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Lineup of chefs to dazzle at B.C. Shellfish Festival

More than 20 award-winning B.C. chefs, the largest lineup in the event’s 10-year history, will create incredible culinary experiences
43117cowichanvalleycitizenMattHorn
Matt Horn

More than 20 award-winning B.C. chefs, the largest lineup in the event’s 10-year history, will create incredible culinary experiences throughout the B.C. Shellfish and Seafood Festival in the Comox Valley, June 9-19, during BC Seafood Month.

From seafood infused events at local wineries and breweries, to chef cooking demonstrations and pairings, from competitions to tours, chefs from across the province will present B.C.’s finest seafood throughout the 11 days of the festival. The signature event, the Comox by the Sea Celebration, is on Saturday, June 18, noon to 5 p.m., Filberg Heritage Lodge and Park, downtown Comox. Guest chefs include chef Nathan Fong who will lead the Comox by the Sea afternoon of celebrations, seafood tasting and chef demonstrations.

Fong has been working for 27 years with Global BCTV with his Saturday Chefs and Fong on Food segments, is a food columnist for the Vancouver Sun and a regular contributor to CBC Radio One. He’s  earned various awards.

Chef Quang Dang will be there too from his normal gig in West restaurant in Vancouver. Raised in Calgary, with roots extending to Scotland and Vietnam, he moved to Vancouver in 1998 to complete his engineering degree and fulfill his dream to train for the Olympics. The art of cuisine ultimately won him over as a part-time sous chef and has since competed in several international food competitions including Lyon France and Brussels.

Chef Hidekazu Tojo of Tojo’s in Vancouver will be bringing his Japanese culinary expertise to BCSSF 2016. As a young man in Japan, he worked 16-hour days for the famous Ohnoya restaurant, which helped him realize that strict and traditional cookery boundaries were not for him. He moved to Canada in 1971 in search of an audience who could understand his appreciation for Japanese cooking techniques and North American taste.

You can also come and cheer some of the leading oyster shuckers from some of B.C.’s top seafood restaurants, at the Fanny Bay Oyster Shucking Championship. This year the competition will emceed by the Guinness Book of World Record holder and international shucking champion, Toronto’s Shucker Paddy.

Other feature chefs participating in the festival include locals chef Matt Horn of the Cowichan Pasta Company in Cowichan Bay and chef Andrew Shepard of the Vancouver Island Salt Company in Cobble Hill.

For tickets and festival getaway packages visit BCShellfishFestival.com or call the Vancouver Island Visitor Centre, 1-855-400-2882.