Mayor's Arts Award for Culinary Arts
2017 recipients
Mary Mackay
Honouree
Mary Mackay is co-owner of Terra Breads, where she serves as Director of Product Innovation and Quality Assurance. Terra Breads is a Vancouver based award-winning bakery specializing in sourdough breads made with wild yeast achieved through a long fermentation process.
Mackay trained at Dubrulle French Culinary School. She has hosted bread-making videos and contributed to many local Vancouver cookbooks. Since 1999, she has been a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an organization of women culinary professionals who raise funds for scholarships for women in the culinary industry.
As a past board member of Vancouver’s Chefs' Table Society, Mackay supported initiatives and sustainable programs that inspired and educated local chefs and producers. Mackay has been working in the restaurant and baking industry for 33 years and at Terra Breads for 24 years. She continues to focus on her passion for baking and fermentation in Vancouver.
Leah Patitucci
Emerging artist
Leah Patitucci is a 20-year-old cook/pastry cook currently working at the renowned Pear Tree Restaurant under Chef Scott Jaeger. Since entering the culinary world in late 2012, Patitucci has completed her cook training at Vancouver Community College, earning her Red Seal Certification. Patitucci has also studied baking and pastry arts.
Patitucci has cooked at some of Vancouver’s top restaurants such as Hawksworth and Blackbird Bistro. She also spent two years at Temper Chocolate and Pastry, rising to the role of head baker. In 2016, Patitucci traveled to Germany with Culinary Team Canada as a pastry support member for the International Culinary Olympics. She also won the title of 2016 Vancouver Community College Student of the Year.
Meeru Dhalwala has cooked and run the kitchens at Vij’s and Rangoli restaurants since 1995. Meeru works closely with her all-female kitchen staff – all of whom hail from villages in the Punjab, India – to experiment with recipes at the two restaurants. Meeru also penned the two award-winning Vij’s cookbooks: Vij’s – Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine, and Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey. The third cookbook, Vij’s Indian: Our Stories, Spices and Cherished Recipes, is to be released in October 2016.
John van der Lieck is a fifth generation charcuterie craftsman of German and Dutch heritage with an international passion for gastronomy.
Roger Ma was born and raised in Vancouver and grew up surrounded by avid home cooks. Family gatherings centred around home-cooked meals. His culinary philosophy is derived from his Asian heritage and his New York experience, and focuses on seasonal ingredients.
Eric Pateman has grown his company from a one-man culinary concierge service into one of the leading ambassadors of Canadian cuisine and a storyteller for hundreds of small companies. 
Jackie Kai Ellis has loved baking since she was a little girl, teaching herself from books she borrowed from the library. After pursuing her love of baking by studying at Paris’ École Gastronomique Bellouet Conseil, Ellis opened Vancouver’s Beaucoup Bakery, combining her love of the comforting North American baking she grew up with and the delicate art of French pastry-making.
Robert Clark is C Restaurant's executive chef and head of culinary operations for C Restaurant, Raincity Grill, and NU Restaurant, and Lounge. Clark began his culinary training at Ontario's George Brown College, graduating in 1982. Throughout his career he has trained with Canada's top chefs such as Jamie Kennedy, Michael Bonaccini, and Mark Thuet. 
Merri Schwartz credits her childhood with awakening her interest in baking. Raised by back-to-the-land hippies, she didn’t buy her first bag of granulated sugar until the age of 18. She learned in a kitchen filled with carob, honey, and whole wheat flour that everything could and should be homemade.
Annabelle Leslie was exposed to a variety of culturally diverse cuisines while growing up in Montréal, but it wasn't until she moved to the Caribbean that she tapped into her love of the culinary craft. An avid, ocean-going sailor, Annabelle was able to combine her love of boats with her passion for food while she worked with an eclectic group of French chefs aboard some of the region's most luxurious corporate yachts.
Erik Heck started his kitchen career as many others do, at home under the support and supervision of his parents, who shared their passion for using as many local and organic ingredients as possible.
Frank Pabst is one of Canada’s most accomplished chefs, whose disciplined technique – learned in some of Europe’s finest kitchens – is matched to the West Coast’s extraordinary catch of seafood.
Every four years, the German Chefs’ Association hosts the world’s largest culinary competition, the World Culinary Olympics.
Hidekazu Tojo has played a seminal role in the diffusion of Japanese food in Vancouver since arriving in the city in 1971. He is creator of such dishes as the California roll, BC roll, dynamite roll, and rainbow roll, which have now become standard fare in sushi restaurants throughout North America.
Hiroki Watanabe has worked in Canada as a sushi chef since his arrival in this country in 2003, following training at the traditional Japanese "ryotei" or fine-dining restaurant Nadaman in Nagoya, Japan. He was a 2008 Vancouver Magazine "Premiere Crew" nominee.