The Newsroom
Q&A: Anne DesBrisay, author of “Ottawa Cooks”
Anne DesBrisay is an award-winning food writer and the author of Ottawa Cooks. The region’s leading culinary voice for more than twenty years, she is the restaurant critic for Ottawa Magazine, a senior editor for Taste & Travel and a judge for Ottawa Gold Medal Plates and the Canadian Culinary Championships.
How do you normally start your day?
Cleaning up after my incontinent geriatric dog, then strong black coffee.
What are you reading at the moment?
Fifteen Dogs, by André Alexis
What’s your favourite go-to ingredient?
Anything acidic at the moment. And playing around with fish sauce.
What food is your guilty pleasure?
Jube Jubes
Who has influenced your cooking the most?
The chefs in Ottawa Cooks, obviously.
Is there a food you can’t bring yourself to eat?
I struggle with uni.
The thing I love about Ottawa…
So many things to love – including how this city celebrates winter rather than just endures it. And how readily you can leave the city behind: be on a ski hill, hiking by a lake, or at a table in a top notch restaurant surrounded with woods… all of these pleasures just minutes from downtown.
Ottawa Cooks is available now.