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When Chef Michael Olson applied for the Culinary Management program
at George Brown College in 1985, he was disappointed to hear the program
was full for that school year.
"I called admissions and spoke to a woman named Maria
Parks," he recalls. "I said to her, 'you have to understand
how important this is. I'm not going to take no for an answer.'
Somehow, I talked her into letting me in."
It was a very fortunate
thing that Olson was convincing enough and Parks was
understanding enough to accept the young aspiring
chef into the popular cooking program.
Since graduating from George Brown in 1987, Olson has
worked in quality restaurants like Toronto's Cocco Lezonne and
the Liberty, Oakville's Navy Blues, Jordan's Inn on the
Twenty (where he met his wife Anna, host of Food Network's Sugar)
and Niagara Fall's 17 Noir.
Olson is considered a pioneer in the
use of fresh local ingredients and the harmonious marriage
of food and wine. He is now passing his experience
and passion on to a new generation
of cooks at Niagara College.
Although he has made cooking
his life's work, he didn't always want to be a chef.
Before going to George Brown, Olson studied sciences
in university and also took a break from school to
play semi-pro hockey in Japan. While he had worked
many part-time jobs in restaurant and
golf club kitchens in the past, it wasn't until he
worked in Japan that he saw cooking as a career.
"I
picked up a great respect for food and dining from
the Japanese perspective," he says.
Upon his return to Canada, he researched different
college programs and decided on George Brown because
of the opportunities he hoped to find in Toronto.
When Olson, a Saskatchewan native, arrived in Toronto
all he had with him was his bike, a suitcase and
$700 but he was ready to take on the world.
"I was very into school when I was at George Brown
because I had already been to university and it
wasn't my first time away
from home," he explains. "I felt like I was there
for a purpose so I got right down to business."
At that time, the Chef School was located in Kensington
Market, a neighbourhood that Olson fell in love
with for the food and the people. He was also fond of
the Queen Street West area where he
got a part-time job at Select Bistro.
"Because I was working, I was able to apply what
I was learning. In a trade like cooking, if you
just go to school, you're
in a vacuum where it's just the academic experience.
You need to apply it immediately in a commercial
environment," he says.
Olson remembers being in
awe of his instructors, many of whom were big names
in the culinary world. "I wanted to get as much out of
these people and impress them at the same time."
Now as a teacher himself, Olson knows what it's
like when the tables are turned.
"I was a little concerned that I would miss the
rush of cooking and the dynamic business end
of it but there are a ton of challenges
in education," Olson says of his career switch
from cooking to teaching in 2001. "The rush of
a Saturday night service was very
quickly replaced by a good class."
While teaching
fills up most his plate these days, Olson somehow finds
room for running Olson Foods and Bakery with his wife,
consulting and occasional cooking for 17 Noir, writing
food columns for the St. Catharines Standard, filming
a three-minute segment for
a hunting show called Canada in the Rough, writing
award-winning cookbooks with Anna and fundraising for
culinary-based charities like Second
Harvest.
"My advice to students is to work hard but work smart
so they can have a healthy lifestyle and good personal
relationships," says Olson. "I've got the best home
life in the world…if
I didn't have that part of my life, I wouldn't enjoy
what I do."
Read more stories from George Brown Graduates...
We encourage you to visit the Alumni Association.
To learn more, visit the George
Brown College Alumni page.
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