Never, ever say that are women who do lunch.
Unless you mean that they grow the food, cook it, choose the wine, hire the staff, host the meal and then critique and promote the entire experience.
Its about the love of food, the depth of knowledge and the excitement we get talking about food, says Nancy Wong over lunch a working lunch at Shaughnessy Restaurant.
We want to give back and be with like-minded people, agrees Pam Williams.
Mary Mackay takes a bite of her Nicoise salad the slightly seared tuna is a West Coast touch and adds, as a collective, the networking opens us up to new things and exposes us to different trends.
Wong owns Culinary Communications, a media relations company that specializes in food and restaurants. Her business card says MBA but really she has a Masters in multi-tasking shes also the director of marketing and communications for VanDusen Botanical Garden.
Williams is the owner of and if ever there was a Masters of Chocolate, shed have it. Her professional school of chocolate arts complements her website, ChocoMap.com, which is an exploration of all things chocolate.
Mackay is the head baker at . She must have one of the best-smelling jobs in the entire city, in charge of what comes out of the hearth ovens at the citys popular artisan bakery.
Each woman is an expert in her own field but can also talk knowingly about all aspects of food and wine. This is partly due to aptitude, partly due to what they learn from the other members of Les Dames. Their passion for the arts of the table is naturally infectious but theres also a deep commitment to supporting excellence and the women who make it happen.
Its a sense we all have when we know weve tapped into something good, says Mackay.
When she started out as a chef 25 years ago, Vancouvers food scene was fairly receptive to women but she remembers moving to Quebec and being the only woman in the kitchen. Although she had the skill level to do much more, she was relegated to making salads for eight hours a day. Eventually I snuck my way into pastries. Maybe they thought it was a little softer, she says with a laugh.
Indeed, Les Dames dEscoffier was formed because women werent allowed into the prestigious Les Amis dEscoffier.
And now, having achieved so much in their own careers, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»members of Les Dames want to help women entering the field, whether they are 17 years old and starting a vegan bakery or a woman whose mid-life epiphany is a desire to become a professional sommelier. The scholarship fund often provides that extra bit of help that makes following the dream possible.
To find out more about Les Dames, its opportunities and its scholarships, visit LesDames.ca.
