The best young chef in Canada

Helicopter skiers in Nakusp certainly must eat well.

As in smoked blood pigeon roasted with beet jus, charcoal oil and polenta.

Chef Paul Moran, who works at Canadian Mountain Holiday’s CMH-K2 heli-ski lodge in Nakusp, whipped up that dish to win the S. Pellegrino Young Chef of the Year Canadian championship.

Moran’s connection to the Okanagan is he grew up in West Kelowna and attended Rose Valley elementary, Constable Neil Bruce middle and Mount Boucherie high schools.

His first job was at the now-closed Amerigo’s Italian Ristorante.

The S. Pellegrino contest is put on by the Italian company that produces the upscale sparking S. Pellegrino water.

The company is also a big supporter of young chefs and how its water pairs with fine cuisine around the world.

The Canadian competition saw 10 finalists gather in Toronto to cook and be judged by S. Pellegrino’s five golden rules: ingredients, skills, genius, beauty and message.

Similar contests are being held in 19 other regions across the world to choose the 20 young chefs who will compete for the world title in Milan, Italy in June.

In all, 3,000 chefs under the age of 30 from around the world submitted applications and recipes to FineDiningLovers.com to qualify for regional competitions.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to represent Canada in Milan,” said Moran.

In a twist that could only happen in Italy, each of the 20 chefs will be paired with an emerging fashion designer who will create clothes to go along with the chef’s signature dish.

The food and fashion will be presented together at Expo Milan as part of the overall S. Pellegrino Talent Awards.

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Students have joined the fundraising momentum to help raise money for the ambitious, new and expanded trades complex at the Kelowna campus of Okanagan College.

The Okanagan College Students’ Union has donated $100,000 to the Bright Horizons Building for Skills campaign supporting the Okanagan College Foundation effort to raise $7 million toward the $35-million complex.

The provincial government is kicking in $28 million.

“After supporting the Centre of Excellence at the Penticton campus a few years ago, seeing how that building came together and the impact that it has had for students as a place to grow and succeed, that really inspired us to get behind this project,” said Chelsea Grisch of the union.

Construction on the trades complex has already starated and is expected to be finished in the spring of 2016.

“We are very proud and appreciative of the fact that our students have chosen to invest in the future of their college,” said college president Jim Hamilton.

“Their action demonstrates great leadership on their part and confirms our commitment to providing the best possible environment to support student learning.”

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Fort Berens, the only winery in Lillooet, is taking on more partners to make expansion possible.

The new part-owners are Dan Barnholden and Patrick Downey, both from Vancouver.

They join founders, Rolf de Bruin and Heleen Pannekock, and early partners Hugh Agro, Sean Harvey, Jason Neal and John McConnell.

Fort Bernens sold out most of its limited production last year, so expansion is in order to meet demand in 2015.

The recently finished modern winery building and tasting room will also offer patio lunches, starting this summer.

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No word on whether the Queen actually drank some of it, but the 2013 Capella white wine from Similkameen winery, Clos de Soleil, was served at the official reopening of Canada House in London, England, this week.

The festivities were attended by Her Majesty and hundreds of others.

Canada House, on London’s elegant Trafalgar Square, was expanded to connect to an adjacent building so all Canadian high commission staff can work under one roof.

Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom is former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

“I am delighted so many leading Canadian firms were eager to participate in helping us celebrate the official opening of Canada House in true Canadian style,” he said.

“I would like to personally thank Clos de Soleil Winery for their generosity. They have indeed brought some of Canada’s finest to the very heart of London.”

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Five of the 86 newest members of the Association of B.C. Registered Professional Foresters are from the Okanagan.

They are Sarita Burgoon, Amy Irvine, Laurel Priest and Steven Ward, all four from Vernon, and Joshua Macy from Lake Country.

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Steve MacNaull is a business reporter and columnist with The Okanagan Saturday.

Reach him at [email protected].

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