Iqaluit food centre serves up local chef showcase
First event in monthly Niriliuqtiit Unite! series planned for Saturday night
Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, co-executive director of the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre, is welcoming Iqaluit residents to dine in for Niriliuqtiit Unite! – a new monthly Iqaluit local chef showcase. (Photo by Jeff Pelletier)
The Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre in Iqaluit serves around 350 to 550 free meals per day.
But, this Saturday, the centre is cooking up something different.
“Niriliuqtiit Unite!” is a new monthly series Qajuqturvik is hosting to showcase local chefs and give Iqaluit residents something new to taste. The event starts at 7 p.m.
“We are going to be inviting guest chefs to come to Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre on the last Saturday of every month to prepare whatever meal that they want to prepare, and we are inviting members of the public to come in and enjoy a menu that you can only get once,” said Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, one of the centre’s co-executive directors in an interview.
“It will show the creativity of the chefs, the personalities of the chefs and the culture that they come from.”
For Saturday’s debut dinner, the food centre’s resident chef Erin Lyons has a three course meal planned.
The first course is goat cheese with pistachio, honey and crustinis. That will be followed by a herb-crusted rack of lamb with butternut squash risotto. Pumpkin cheescake is for dessert.
“It’s going to be more like a restaurant tomorrow evening,” Murdoch-Flowers said, rather than the window service lunch the food centre provides on a regular basis.
Murdoch-Flowers said he’ll be the chef at January’s “Niriliuqtiit Unite!”
He plans to prepare a meal inspired by a Sicilian friend of his.
Tickets for the three course meal are $60 – a price comparable to a meal for one at restaurants in Iqaluit.
The money from ticket sales helps cover the food centre’s regular costs, which includes providing hundreds of free meals per day, Murdoch-Flowers said.
But, they will be selling some $15 tickets as well.
“If anyone is interested in coming and they are not able to pay the $60, just reach out and ask for a lower price ticket, and we’ve reserved some for that purpose,” Murdoch-Flowers said.
“And if anyone wants to pay more than $60 they’re welcome to do that too because all that is fundraising.”
What does Niriliuqtiit mean? Niri is to eat. Maybe they meant to write Niqiliuqtiit? As in Cooks or Chefs? Niriliuqtiit literally means “Eating makers”. Nonsensical is what it is.