Culinary Perfection in the Wild

It is impossible to separate the word “culinary” from the overall guest experience when you visit a remote wilderness retreat—no matter where it may be or who the chef is. Unlike a typical resort, you have no other food options. There is no restaurant across the street, no option of preparing your own meals and no fast food venue when you’re craving a late night snack. You are completely at the mercy of your host.

More often than not, in fact, we are beginning to choose these experiences because of their culinary programs. Knowing that a destination has attracted a highly-skilled chef and culinary team and that they understand this to be an integral part of your experience, the rest of your trip will automatically follow suit. 

Such is the case at Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort. From the moment you step foot on the dock and take your first sip of the welcome mocktail, it is clear that you won’t be skipping any meals to nap! 

A visit to this remote luxury retreat is almost a culinary experience first and a wilderness adventure second. Every excursion is an excuse for a gourmet picnic, and every meal is an opportunity for them to exceed your expectations. It is the type of place where staff know you by your first name, and if you happen to mention to the chef that you love the cookies, chances are you might find a few extra in your room later that day—along with the recipe to enjoy back home! 

Although, as Food & Beverage Manager Linnéa LeTourneau reminds me, it can also be a challenge to accommodate people who are coming for the wilderness experience, and not necessarily for the food. “There has to be a middle ground of giving people what they want, or think they want, and of us being able to do what we want and to showcase local cuisine.”

From Fishing Lodge to Luxury Wilderness Resort

Craig and Deborah Murray first settled in Nimmo Bay with their young family in 1980, with only a glimmer of what it would become 40-some years later. Today, under the management of son Fraser and his wife Becky, Nimmo is a 5-star internationally renowned resort, applauded not only for its high level of service, but also for its sustainable and eco-friendly practices and culinary expertise. The resort team is not only interested in serving their guests, but in educating them about the area and the bounty of local food that is available. 

As a guest, one is oblivious to the fact that groceries arrive only once per week by barge, and that power for the entire resort (hosting up to 40 guests at any given time in addition to that many staff) is all generated from the waterfall onsite—powering nine guest cabins, staff living quarters, a state of the art commercial kitchen, hot tubs and more. 

Linnéa LeTourneau

Directing the culinary program at a luxury wilderness resort is something many chefs dream of, imagining days filled with hiking, kayaking and foraging, cooking fresh catch over a fire on the dock, tasting fancy cocktails and planning elaborate menus for guests. We see social media posts showing lush rainforests, sunny days, beach barbeques and martini bars, outdoor saunas and traps full of crab and prawns. But at Nimmo Bay, the chef’s role is not simply a matter of arriving to work each morning, planning the weekly order, deciding daily specials and preparing food for guests. 

For Linnéa LeTourneau, the Food & Beverage Manager at Nimmo Bay, it could mean rolling out of bed to lead a 7:00 AM snorkelling expedition to forage for sea urchins under the sea. Or hiking into the rainforest, in the pouring rain, to collect wild mushrooms and elderflowers. There is no grocery store to run to if they run out of cream, and here your suppliers are likely to include Bob "the prawn guy" or Joe, who brings live Dungeness crab once a week. It means being well prepared and yet also making decisions on the fly based on the ingredients at hand. Preparing separate menus for up to 50 staff members plus guests, and ensuring that everything appears effortless as well as delicious. 

LeTourneau and her team accomplish all of that and more, every single day throughout the season at Nimmo Bay. This is what she thrives on. 

LeTourneau was raised in Surrey, B.C., just outside of Vancouver. Working with Chef Kristian Eligh at Hawksworth right out of culinary school, she then took her love of travel and passion for food to France, Australia, Japan and to the off-grid heli-ski lodges in central British Columbia.

Her goal, aside from living a life full of adventure and creating incredible culinary experiences for her guests, is to create a fun, collaborative work environment for her team. 

She loves the simplicity of farm-to-table and tide-to-table dining, working with fresh ingredients that require very little manipulation. Her time in Japan instilled an appreciation of Japanese techniques and ingredients, which work well with seafood and foraged ingredients that find their way onto her menus in the Pacific Northwest. 

Interestingly enough, local ingredients such as balsam tea, sea cucumber and gooseneck barnacles sound pretty normal when compared to some of the odd things LeTourneau has tried on her culinary travels—cod sperm, crocodile, emu prosciutto, kangaroo garam and bee larvae are all on her “been there, done that list.” 

When asked what she would like most for people to take away from their culinary experience at Nimmo Bay, she asks that we all become more mindful about the food we put in our bodies, how it gets to us, and how food production in general affects the environment.

Nimmo Bay Resort is the perfect example of how eco-tourism and extraordinary culinary experiences can co-exist. LeTourneau and her team are committed to having fun and being creative with local ingredients, while telling stories of the land and sea through culinary experiences that guests will love and appreciate. 

Photos by Trevor Morrow