A year after being named the Canadian finalist for the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy (SPYCA) competition, chef Victoria Rinsma has landed in Milan, where this week she will take on the world. For the purpose, she has come equipped with her regional-finals-winning signature dish, its essential Canadian ingredients (such as wild striped bass from New Brunswick), and her secret weapon – mentor chef Rafa Covarrubias, of Hexagon, in Oakville, Ontario, where Rinsma is sous-chef. “I could not have done it without Rafa,” Rinsma says, of getting the nod to represent Canada. “And I wouldn’t have wanted to even if I could. He’s not just a mentor, he’s the friend I need.”
The bi-annual SPYCA finals are the premier international competition for chefs under 30 – and the culinary showdown is extremely intense. 15 finalists representing regions as vast and culinarily rich as Asia, Mainland China, Latin America, the USA and innumerable subregions of Europe compete to impress an international panel of chefs of daunting accomplishment (Niki Nakayama from L.A.’s N/Naka, Jeremy Chan from London’s Ikoyi, Julien Royer from Singapore’s Audette, etc.)
Each competitor works with a mentor and for Rinsma, the choice was obvious. For one thing, she started working for Covarrubias at Hexagon as a 20-year-old apprentice eight years ago – so his mentorship is already longstanding. That aside, Covarrubias was also once a successful SPYCA competitor, winning the US-Canada runoff in 2019. And Rinsma was there, to help him pack his mise-en-place, and to cheer him on.
“Seeing him assert himself and prove his skills… I didn’t just look up to him then, I idolized him,” Rinsma remembers. That was when he said to her, “’You’re going to do it one day.’
“’Right,’ I thought.”
Six years later, she is at the Milan finals Covarrubias missed (2021 was a COVID casualty). Covarrubias and Rinsma have already worked for a year on honing her dish. And especially, on her crucial, explanatory presentation to the judges. “All fifteen dishes are going to be excellent,” Covarrubias explains. “There’s a difference if you can look the judges in the eye and communicate [your ideas].”
We wish them luck on all those counts. Stay tuned for the results on Wednesday.
Chef Rinsma’s signature dish – Across the Sea and Home Again
Chef Rinsma’s signature dish – Across the Sea and Home Again
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