MEDIA RELEASE - DEC. 22, 2009

Award-winning Culinary arts student
hits the shelves with debut cookbook

Second-year Okanagan College Culinary Arts Apprentice David Colombe has a new challenge – marketing his debut cookbook, Colombe’s Cooking in Your Kitchen.

The affable fan of great cooking and local ingredients came to media attention this year when he won grand prize in the Florida Tomato Committee’s 20th Annual Best of the Best Recipe Contest for his creation, Fire Roasted Florida Tomato Gumbo soup.

The $2,000 in prize money from that contest fueled his next endeavour – publishing a cookbook. Now, the book’s a reality and he’s engaged in marketing it when he’s not toiling at one of the best restaurants in the Okanagan, RauDZ and taking classes toward his Red Seal certification. (And, as if that’s not enough, Colombe also contributes his time and expertise to the Community Kitchen program in Vernon that supports individuals to use their resources more effectively t feed their families ona limited budget.)

“I really wanted to share my love for fresh and local and the book is a great vehicle for that,” says Colombe, who moved from the U.S. for the Culinary Arts program at Okanagan College. The book is 136 pages, features 71 recipes and more than 450 photos by Mark Reichert.

Recipes include  Harissa Lamb Lollies, Pasta Puttanesca, Okanagan Strawberry Sorbet, Blueberry Lavendar Ice Cream, Cardamon Spiced Rice, Chicken Artichoke Skewers .  . . the list goes on.

“Many people have asked me what the impetus, theme or direction has been for this book. The best answer I could come up with was that I am trying to show people that it is easy to create really good food in their own kitchen. People have become so busy in their daily lives that cooking has seemed to have taken a back seat to many other seemingly important tasks,” says Colombe. “This book has a small collection of recipes that are really big on flavour, but are not hard to create.”

Colombe has a website kwiditi.com/colombescooking and he’s also taking orders for the book via e-mail: dcolombe@hotmail.com. Cost is $28 plus delivery.