This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
This week, nearly 1,000 people converged on New City Gas in Montreal to take part in the Lauriers de la gastronomie québécoise gala. Restaurant professionals, artisans, producers, media, personalities and epicureans from across the province were there to celebrate the 2023 winners in 17 categories, but also to form a common front and highlight their pride. A perfect opportunity to take stock of their mission and the five years of challenges and small and big victories of the Lauriers, destined for an environment that is as radiant as it is resilient.
The Lauriers de la gastronomie québécoise gala resembles at first sight several cultural high masses. We meet people in long dresses and suits, we strike a pose on the red carpet, we shake hands, then we attend a large-scale show where we crown professionals.
But the Lauriers are much more than that. It is first of all the hard work of a handful of women who are neither chefs nor producers in order to promote an environment that they love deeply. As Christine Plante, co-founder of this event and the contest associated with it, tells us, “nine years ago, I started to carry out two projects simultaneously: that of becoming a mother and that of the Lauriers. And it took me as much love, kindness and dedication on one side as on the other”.
Between trial and error, laughter and tears, against winds and pandemic, Christine Plante and Michelle Labarre, with their small team, succeeded in convincing the people on the floor, as well as the media and government authorities. “And that takes strength,” insisted the spirited sister Angèle, to whom we paid tribute to the Laurels this year.
However, the Lauriers’ mission goes beyond this team. “I’ve been here since day 1 of this event, because I firmly believe that all gastronomy professions deserve to be valued and that it’s a great way to highlight people who work very hard to feed us. at all levels,” emphasizes chef Ricardo Larrivee. To which sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin, co-chair of the jury for the 2023 edition alongside pastry chef Patrice Demers, adds: “Les Lauriers also allows us to come together. We have very few opportunities to do so by forgetting our daily worries. »
The gastronomic culture here and its stars
Beyond the reunion and the party, the Lauriers gala, designed in the same way as that of the ADISQ, wishes to send a clear message: gastronomy is a major cultural aspect of Quebec, just like cinema, music or the performing arts. Christine Plante has been hammering it on all the stands for five years: “Local gastronomy is the very first thing you want to discover when you travel or settle somewhere. It is also an artistic process. When you taste a chef’s dish, you recognize his touch, his sound, like an album. »
The role of the Lauriers is therefore to make all aspects of this gastronomy shine, including those which are not often in the spotlight, such as agricultural production, service, baking, crafts. And talent, there is no shortage of it in Quebec in the 17 award-winning categories! Dozens of names, known or which deserve to be, are finalists each year. If these stars shone more in Montreal in previous editions of the Lauriers, they have clearly taken root in the regions in 2023. The revelation of the year is Samy Benabed, from the Auberge Saint-Mathieu, in Mauricie. The award for best service was given to Perle Morency, owner of the restaurant Côté Est, in Kamouraska, in Bas-Saint-Laurent. Players from the Eastern Townships won the Beverage Producer of the Year (Vignoble La Bauge, in Brigham), Producer of the Year (Le Rizen, in Frelighsburg) and Event of the Year (La Clé fields of Dunham).
We must also salute the number of winners from the Quebec City region, such as Sommelier of the Year, Caroline Beaulieu (Légende), Mixologist of the Year, Julien Vézina (Honō Izakaya), and Cassis Monna Filles, which received the Gourmet Tourism Prize. Without forgetting one of the most prominent awards, that of the chef of the year, awarded to François-Emmanuel Nicol, of the restaurant Tanière 3.
Montreal still shone in a few specialties. Jeffrey Finkelstein (Hof Kelsten) was named baker of the year, Léa Godin Beauchemin (Place Carmin), pastry chef of the year. And the Monarque, already nominated several times in previous years, won the popular Restaurant of the Year award.
The co-president of the Lauriers jury, Patrice Demers, wishes to emphasize this variety of talent from all four corners of Quebec: “We have a unique gastronomy, different from elsewhere. We should be very proud of what is being done here in all regions. A bright future is emerging, with a very talented succession. »
Challenges
Despite the growing influence that the Lauriers ensure to their laureates and to the establishments nominated, does winning change a life in the same way as a Michelin star or an interesting ranking in the Canada’s 100 Best list? “Yes, it notably enabled chef Colombe Saint-Pierre to buy her restaurant the same year,” recalls Christine Plante. But it’s also quite a pat on the back from the gastronomy community, which proposes and votes for the competitors. Simon Mathys (chef of the year 2022 and owner of the Mastard) told me that the emotion he felt on receiving this award was stronger than when his wife gave birth! »
We can therefore only be delighted with the impact that the Laurels can have for the craftsmen who feed us and make us experience great moments of happiness. This does not mean that Quebec gastronomy is doing well everywhere, or that it does not encounter challenges. The producer of the year, Stéphanie Wang, for example, insisted on the fragility of agricultural succession. “We must think about farms as an essential service, in the same way as hospitals and schools, so that they are sustainable,” she said.
For her part, chef Colombe Saint-Pierre, with her usual passion, recalled that 90% of our marine species are still exported, rather than landing on our plates. Then, she launched a cry from the heart by saying: “You are all soldiers in the face of this unprecedented crisis marked by inflation, global warming, labor shortages, etc. There are solutions to all of this, of course, but it takes courage to face them. »
Comments relayed by several winners during the gala, and throughout the year by initiatives such as the collective La Table ronde and the Lauriers, in the face of ministries that have not yet grasped the importance of Quebec gastronomy for the future of Quebec. However, many of us find ourselves in this message written by the great absentee from the 2023 gala for health reasons, Christian Bégin: “I got to know you, to take the measure of your need for the rest of the world. From the neighborhood restaurant to the grocery store with a thousand alleys, from the great tables of the world to the roadside canteen, passing through many fields, many vineyards, stroking cows, lambs, rabbits, hens, discovering the true taste of bread, the real taste of a tomato, by learning your first names, I have formed my real and necessary tribe. » Yes, it is beautiful, the gastronomy of Quebec, and it fully deserves to be featured, at the Lauriers, in our public programs… and in our daily lives, of course!
This content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.