Chefs’ group honours de Vries

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This article was published 23/06/2012 (5103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local culinary arts instructor earned the rare privilege of being inducted into the honour society of the Canadian Federation of Chefs.

Larry de Vries was among the 20 chefs from across Canada to receive the recognition at the beginning of June, becoming the only member of this honorary group working in Brandon.

The society was developed to “honour and recognize leadership, professional excellence, lifetime commitment and significant contribution to our profession and to the Canadian Culinary Federation,” according to the organization’s website.

De Vries’ friend and fellow culinary Olympic contestant J.D. Braid said de Vries is well deserving of this recognition.

“We worked hard together in the nine months leading up to the Olympics in Germany in 2008. Larry can speak German, so he was able to get us around. We were both competing as individual competitors and we both brought students underneath us when we went,” Braid said.

De Vries brought home a culinary Olympic silver medal from the competition.

It was not surprising de Vries took a student with him to the Olympics — he has dedicated much of his life to educating youth in the culinary arts, including working at Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School for 26 years.

“The administration and the staff at Crocus were very proud that Larry had been recognized for his contributions to the world of culinary arts. He’s been a key player in our culinary arts program and it’s something we feel good about here because he’s contributed so much to our school and our community,” Crocus Plains principal Terry Osiowy said.

Braid described de Vries as a dedicated professional who devotes lots of his own time to work with students.

“He works with the students on the weekends getting them ready for competitions, he does tours with them at various hotels and restaurants in the city to show them the profession. He does more than just show them the beginning of the path, he takes them along it for a while as well,” Braid said.

Teacher Bev Andrews-Johnson wasn’t suppressed de Vries was inducted into the honour society.

“He has been a mentor to so many young people; many students have been inspired by him and gone on to great and well deserved jobs … He is a big part of the culinary culture, not only locally but provincially and nationally also,” she said.

De Vries has been a chef for 36 years and has had a significant hand in running Brandon’s Chef Association for the past 26 years.

In terms of culinary events, “anything that comes to Brandon, Larry usually has a foot in it,” Braid said.

De Vries said that even after all the years he has worked in the cuisine and education industries, he still finds every day fulfilling.

“When you produce something with your hands that’s tactile, and you put it out and people buy it and enjoy it and they come back and let you know how much they enjoy it — just to see the student when they have that kind of response. They may not excel in other areas, but when they do something with their hands and they see people enjoying the work they do, and they see that there is a value and it’s something that people want, it’s very rewarding to see students when they grasp that concept,” de Vries said.

» rbooker@brandonsun.com