Duane Hicks
Local caterer Todd Moxham was guest chef at the “Focus on Canada” on April 13-14 at Hibbing Community College.
Moxham, owner of Cater 2 U, said he was asked to come to the annual Global Understanding conference, which focuses on a different country each year, after making contacts at last year’s Northern Networks trade conference held here.
“Some of the guys from the [Hibbing Community College] culinary school were there and they were impressed with the dinner that I put on at Sunny Cove, so they asked me to come down be their chef for their Global Understanding conference,” Moxham said in an interview Monday.
“I thought that would be a terrific opportunity and a new experience for me, and I am told them I would,” he noted.
“So I designed a menu for an appetizer banquet and a luncheon, and went down there, took over their culinary school, and had the students cook the meal for all the people that attended the conference.”
Moxham said he had to come up with a menu that reflected Canada’s cuisine.
“It was [an] interesting thing because what is Canada’s cuisine, really?” he remarked.
“What I tried to do was reflect all of the different regions of Canada—the Prairies, the West Coast, Toronto, Quebec areas, and the East Coast with different things that we grow there and are popular items,” he explained.
“We had West Coast salmon, Alberta beef, we had wild rice and blueberries from this area, we different fruits and apples from Quebec,” Moxham noted.
“From the East Coast, we had some crab.
“One dish was a ‘Don Cherry Tomato with Pesto’—that was an appetizer,” he added.
Moxham said the experience was positive.
“It was really an honour to go there and do that. It was really a great experience,” he enthused.
“The people were fantastic—they just let me take over their kitchen.
“It was great.”
Moxham was born on a mixed grain farm in southern Manitoba in 1966. His career path began when he helped his mother in the kitchen as a boy.
Both he and his brother cooked for themselves and others at an early age, and continue to do so today.
His cooking career officially began in 1985 when he and his father purchased a chip truck business, “The Chip Box,” from which he cooked and served homemade fries in Portage la Prairie, Man.
After three years, he moved to Winnipeg, and at Grapes on Main, and within a year worked his way from the prep kitchen to line cook to head broiler cook.
He then moved to British Columbia, where he spent eight years working at The Keg Caesars in downtown Vancouver and Grapes at Granville Island.
During that time, he also worked at the famous landmark, “Nettie’s Perogie Palace,” in Yellowknife.
In 1996, he returned to Manitoba and got into the catering business.
Moxham then moved to Fort Frances in 2006 and married his wife, Laurie.
Since starting Cater 2 U in 2008, Moxham has catered weddings, luncheons, meetings, banquets, private parties, and other celebrations across Rainy River District.
“Focus on Canada” was part of Hibbing Community College’s Global Understanding series.
The goal of the conference was to encourage multicultural awareness, strengthen relationships between Canada and the U.S., and explore opportunities to share information and resources.
Gerry Cariou, executive director of Sunset Country Tourism, was one of a dozen guest speakers at the conference.
