Remaking the world with… Isabelle Deschamps Plante | Cooking can also change lives

This summer, Context invites its readers to remake the world in the company of a columnist and a personality. Today, Alexandre Pratt enjoys an ice cream with Isabelle Deschamps Plante. The judge and former contestant of the show The Chiefs ! is preparing to take over the pans of Ricardo Larrivee at Radio-Canada. A role that comes with an influence on the daily life of a very, very large public.

“I don’t want to be just a girl on TV”

Isabelle Deschamps Plante’s career is about to change. In a few weeks, she will take over from Ricardo Larrivee at the helm of a cooking show on Radio-Canada, three times a week. An exceptional forum, which she intends to take advantage of to make a difference in the community.

How ?

That’s what we agreed to discuss over ice cream. She arranges to meet me at the Dalla Rose creamery, in the Saint-Henri district of Montreal. “You’ll see, it’s really good,” she said, in the excited tone of a child in front of a jar of jelly beans. Although it is not yet noon, she orders a large strawberry-rhubarb sundae, which the attendant serves to her in a tray. “Are you the judge of the show The Chiefs ! ? he asks her. She smiled shyly at him. “I watched you last night. I love you ! »

He is not the only one to appreciate the 40-year-old chef. After two stints as a candidate for Chiefs!, then two seasons as a judge on the same show, Isabelle Deschamps Plante is now a darling of the Quebec public. A status that she has not yet fully assumed. “I suffer a little from the feeling of the impostor”, she confides candidly, without false modesty.

She also wonders why I want to meet her as part of our “Remake the world” series. “I am not a politician. I am not a singer who shouts her opinion. I’m just making cheesecakes and strawberry shortcakes! »

It’s true. Except that Isabelle Deschamps Plante has two assets that all politicians and artists dream of.

First, his story touches the public. The candidate who became a judge, then a facilitator, is a remarkable journey. Everyone loves the successes of an underdog. But above all, Isabelle Deschamps Plante inspires confidence. People, even those she knows little or nothing about, naturally turn to her for a sympathetic ear.

“People are really warm to me,” she says, surprised. I just can’t believe it. It’s crazy, the messages I get. A cashier told me that it was thanks to me that she enrolled in pastry. It’s gratifying, but it’s flipped the same. »

Enter people’s homes

We cross rue Notre-Dame to eat our sundaes in the square Sir-George-Étienne-Cartier. It’s been about a year, she says, that she understood the effect she could have in the public space. She is also aware “in tabarouette” that her new show, in the fall, could well explode her notoriety. Few personalities, after all, are part of people’s daily lives for half an hour, three times a week.

His boss, friend and mentor, Ricardo Larrivee, took advantage of this remarkable notoriety to promote causes. He co-founded the Lab-École. He defended the preservation of heritage in Old Chambly. He got involved in the Tablée des chefs. It has also broadened the culinary horizons of Quebecers. “He could have been content with his TV show, but he decided to give back to the community,” says Isabelle Deschamps Plante.

“Does it inspire you?

– Yes, but not for now. »

His priority: to successfully launch his new show. A very big bite. Afterwards, if it works well, if the viewers are there, yes, Isabelle Deschamps Plante has the ambition to change things, too.

“It’s the start of something that will take me I don’t know where. I don’t have a plan in front of me. But I want it to go beyond the show. I don’t want to be just a girl on TV. »

An involved leader

Isabelle Deschamps Plante began to participate in a few causes. Within the Tablée des chefs, which feeds people in need and develops culinary education among young people. With Moisson Québec, too, of which she was the honorary godmother of the big collection of 2017.

“This experience made a deep impression on me. Donate food to poor children and elderly people. Offering people a spaghetti squash, and being told, “I can’t have it because I don’t know how to cook it.” Preventing yourself from eating because you don’t know how to cook… It made me really sad. »

Misery affects her. Distress too. “I feel other people’s emotions a lot,” she says. Sometimes too much. In her early twenties, she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. It was difficult.

“Even today, when my friends tell me what’s going on in the classrooms, I tell myself that the lack of resources will have an effect on the future of our children. It made me dizzy. It was too heavy for me,” she adds.

A consequence of her great sensitivity: she is in high demand. For his listening. For advice. For projects. “I am a yes woman,” she says. My friends often tell me: “Isa, you say yes to everything.” I know it. I have to learn to say no. But it’s difficult because we don’t know what can happen. Sometimes, if you do something, it can change someone’s life. Or it could change your life. If I can get involved in the right causes, with the right people, I will. »

What causes?

One is particularly close to his heart: mental health issues. She has seen loved ones suffer from it. “It’s still taboo,” she laments. We don’t talk about it enough. There is a long way to go. I find it sad that people still have prejudices about this. »

Cooking with Isabelle

As we walk along the deserted shores of the Lachine Canal, she confesses another ambition. That people “cook Isabelle”, as they cook Ricardo, di Stasio.

What does that mean exactly ?

“I want people to look forward to what I’m going to cook. I will continue to make quick, effective, inexpensive, empty-fridge recipes. The secret to the success of the Ricardo brand. “But I would also like to democratize pastry. Often, when we receive, we make the whole meal, then we buy the cake. People think baking is chemistry. But no. There are plenty of recipes you can make without weighing each ingredient by the gram. I want this fear to go away. I won’t just do baking, but I want to make it a mission. »

And why pastry?

Because that’s his specialty. But also, she says, “because it’s linked to pleasure. To nostalgia. It seeks our child’s heart. It is comforting “. In these turbulent times, we can never have too much sweetness or comfort.

Isabelle Deschamps Plante also plans to use her platform to promote local products.

“Ricardo finds that I irritate him with sweet clover [rires]. On TV, I’m going to show what we grow here. It is important to follow the seasons and the local products. In the first degree, because the products are really better. Have you ever tasted an asparagus from Quebec and another from Peru? It’s not the same thing! »

But above all, she wants to pass on her passion for cooking to people.

“If you don’t cook, you leave with a grip against you in life. Cooking for food is good. Cooking to share is even better. With us, we receive a lot. Taking the time to sit down, to eat, to have fun, that’s our most beautiful moments. »

And there is no better context than a good meal to change the world. Except, perhaps, around a strawberry-rhubarb sundae.