This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
In April 2022, Ricardo Larrivee announced his departure from the popular show bearing his first name, which he had hosted for 21 years on Radio-Canada. It was Isabelle Deschamps Plante, his collaborator of recent years, who took over last September. With her impressive CV (24 years of experience in the kitchen, executive chef of Café Ricardo restaurants, responsible for developing recipes for the magazine Ricardojudge on the show The Chiefs !), it turns out to be the logical replacement for the guru of the “best” recipes in Quebec. She is now at the helm of the show Isabelle and Ricardo’s cooking for a little over two months. What if we discovered more?
From the outset, Isabelle Deschamps Plante does not consider that she replaces Ricardo. She prefers to say that she “takes her time slot” since, according to her, it is impossible to replace it, both on television and in people’s hearts and kitchens.
“I signed up for a wild gathering workshop last spring,” she says. People have nicknamed me in many ways, like “the next generation” or “Ricardette”. I told them no, I’m none of that. I am Isa. »
Isabelle is a girl from the Île d’Orléans who has cultivated her gourmet curiosity since early childhood. “When I was little, I went grocery shopping with my mother, and when I saw a food that I didn’t know, she bought it for me. That’s how I discovered mango and star fruit, to name just a few. »
Really passionate about cooking, she studied food service and restaurant management techniques in Quebec, then was quickly hired at restaurant 47e Parallel (now Quarante 7). She will first be a cook there, and then a pastry chef.
In addition to gastronomy, another area excites him: education. By day, she studies a bachelor’s degree in preschool and primary education at Laval University, and in the evening, she can be found behind the stove at the restaurant. “I have this educational side in me, I like to popularize cooking,” explains the woman who now has a very large audience to whom she can pass on her knowledge.
Contagious good humor
Isabelle Deschamps Plante was revealed to the public in 2013, when she participated in the show The Chiefs !. She obtains second position in the competition, and we then discover a woman with many talents in cooking, charismatic, probably very kind and endowed with a lot of potential. She returned to the show the following year for a special season, “Revenge”, from which she again came second. Isabelle was far from suspecting that this was the beginning of her career on the small screen.
“Making TV is a completely different job than being a cook,” admits Isabelle, who had no experience in that at the time. In addition, you have to learn to manage your time to make a recipe. It looks so easy when Ricardo is doing it, but in reality, it’s something else! »
After his notable appearances at Chiefs!she agrees to become a collaborator on the show The grocery store. “That’s when I realized I loved doing TV,” she says. In order to perfect her appearances, she works with an accompanist every week. His wish ? “That people, when they see me on TV, see the real me. »
She continues: “I am often told that I find happiness easy and that I have good team spirit. I will be happy if I am able to convey my good mood on screen. »
The Ricardo era
Like many Quebecers, Isabelle has admired Ricardo since the start of his career. “My mother and I listened to Ricardo when he was a columnist on the show Clodine’s seasons, When I was young. We put it on pause, the time to follow the steps of its recipe,” she says, a bit nostalgic. So it was a little surreal for her to be invited to collaborate on his show in 2016.
“I still remember my first recipe cooked with Ricardo. It was carrot cake. I thought I was going to pass out! » This memory still makes her laugh.
Even if making television was a big challenge for her, the fact remains that opening Café Ricardo was even more so. The chef, who moved from Quebec to Montreal to accept the position, had to understand what Ricardo was looking for and associate it with his cuisine. “He told me, ‘You’re going to know exactly when I take a bite of your recipe and I’m going to like it.’ »
Yes, she ended up not only understanding Ricardo, but also mastering his style, energizing his vision as well as offering her personal touch while embodying that of her mentor.
“Ricardo looks for tasty, simple and accessible dishes that introduce you to new foods or new ways of preparing them. » She is now able to summarize her ambition easily.
The beginning of a new time
Isabelle’s autumn is busy: her show allows her to cook to the rhythm of the seasons and to present her refreshing vision of locavorism, concepts that she has always advocated. “It’s really important for me to put local ingredients in the spotlight,” she assures, “but I also consider that it’s my role. I have an incredible platform to do this and I’m going to use it. »
Who knows, thanks to her, maybe Quebecers will finally succeed in swapping vanilla for sweet clover or lemon for sea buckthorn, while adding more Nordic berries, river products and edible flowers to their plates.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.