Food & Wine

We’re half a decade into this exercise of scouring the West in search of the young turks who are shaping (and shaking up) the way we eat, shop and drink, and narrowing the list to just 40 has become progressively more difficult each year. All of which underscores the point that living here—with its near-perfect blend of urban and rural, beauty and bounty—is the ideal place to be a foodie.

Top chefs are turning to the forest, not the farmer, for specialty ingredients that range from chanterelles to wild lemongrass—and Tyler Gray of Mikuni Wild Harvest is happy to give it to them.

The right bourbon, as American as apple pie, is a key component of a well-stocked bar.

This year’s feted include ranchers, drink-slingers and everyone in between. The thing they all have in common? A youthful approach to using the bounty of the West with passion and zeal.

They’re young, talented and pretty damn confident. From Edmonton’s 27-year-old foodie blog queen to the 30-year-old chef who’s upending Vancouver’s Italian scene, these are the men and women reinventing how we eat in the West.

In our second annual listing, meet the new generation of passionate chefs, restaurateurs, food producers, wine and spirits experts and activists who are helping to define and change the way we eat in Western Canada today.

These restaurateurs, chefs, winemakers, bartenders, producers and activists have rocked local palates in their own communities—and changed the way we eat across the West ... one delicious plate, glass, taste at a time.