Lesley Chesterman is a graduate of Montreal’s Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec. After her studies at ITHQ, she worked as a pastry chef, perfecting her skills in Quebec and France. From 1998 to 2018, she was the fine-dining critic for the daily newspaper The Montreal Gazette, while also contributing to numerous local and international publications. A columnist on the show Médium Large on Radio-Canada for 10 years, she now participates in the show Pénélope on ICI Première. In 2018, she also collaborated on the production of the documentary 100 Ans à Table about the history of Quebec cuisine, broadcast on Télé-Québec. She has also written several award-winning cookbooks, including Chez Lesley, Un Weekend Chez Lesley, and Make Every Dish Delicious. Today, she continues to share her expertise with a wide audience as chair of the jury for Eastern Canada for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, co-host of the Salt Lick podcast, and writer of the Lick My Plate newsletter on Substack.

Jean-Paul Grappe began cooking at 14 in France. At 24, he came to Canada to run the food service at the French pavilion during Expo 67 in Montreal, where he fell in love with Quebec and stayed. For 18 years, Chef Grappe helmed iconic Montreal restaurants, including La Marée, Le Kir and La Brioche Lyonnaise, helping shape some of the country’s most eminent expressions of French cuisine. In 1984, he joined the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec as an instructor, training a new generation of chefs for over 20 years. A pioneer in championing Quebec ingredients, he introduced his students to local producers and organized farm visits, encouraging them to think about the origins of food long before it was popular. Grappe has also appeared on radio and television, contributed to publications, and published 10 cookbooks, including La cuisine traditionnelle du Québec.  In 2011, he was named a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec. Now retired, Grappe continues to teach in the Far North, write weekly columns and spend his summers in the Magdalen Islands, where he advises restauranteurs.

Hélène-Andrée Bizier is a Quebec journalist, historian and essayist specializing in the history of Quebec, Montreal and culinary arts in New France. As a freelance communications professional since 1972, she has written articles for La Presse, L’actualité, Affaires plus and Elle Québec. She has worked as a researcher for several production companies and contributed to the creation of the Virtual Museum of New France for the Canadian Museum of Civilization (today the Canadian Museum of History). In 1971, she collaborated on the Canadian history journal Boréal Express. In the 1980s, she hosted a show on CITF-FM with Jacques Lacoursière and contributed to the Nos racines series. She also hosted L’histoire à la une with Claude Charron. Having founded the agency Clio de 9 à 5, she co-authored several works with Jacques Lacoursière and Robert-Lionel Séguin. She was nominated for a Governor General’s Award in 1995 for Le Noir et le Rouge, and in 2006 she won the Canadian Culinary Book Award for Le Menu quotidien en Nouvelle-France. Bizier has been a member of the Order of Canada since 2008.

Normand Laprise is one of Quebec’s most internationally respected chefs. Born in Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska, he grew up on a farm, where he first discovered his love of cooking. After graduating from the École hôtelière de Charlesbourg in 1981, he found his path under chef Jacques Le Pluart at Marie-Clarisse in Québec City, who taught him the value of fresh, seasonal ingredients. He later worked at Lutétia in Montreal and went on to lead Citrus before opening Toqué! with Christine Lamarche in 1993. The restaurant quickly earned wide acclaim, including the CAA/AAA Five Diamond Award and, in 2006, the Relais & Châteaux “Grands Chefs” distinction. In 2010, he launched Brasserie T! in Montreal’s Quartier des spectacles. Since 2011, he has been one of the three permanent judges on the television show Les Chefs! where he shares his passion and expertise with audiences across Quebec. His remarkable career has earned him the Ordre national du Québec in 2009, an honorary diploma from the ITHQ in 2012, and, in September 2025, the prestigious World’s 50 Best Icon Award, recognizing his lasting impact on global gastronomy.