Hilary Haseltine is the creator of Holy Grail Kitchen Co.

Most days she can be found in her Vancouver, Canada test kitchen, creating new menus that merge contemporary flavours and traditional styles for her clients, for small dinner parties, experimenting with new sweet and savoury sauces, artisan salts, and checking out food emporiums for the latest new products and tasteful discoveries to make that perfect recipe sing.

As a child living in Thailand Hilary acquired the taste for exotic and cross-cultural flavours, shopping with her mother for fresh produce and seafood at the floating market places in Bangkok. There she was introduced at a very young age to a culinary landscape that she grew very fond of: open fire wok cooking over rudimentary stoves, abundant with noodles, savoury sauces, spices galore, and fresh herbs. She was more taken with tastes coming out of the Thai kitchens than her mother’s California-style kitchen. Her paternal grandmother also contributed to her love for the unusual with her well-stocked pantry filled with wonderful treats kept in beautiful tins (like Rum Babas, gooey caramels wrapped in fancy foils, and sugar-coated tamarind candies) for Hilary and her sister to discover when they visited. Later Hilary’s decision to attend cooking school brought back those exotic memories of the East. These memories merged with her California and Southwest desert roots where she had attended university and travelled over the years. All these experiences inspired her love of sauces and later the creation of Holy Grail Kitchen Co.

Hilary is classically trained by the Dubrulle French Culinary Institute (now The Art Institute of Vancouver Culinary Arts). She has also completed 2 levels at WSET (Wine Spirit Education Trust), and has been a judge at the BBQ on the Bow Festival, where competitors from all over North America participate, as well as other competitions in the lower mainland. She is a teacher and food inspirer, sharing her knowledge and encouraging her students to make magical things happen in their kitchens!

Alice Waters, George Papin, Tyler Florence, Julia Child and Madhur Jaffrey are just a few of the culinary greats who have inspired Hilary on her own journey.

Hilary is also an artist. A graduate of Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Photography, she has shown her photographs extensively in Vancouver and soloed in Toronto. View her art website: hilaryhaseltine.com