Chef David Lee carves out Canadian cuisine

By Claire Sibonney

TORONTO (Reuters Life!) - Chef David Lee is obsessed with local ingredients. The co-owner of Splendido, one of Toronto's most celebrated restaurants, is known for bringing Canada's best offerings to discriminating palates.

With dishes such as Quebec foie gras sous-vide, butter-poached Nova Scotia lobster and Ontario pulled suckling pig, Lee inspires diners to indulge in what makes Canadian cuisine just that.

A third generation chef, Lee, 37, was born and raised in England, but with a background that combines Chinese, Mauritian and French heritage, the repertoire he draws from is as diverse as the multicultural makeup of his adopted home turf.

In an interview with Reuters, he talks about his inspirations, flavor philosophy and last meal on earth.

Q: Describe your style of cuisine:

A: "I think our philosophy here at Splendido is definitely a food- and ingredient-driven restaurant in the sense of supporting the local farmers. And when I say that, I mean I go and visit the farms and go and see the cattle that I'm serving to my guests. I go and see how they're being treated, how they're being fed, what they put in there, so it's basically from farm to table in essence."

Q: What is Canadian cuisine?

A: "Is it the poutine from Quebec, is it the steamed lobster that they eat in Nova Scotia? I think that Canadian cuisine is basically what I put on my plate. At the end of the day, it's from where I source it. I think it's a very difficult question that I can't answer. It definitely has to be local to be Canadian cuisine. French cuisine is very easy. I can tell you it's very heavy, it's very rich. I can tell you about Chinese cuisine, it could be spicy, they have a lot of provinces in the sense of, is it Szechuan, is it Cantonese? But in terms of Canadian cuisine, it's still happening. I don't think it's happened yet."