Okanagan Chefs Association

We are a not-for-profit group of Chefs, Cooks, Junior Chefs and Associates whose primary purpose is to network and promote culinary professionalism. With the understanding that our Junior Chef members are the future of our industry, we provide support and mentorship, as well as bursaries to encourage and promote culinary education. Our community outreach involves participation in many local charity and fundraising efforts.

All of our monthly meetings are dinner meetings, and are hosted by our members. The dinner meetings provide opportunities to visit many of the Okanagan’s finest restaurants. Throughout the year, we also schedule some of our meetings as field trips, featuring tours of farms, wineries, and other places of local culinary interest. Typically we have a guest speaker at meetings to provide our members with information on the latest culinary trends or products available. We meet for 10 meetings per year, with a hiatus in July and August.

Membership on the local level provides occasions to become involved in the National CCF. For those individuals interested in culinary competitions, there are prospects to compete both provincially, nationally and ultimately on a worldwide level. Some of our members have been involved in the Junior Culinary Challenge, the Canadian/Nordic Culinary Challenge, and Team B.C. These individuals have travelled to Vancouver, Toronto, Norway, Luxembourg and Germany

Local membership also provides opportunities to network with fellow chefs, with job opportunities often realized during dinner meeting conversations. Some of our members have had opportunities to stagier, furthering their education.