Born in the shadow of the bell towers of the Basilica of Ste Anne de Beaupré, near Quebec City, Jean-François Lacroix has been immersed since his early youth in the hotel and restaurant environment. Very early on, he abandoned everyday cooking and turned to gastronomy, enrolling as a young adult at the Centre de formation professionnelle du Trait-Carré in Charlesbourg. A first culinary competition confirmed his talent: he won the bronze medal in cuisine. Stimulated by competition, Jean-François Lacroix went through all the stages of the U-S Skills Olympics in Louisville, Kentucky. His list of achievements includes an Excellence award given out by the Société des chefs cuisiniers et pâtissiers du Québec; and more recently, he was judged Chef of the Year for the Quebec Chapter by the same organisation.
Insatiably curious and open, the young chef specialised in pastry; he studied at the École nationale supérieure de pâtisserie in Yssingeaux, France, then at the famed École LeNôtre and École gastronomique Bellouet-conseil in Paris.
A creative bon vivant, Jean-François Lacroix honed his skills in several of the Quebec City region’s best restaurants. He has been executive chef of the Gesti-Faune Corporate Outfitters for the past 9 years, and teaches cooking and pastry at the Fierbourg, centre de formation professionnelle in Charlesbourg.
A graduate of the New York Institute of Photography, he has been a member of many of the major professional photographers associations in Canada and the United States. Passionate about images and colours, and a seasoned traveler, Paul-E. Lambert has more than 50 years experience as a professional photographer. His career was in the forest industry, with his work illustrating numerous publications, annual reports and corporate publicity.
A lover of nature who is as comfortable under a tent in the forest as he is at home listening to music and reading, Paul-E. Lambert enjoys canoeing, hunting, fishing and an amazing array of outdoor activities. An enthusiastic fly-fisher, he just as easily teases the salmon in the rivers of Gaspesia and the Lower North Shore as he does the speckled trout in the lakes of the Laurentians and the Appalachians.
For many years, moose and caribou were his favorite targets. Now, when autumn approaches with its pungent odours of dead leaves, walking in the woods and small game attract him.
Armed with this forestry background, and almost as much a gourmand as he is a gourmet, Paul-E. Lambert hopes his images will stimulate the taste buds of fine food lovers as much as they will encourage lovers of the great outdoors to dream.
A graduate of Montreal’s Hautes Études Commerciales and of the Institut de diététique et de nutrition of l’Université de Montréal, Christiane Gauthier has held various positions in food management services in both the public and private sectors. She is co-author and editor of the books «Standardization: the Key Link between Quality and Cost Ratio in Food; from Theory to Practice», «Food Cost: from Quality… to Profitability» and «The Actual Issues of Marketing in the Food and Restaurant Industries».
Christiane Gauthier is as comfortable in the urban jungle as she is in the forests of Quebec. A lover of the arts and literature, she views nature as a large book. When summer comes, she leaves the city to take advantage of the beauty of Quebec’s lakes and to succumb to the pleasures of fly-fishing. Autumn brings her the challenge of deer hunting. And in winter, as an ardent fisher, she enjoys the thrill of ice fishing.
Untiring, when she is at home, all the recipes are put to test: soups, saddle of hare, stir-fries, grilled meats and soufflés, all deliver their secrets to her, and with great pleasure.
Her passion for fishing and hunting together with her love of good food brought her to this project.
