Traditional treats: alumni serves success with Indigenous catering company

Posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2018

The founder of Wawatay Catering spent her childhood as a prep cook, though she didn’t realize it at the time.

“When I was young I helped prepare our seasonal feast which is about two to three times a year,” says Marie-Cécile Nottaway, whose Indigenous catering company is based in the Kitigan Zibi Algonquin First Nation near Maniwaki, Quebec.

That was the way of things in her community, Nottaway says — women prepared the meal, children helped: peeling potatoes and carrots, cutting up meat and onions, making the tea, setting up the tables. “That was your job, you had no choice,” she says.

Then she grew up and got a part-time job with a local caterer. “I didn’t know you could make a career out of serving people food. I thought, ‘I know how to do this! Boom! I think I know what I want to do in life.’”

She briefly thought about studying photography at Algonquin College, but reconsidered. “You can’t eat pictures,” she says. Instead, she enrolled in Culinary Skills and Culinary Management and put the lessons learned from her elders to use.

This was more than a decade before the College launched its innovative Indigenous Cook Pre-Apprenticeship program, which includes opportunities to prepare of Indigenous cuisine. Even so, Nottaway discovered the chef skills program, and the chefs who ran it, were flexible enough to encourage her interest in combining traditional foods with modern culinary techniques.

“They said, ‘You don’t have to really go by the book. You can go and add a little bit of this and a little bit of that.’ That helped me to open up more,” Nottaway recalls.

“Learning the new techniques and being able to use the new recipes and incorporating (them) with my culture and what I’ve learned — for me, it’s taking the modern and the traditional and fusing those together.”

After graduating, she realized there was a niche market for Indigenous catering and set-up shop in her own kitchen, working hard to balance the demands of her burgeoning business with the reality of being a mother with young children. It meant most of her signature dishes — like venison braised in tea and onions, bruschetta on bannock, or cookie canoes with berries — were prepared at night after the kids were in bed. Preparations for a dinner or a corporate conference could keep her up to three in the morning.

“The biggest hurdle for me was not knowing whether I would score a gig, where my next pay cheque (was) coming from. I was willing to work hard, I was willing to hustle, and I was willing to take on any little contract I could get. If I was asked to drive an hour and a half to serve 10 people, I did it.”

The small jobs led to bigger events, and, on one occasion, a major promotional boost. The dinner party was in Ottawa and among the guests was a sophisticated woman of Haitian descent who seemed particularly interested in Nottaway’s creations.

Back in the kitchen, one of the event’s organizers approached and told her that Michaëlle Jean would like to feature her in posters and magazine ads for her Arts Save Lives Program, celebrating young leaders from disadvantaged communities.

Once she realized she wouldn’t have to pay for her participation, Nottaway agreed. She thought the woman’s name sounded familiar. Later, she googled Michaëlle Jean and got a shock. “She’s the frickin’ Governor General!” she recalls saying.

While her business has grown, Nottaway is considering taking her culinary expertise and her community involvement in a new direction. If she returns to school to become a nutritionist, she says, she might combine what she knows about native culinary traditions with messages of healthy eating specifically targeted at Indigenous communities.

Wherever her career takes her, Nottaway will be doing things on her own terms. It’s a philosophy she shares with future Algonquin graduates.

“The secret is being yourself, being true to who you are. Don’t change for anybody and don’t be afraid to kick down those doors,” she says. “Be prepared to work your butt off… and love what you do.”

“You have to love what you do. Or otherwise, it’s work.”

Watch her video profile here.

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