Ottawa Citizen: Arctic char and caribou on the menu as new resident NAC chef arrives
When Sheila Flaherty took the plunge and launched her cooking career, the weather on that November night in Iqaluit was as bad as her food...
Chef
Sheila Flaherty
Iqaluit · NU · Canada
Last updated: July 8, 2021
With a love of cuisine that originated in Ottawa, while observing and absorbing her father’s passion for cooking, Chef Sheila Flaherty now brings us the experience of authentic inuksuit cuisine, (or Inuit food), from her home in Iqaluit.
Her roots in the North, however, are anything but recent. Her mother originates from Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories, and Chef Flaherty is committed to sharing her love for traditionally-made inuksuit with the rest of Canada and the world, as well as her innovative take on tradition and use of inuksiutit (country food) with the people of her community.
Chef Flaherty is both the first Inuk Chef to appear on MasterChef Canada, and the first to work collaboratively on the menu for Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s ‘A Taste of the Arctic’ here at the NAC. Her menus have also been featured in places like Nuuk, Greenland and New York City.
She is currently in the planning stage for a new business with her husband, called sijjakkut, which means “by the seashore”. The business will offer a tasting menu that will evoke lasting memories right in the heart of Inuit Nunangat, Inuit homeland, with one taste.
We’re thrilled that Chef Flaherty has agreed to join us to kick off the new season of Resident Chefs in September 2021, and to share a vision of modern inuksuit usually reserved for her northern community.
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Chefs from every region of Canada are invited to demonstrate their artistry and vision of what Canadian cuisine can be, and to share their knowledge and culinary innovation.