Hello, my
name is Matthew Metcalfe and I’m a Cook in Toronto. I am currently enrolled in
the Italian Program at George Brown College and work part-time at Richmond
Station in Toronto. I’m 23 years old and my passion is food.
I grew up
in a small town outside of Toronto, ON called Grand Valley. I have one sister
who is 3 years older than me. Growing up
in a small town was interesting. We did
not have very many restaurants to go out and eat at, so good home cooked food
was always a thing for my family. I think that much of my cooking influences came
from watching my mom and dad cook when I was younger. We had a very busy
childhood. Both my sister and I played a
lot of hockey when we were younger pulling my mom and dad all over the place. One night here, another night there, so having a family dinner
was hard, but still for the most part, every night there was a meal on the
table before our games or practices. My mom and dad would plan nights in
advance for dinner. They planned meals
that were quick, simple and healthy because we were always on the go. I think
that is enough about me, let’s get into the good stuff.
Like I
mentioned before, I’m currently enrolled in the Italian Program at George Brown
College, I recently just finished a 14-week internship at Antica Corta
Pallavicina in Polesine under Chef Massimo Spigaroli.
Antica
Corta Pallavicina was not just a restaurant. I like to think that it was an empire. In
total there were 3 restaurants: Labirinto, Osteria and the Michelin Star
restaurant. In addition to the
restaurants, there was a butcher shop, a hotel and the farm. Only being there
for 14 weeks I decided to take advantage of everything I possibly could. My first day at Corta was one that I will
never forget. I remember stepping into the kitchen thinking, “Oh what did I
just get myself into?” I introduced
myself and asked what I can help with. I
did a few odd prep jobs then worked my first service (of many, many more) at
Corta. After lunch service, one of the
boys mentioned to me that I will be going to Labirinto. Not having any idea what was going on at
this point, I was thrown into a car and we were off! Shortly after arriving at
the Labirinto and meeting the staff, I quickly figured out that this was an
event for 500 people!
Antica
Corta Pallavicina strived on the idea, “Good, Clean, Fair”. Corta worked very hard on moving with the Slow Food Movement in Italy. The
menus for all the restaurants wold follow the season of the vegetables, and we
would only use the product grown/produced from the farm. The farm was a massive
operation, everything was grown organically and nothing was wasted in the
restaurant. All of our scraps (organics)
would go to the pigs on the farm. Corta would do as much as they could for themselves,
anything we can grow we would, from produce, flour, cattle and oils. It was incredible to see all of this in
working order. This is not something
that you can just start up, they have been working on being fully self-sustainable
for about 10 years now. One of their biggest products made by Corta was their
cured meats Cuatello and salami, made with no nitrates or preservatives. The meat is sustainable pork and locally sourced
product from the town.
To work at
this amazing place was incredible! Getting
to work so closely with the product and getting to see how much work goes into running
this place was life changing. My stage had its ups and had it downs, but
all-in-all I learned so much about myself and have a better idea of where I
want to take my future in this path that I have chosen. My understanding of
“good, clean and fair” is much clearer now. As a growing Cook, I’m looking
forward to taking what I have learned in Italy and bringing it into my everyday
life.
