He spent a glamorous career spanning six decades travelling the world as a professional chef, winning hundreds of accolades along the way, but these days Edouard Colonerus prefers to order in.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Colonerus, 83, retired master chef.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I am from Belgium, born in 1941.
Q: When did you come to Canada?
A: The first time, I cruised through in the late 1960s. I was in my 20s.
At 12, I went to hotel school in Belgium. I did my chef’s training there. I did three years to be a journeyman in Brussels at hotel school.
Then, I went for two years to Switzerland to get my master’s.
Q: When did you know you wanted to be a chef?
A: From a young age, probably six or seven, I always was fiddling around with knives.
I had told my mother that I believed I wanted to become a doctor, because of the knives.
She said, my dear Ed, that will not happen because I don’t have the money.
I said I would fend for myself, which I did.
I had a good master in Belgium. He was a Swiss chef. He owned a hotel and I would go there on weekends to work there. His grandson was at the hotel school with me.
He told me I had to get my master’s at the Swiss school, and I told him I didn’t have the money. He told me not to worry. It was the most expensive school in the world at that time. It was only rich children of hoteliers that went there.
He got me in. He paid. He had connections because he was a famous chef.
Q: Where did life take you after that?
A: Right away, I got a job offer at the Berlin Hilton. I was probably there for about a year. Then, they transferred me to the Hilton in Amsterdam.
In 1966, I was part of the kitchen crew who did the wedding for Claus and Beatrix. (Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Claus van Amsberg)
I was transferred to the Rotterdam Hilton, and to the Brussels Hilton for the opening.
By then, I knew what I wanted and nothing would stop me.
I was there for about three months, and then I was transferred to the Barbados Hilton. It was a non-stop career for me.
In 1977, I worked to help cook for the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth, at the silver jubilee. Her dinner was a seven-course meal. I’ve done some great dinners like that.
There were headaches. I’d have to get used to the local people. It wasn’t easy. I was very strict, sometimes to the point of being nasty. But I was a very good listener, and I was good at getting staff motivated.
I went to Trinidad and Puerto Rico. I cooked in about 35 countries.
Then, I joined Holiday Inn International in Memphis, and they shipped me right away to Antigua.
There was a general manager in Jamaica, and he joined Campbell’s Soup as vice president of the restaurant division. He asked me to come work for him. I became a corporate chef there.
During that time, I started joining culinary competition teams. I went to Germany and Luxembourg. I participated in the culinary world cup. I competed every two years, starting in 1970.
I retired in 2018.
Then, stupid COVID-19 came. I started to look around. I used to live in Brampton, but I didn’t like the senior residences in Brampton, Mississauga or Oakville. They were all in high-traffic areas and I didn’t want that.
I looked on the internet and saw Collingwood.
I figured I’d come up and have a look. My wife at that time came up with me. We are separated now, but separated in friendship. In good weather, I go to visit her every two weeks in Mississauga. She has a lot of friends there.
I came up here. In the summer, I can see the trail from my window. I moved to Collingwood in 2022.
Q: You’ve had an incredible career that’s taken you all over the world. Why did you choose to retire in Collingwood?
A: The main reason was that it’s away from traffic. If I want to go shopping, I can take my scooter or bicycle on the trails and be at Canadian Tire, Freshco, Walmart or Metro in five minutes. I don’t even have to turn on my car.
It’s quiet. That’s why I like this place.
Q: What is your favourite food?
A: I’m pretty versatile. When I was in foreign countries like Japan or Hong Kong, I liked spicy food.
I am a prime rib of beef eater. When I was a chef, the boys always knew at 5 p.m., they would bring me prime rib, rare. If you eat beef well-done, that is a criminal offence.
When I first came up here, I cooked for myself until September of last year.
Then I said, hell. For 60 years, I worked to serve people. Now I have to cook for myself? No.
I get my meals delivered here every day.
Q: What makes a good chef?
A: A good chef naturally has taste – so you can differentiate between different flavours.
Creativity, to choreograph the (process) of making a plate.
I was a very fierce competitor. Whenever there was a competition, moderators would always ask, “Is Ed coming with his team?”
I was the longest-practising chef in the world competitions. I participated in 27 competitions visiting 32 different countries, winning gold, silver and bronze medals.
However, you have to judge yourself. You have to know your own limits. You have to know when to quit. Quit when you’re ahead. I was on the top.
Q: Is there one particular accomplishment of which you’re most proud?
A: The most proud I am is that I can laugh at the competition. They didn’t catch me. The other chefs, they didn’t beat me. I competed against some great chefs.
I know Gordon Ramsay personally. He’s an excellent chef.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: To be honest, not much.
As a chef, you work mornings, days, nights and sometimes very late nights. You’re always on call.
Q: Is there anything else you want people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: Since I’ve been here, there’s a few issues I’d like to see resolved.
Sometimes I feel misplaced here.
I am almost 84 years old, but internally I feel like I’m 35. There are a lot of things I’d like to do here. I’m out for the seniors.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we speak with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature runs on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].