Over the years, Jackie DeKnock has re-invented herself many times, but what never changed were the foundation pieces: a love of food and travel. She caught the travel bug at a young age, when at 18, she applied for a nanny position in France. From her vantage point in Thunder Bay, Jackie envisioned a rural placement surrounded by pastoral settings, vegetable gardens and a herd of small children in her charge. The position she landed was the antithesis: working for a well-known French actress in the heart of Paris looking after her 13 year old daughter. Let’s just say she spent a lot of time in the kitchen as the teenage daughter was not open to hand-holding and close supervision! But there she gained experience with Parisian and Moroccan cuisine inspired by her employer’s Moroccan maid, and she discovered the flavours and nuances of international cuisines.
Photo: Supplied. Jackie DeKnock learning the ropes at a cooking school in northern Spain.
Upon her return to Canada, Jackie studied food more formally at classes with Bonnie Stern and then in a Culinary Arts program at George Brown College. It is there that she learned two key lessons: Cooking is always from the heart, and you eat first with your eyes.
Over the years Jackie has made appearances on a breakfast television show, had a morning show segment on a Toronto radio show, chaired a culinary charity event for the Canadian Living Breakfast program and operated several businesses incorporating food and travel. She even gave cooking demonstrations at various the LCBO cooking schools teaching how to create her own authentic recipes from Italy, France, Spain & Morocco where each dish was paired with wines hand-selected by LCBO Product Consultants.
In her first Gourmet Safari business, which she affectionately refers to as “Gourmet Safari 1.0”, she took customers on authentic culinary adventures, visiting key culinary regions in Italy, France, Spain and Morocco. The next reincarnation of her business moved home: Jackie invited guests into her century farmhouse to experience the same culinary adventures.
With her latest venture, Gourmet Safari ‘3.0,’ her customers enjoy her expertise from the comfort of their own homes in their own kitchens. She seeks to inspire or rekindle people’s love of food and cooking, through carefully curated menus complete with music playlists to support the mood of the food experience. Acting as a coach in the kitchen, her website offers recipes of all types, from weekday convenience to weekend gourmet. Grouped in categories such as romantic, sweet, healthy and sporty, each menu has complete recipes with video demos and tongue-in-cheek explanations of how to achieve the mood you seek.
From menus entitled ‘Looking for Love’ to ‘Heartbreak Detox’, Gourmet Safari serves up a light-hearted look at recipes to explore in a format that is a cross between an interactive cookbook and a virtual culinary studio.
One of the best parts of this new enterprise is that it’s a family affair- Jackie’s 13 year old son Colton has been instrumental in preparing some of the videos and artwork incorporated into the website. As for Jackie, she has returned to the travel business part time, to “fund her dream” in part as a way to show her son that dreams take work to realize. With her energy, enthusiasm and creativity, there’s no doubt this enterprising entrepreneur will continue to find ways to share her knowledge and passion in this new venture. For more information or to find inspiration for dinner tonight, visit http://gourmetsafari.com.
