Chef Shane Chartrand: An understanding of protocol

By Laura Mushumanski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – The relationship one has with food is intimate, it is a bond and an understanding of reciprocity—not only what food can do for us, but how these plants and animals – these living spirits – teach us to engage with the world that brings light and life to things we would have otherwise not known. Chef Shane Chartrand has built an intimate relationship with plants and animals, stemming from when he was a young child to present day. As a chef, he combines elements and richness of culture and history of stories from the land that have shaped communities, with togetherness and sustenance.

“I am a child in my brain when it comes to imagination and when it comes to dreams…I like to be inspired by people’s cooking. I like to eat things people do that I would never have thought about…Sometimes I get blown away with people’s artistry in culinary.  … I love being jealous. Jealousy is a good thing—it makes me want to get back in my kitchen and cook more, it gets my culinary heart beating a little faster.”

The tenacity, focus, and discipline that came with Chartrand becoming a chef, is not just about cooking, instead it is a way of life—an understanding of protocol that takes many years of learning, observing, listening, respecting, engaging with and honouring practices of what it means for Shane to be an Indigenous chef.

“My first job was at a legitimate greasy spoon truck stop. I moved my way up to a short order cook. I got really enthralled being around a hot stove, being around big equipment. What really made me stick through it was when I decided I was going to be the best chef I could ever be—the best chef in the world. I remember people telling me, ‘Why are you going to be a chef?’ … People kept saying ‘no you won’t be,’ thinking it was a joke. The more they pissed me off, [the more] I wanted to prove them wrong.”

Cooking is one thing. Practicing as a chef, the lifestyle of a chef, is an entirely different way a person walks in the world. It takes a rigorous amount of grit and self-determination to immerse several perspectives into the artistry of becoming a chef. Learning about the plants and animals and how they interact with each other, bringing creations that share a story of land and place onto the plate—and all while bringing people together—the one thing that has brought all relations to an understanding over breaking bread with one another. For Chartrand, it is not just about cooking, this is his heart’s work.

“I did this all on my own—I didn’t have anyone tell me, show me; I didn’t have a mentor. I did it on my own because I wanted to, and I worked really hard at it. … that’s how it started, by people telling me no.”

As an Indigenous chef, Chartrand has paved the way for the next generations and what it means to bring being an Indigenous person into the culinary world. One thing that he has come to know differently—the advice he would gift his younger self is “make sure you think about you first—always … focus, focus, focus. The world is full of such excitement, there is so much to see, don’t let anyone get in your way. The biggest thing is getting up—it is a very simple thing, but get up, no matter how tired you are. Once you are up, you are going, you are back on track and your mind is there. Keep smiling and get up.”

Enjoy a delicious selection of Chef Chartrand’s cuisine at Paperbirch by Chartrand on Saturdays at the Old Strathcona Farmer’s Market in Edmonton.