Christie Peters, chef and owner of Primal and POP Wine Bar, (Saskatoon, SK), is interviewed by NAC’s Michael Gauthier on her travels and the experiences that have inspired and informed the success of her restaurants, including her newest project.
Chef Peters was the Resident Chef at the National Arts Centre from February to April 2022.
Christie Peters, chef-owner of Primal in Saskatoon (SK), has a passion for acquiring culinary expertise internationally and bringing it back to the prairies.
She first left home at 19 to enter the world of international modeling and, while living in Toronto, fell in love with the food scene. Working at Boston Pizza, she observed: “The power of the restaurant comes from the kitchen, so if I wanted to become a restaurateur, I would need to become a chef”.
Since her move to Vancouver, at 21, she has trained under several chefs and worked in the kitchens of De Kas in Amsterdam and Coi in San Francisco. In 2010, she opened her first restaurant, shortly followed by a second. Most recently, she completed a three-month internship at the world-famous Danish restaurant, Noma, under Chef René Redzepi.
As far-reaching as her quest for knowledge might be, her focus in her cuisine is on creating dishes that authentically represent the vast diversity of ingredients the Canadian prairies have to offer. Primal is known for creating dishes from locally grown Saskatchewan grains, using locally pastured meat and taking the idea of farm-to-table one step further by growing the produce they use in their own gardens. Every part of the vegetable is used, the compost goes back into the gardens, the leftover animal fat gets made into soap. The motto of her restaurant is “High Quality, Seasonal, Sustainable,” and these words are carried through every aspect of how the business is run.
Michael Gauthier has worked in the arts and hospitality industries for 35 years, his experiences having taken him from his native Sudbury to Montreal to the Okanagan Valley to Ottawa. A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Michael wrote children’s theatre for 10 years before embarking on a career as an administrator and entrepreneur. He has been a restaurateur (Le Plateau Bistro, ranked #1 on Trip Advisor for the region of Kelowna), the Executive Director of a French-language cultural centre and, for the National Arts Centre, Restaurant Manager, Guest Service and Events Manager, and now House Manager.
Michael has been published three times in French and once in English. He is thrilled to work in an environment that combines his passion for customer service with his interest in the arts.