroom, in school. That was part of the grade.

And you don't have that kind of across the spectrum anymore. But is that something that you want back in schools? Is the ability to learn in class? It should be. I work for the last eight years of creating the new school problem. I mean, this new school model for Quebec. And we realize that, I mean, nowadays, the knowledge is at the tip of your finger. what they will need is very like they will need to learn how to work together and sports and

cooking and eating even gardening we can see this in Toronto Montreal is one of the skills that will help them solve different problems eventually and just for that we should bring back you know, food. And we have to know that almost one, it's almost 30% of Canadians will have food problems in, in their lives. And it's a huge number in a rich country as ours. And knowing how to cook when tough, when things are tough, is very important to go to some kids, they have to, to go, prepare the meal for their family in the convenience store. And it's not the best place to have the best deals and everything. So these classes have nutrition. They've talked about it. We teach them how to balance a plate and not according to marketing, according to health and nutritionists across the country.

So it's beautiful to see them be better than us adults. And they're just starting their lives. Matea, you are now a champion in the kitchen. And so what happens now? You love to cook. Do you want to end up cooking in restaurants? What do you want to do with not just your winning, but your love of food? Yeah, I mean, it's obviously a huge honor for me and like just a huge achievement. So I'm really happy that my passion for food has paid off and this is what has come of it.

However, I don't think I'll be pursuing a career in food. but I will say that the program has taught me many life skills related to cooking. Avery, what about for you? Where do you see this taking you? It's hard to say. I think cooking is really amazing just as life skill, but also being around my chef trainer and other chefs I've met through the program. It's a really cool and amazing job.

So I'm not quite sure yet, but it's an option for sure. and after this trip, seeing where it can take me, it'll always be at the front of my mind. Ricardo, just last word to you. One of the great pleasures in life is cooking food for somebody else. You can cook for yourself,

but if you cooks something for somebody and you serve it to them, it's like an act of love in some ways. It's a pure act of love. And even though cooking is very important, I always say, remember one thing, cooking, the food is just the excuse to be together.

to spend time with people we love that we choose and it doesn't matter at the end what we eat but we have to eat it with people and what's beautiful about this theme from Winnipeg is that they were the underdogs when you talk about and you think about you know like fancy food and a capital of foodies you're not thinking Winnipeg

but they won in Montreal and then in Paris they were probably thinking the Parisian that, oh, we're going to win. It's a, you know, it's a team from so far away in Canada. But at the end, again, I had shivers and goosebumps and, hey, never, never underestimate kids anywhere in the country because they are fantastic. And they have these skills that they can learn in a couple of classes.

I mean, they're not trained chef. They're kids who are having classes after school and put their passion to do this and to see the bright eyes of their parents so proud of them. I'm so happy. It's 20 years I'm doing this, and it's the most beautiful, rewardful thing that I do in my life is to see these young future Canadians do something with their lives and to see how happy they are by winning every day, just cooking together. That's fabulous.

They might think of Winnipeg as the food capital of Canada. Who knows? Maybe now that there's champions from Winnipeg, Winnipeg might tate that mantle. They have changed the game. Ricardo, it's really good to talk to you again. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

Have you beautiful. And Matea and Avery, congratulations. And thanks again. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. Ricardo is a spokesperson for La Tabelaide de Chef and Matea Tieson Unger and Avery Van Solkma. Make a part of the winning Kitchen Brigade team.

From Gordon Bell High School in Winnipeg. They just returned victorious from Paris and we're in our Winnipeg studio. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.