Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 11/00) - The gift of creating tantalizing dishes runs in the LePage family.

When chef Pierre LePage competes at the Tournoi des Chefs Canadiens in Quebec City later this month, he will be attempting to take the gold from the champ, his sister.

"She (Marie-Chantal) has had the title for the past four years," says LePage.

Lepage will represent the Northwest Territories and Nunavut at the invitation-only event, much like he did in 1998 for the Coupe des Nations, which was also held in Quebec City.

There are currently no qualified chefs in Nunavut, says LePage, who has a Cordon Bleu certificate. In 1998, the NWT team won gold.

"Competing is fun," he says. "But this is different. Solo. I don't have a team. It's almost easier. You only have to watch out for yourself."

Another difference is that LePage won't know what foods he'll be working with prior to the competition.

"It's a surprise box. They call it the Black Box. I've never done it before. It sounds interesting."

Each competing chef is handed a box containing mystery ingredients. They're given half an hour to get the appetizer out.

"I've seen it before. They panic. They grab anything and they start chopping," LePage says laughing.

Among over a dozen categories where points can be awarded, there's one for stress management.

"I don't stress. Maybe on this thing ... but I don't usually. I'll take everything out and separate it all in three -- appetizer, main course, dessert."

LePage is scheduled to compete against a chef from New Brunswick, using food products from that province. A Saskatchewan chef will then compete with him using a surprise box of Northern ingredients. LePage then has to give a demonstration of Northern culinary arts and talk about his home.

The gold, silver and bronze medals come with cash prizes of $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000,