We are very excited to welcome Chef Jenni Lessard to the team as our Executive Chef!
Chef Jenni grew up in a small cabin at Lamp Lake, just north of La Ronge. TV reception was poor so she spent much of her childhood playing in the boreal forest, picking berries and cooking. Jenni took this deep connection to food with her as she moved around exploring new places. She moved back to Saskatchewan and started New Ground Cafe’ in Birch Hills in 2005 serving up Fair trade coffee and a chalkboard menu fusing local ingredients with global flavours. Here, Jenni was listed as a “Top Foodie Under Forty” by Western Living. In 2012 Jenni switched her career focus to catering. She was the Chef in Residence at the Saskatoon Farmer’s Market from 2014-2016 and is active with Slow Food Saskatoon, having attended the international Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy. Jenni took the Gold Medal Plates competition by storm in 2017 clinching the silver medal in Saskatoon with the only vegetarian plate in the running, and bronze medalist in 2018 in Canada’s Great Kitchen Party. She was also just named one of Canada’s Next Top Chefs in the Canada’s Kitchen: 2019 Edition of the Globe and Mail. People who attend Jenni’s events are treated to her gift of storytelling and dedication to local ingredients, drawing inspiration from Indigenous food systems as well as her own Métis heritage.
