Instructor, Culinary Arts
Kootenay-born professional pastry chef and chocolatier Merri Schwartz has been working in the BC food community since 2002. Merri credits her childhood with awakening her interest in baking. Raised by back-to-the-land hippies, she didn’t buy her first bag of granulated sugar until the age of 18 and learned, in a kitchen filled with carob, honey and whole wheat flour, that everything could—and should—be homemade.
A whirlwind pastry career later, Merri has been lucky enough to serve as pastry chef and chocolatier at some of BC’s best food establishments, including Marzano, East Van Roasters, Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, King Pacific Lodge, C Restaurant, Quattro on Fourth, The Granville Island Hotel and Cocoa West Organic Chocolatier, as well as training at the Valrhona Chocolate Institute, outside of Lyon, France. Merri was named 2012’s Emerging Culinary Artist at the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards.
The same passion for food and agriculture led Merri to found Growing Chefs in 2005. This food literacy-focused charity pairs chef educators with kids and youth in schools to help the students plant, grow, and cook their own food.