#sparkchamber 032723 — Matthew Ravenscroft
We’re one week into official “spring,” so let’s play word association: spring … gardening … veggies! What a delight to welcome to #sparkchamber the self-described “emotional support pet for cooking,” Matthew Ravenscroft. Head Chef at Gia in Toronto — plant-forward dining, and among the first restaurants in Canada to be recognized and recommended by the renowned Michelin Guide — Matthew wants to get you to “eat your damn veggies!”
Having cooked in kitchens his entire life, Matthew eventually ended up pursuing it as a career while he was finishing university. “As I continued to cook and develop myself, the biggest question I really became captivated by was, ‘Why don’t people LOVE eating vegetables?!’ Which then evolved into, ‘How can I change that?’” From there he focused on trying to showcase the beauty of cooking vegetables, the range they have, and ways we can prepare them to make them captivating, beautiful, and approachable simultaneously. “Plants are my religion. If religion was delicious, nourishing, beautiful, and a lot of fun on a grill.” From his website, “Why plants? Plants are the future. Because of the environment, because of health, because of ethics, because of cost, and because they are insanely delicious if you know some basics about cooking them. You don’t need any fancy tools or difficult techniques. The problem is that most people are still pretty intimidated by them. Changing that is my mission.” And he works tirelessly and joyfully at that, “regardless of whether you eat just plants, some plants, want to eat more plants. Maybe more importantly, what I strive to do is to make you feel more confident cooking plants in the kitchen and blowing your own mind when you cook food.”
What inspires his life’s work? “The list is infinite [but also super short] and ever-changing in a way that I love. What inspires me is everything: good, bad, frustrating, beautiful … everything in between. Even mundane. It all matters. I mean, most of all, NATURE! Time and time again, nature continues to blow my mind in what it is capable of achieving, showcasing, and the way in which it captivates us all. I just think it’s so damn neat what the world, and universe, offers us all.”
Bring it on! Let’s go Spring! Let’s go plants!
1.] Where do ideas come from?
This is a thought that really fascinates and keeps me up at night. It comes from everywhere — from the extraordinary to the mundane. I think it’s a process that is constantly happening that is often muffled by a lot of extra noise that we don’t need in our minds. I love how it strikes randomly at times, or is pulled apart over prolonged periods; sometimes it just flows naturally in the act of doing as well. It all creates something
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
I want people to give the same level of love and respect to a vegetable they pull from the ground that they would a steak.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
My work is really done by doing — I feel like most cooking is like that. But I feel that when I am working, I am referring to past experience as a guiding hand even when it’s something totally new. Mostly, when I cook or make food — the top thing in my mind is making something I haven’t eaten. Flow is just that — it ebbs and flows and I accept that for what it is [despite sometimes being hopelessly frustrated by it]. Even when I feel inspiration isn’t striking, I still do it — and sometimes happy accidents stem from that.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
In one sense, it’s once the plate is eaten and cleaned. In another sense, it’s never done – it’s just changing.
