When we go out for a meal, and eat a carefully curated dish, we don’t often think of the hands who sprinkled the seasonings, seared the steaks, pressed the burgers, or chopped the vegetables. A plate full of flavourful and colourful ingredients that light up our taste buds are prepared by a person with passion for satisfaction. To hear pure enjoyment with each bite, to offer a sensational experience through food, is every chef’s dream. 

Rebecca Ross, chef of almost 20 years, invites guests into her century-old home to fully see who she is as a cuisine artist, and taste her menu of personal creations. Each recipe changing at every event, guests who attend a Sunday Service will try spontaneous dishes based on Ross’ inspiration, that are exclusive to that specific night.

“I try hard to incorporate ways of cooking that are particular and rare, and special in more than one way. I’m inviting people to come into my world and give them things I find very novel and interesting. I put a whole ton of thought, effort, and intention and create food in ways people have never had them. It’s so fun to deliver this to people and delight them,” says chef Ross. 

Several courses paired with beverages are served throughout the evening with commentary and conversation with chef Ross, while surrounded by vintage decor, lively plants, and original furnishings from the early 1900s. Keeping each dish as locally-sourced as possible, the combination of ingredients introduces people to produce and protein available to them, grown in and around Medicine Hat.

“People trust me to make food that is an interpretation of me, and I am so thrilled when what I make evokes feelings of wonder and nostalgia in the people who are eating it. When people look me in the eye and tell me it’s the best food they’ve ever had in their life, it’s such a thrill,” says the chef.

With a creative mind, chef Ross has a natural intuition for piecing together flavours and textures that blend well. In many aspects of her home, everything is mindfully placed to spark curiosity and inspire a new way of thinking — and this is strongly represented through her cooking. Leaving with an uplifting feeling that new experiences bring, in a traditional dinner hosting fashion, is how chef Ross would like guests to leave from her Sunday Service. 

“All I want to do is share this with people, like a gallery of artwork. You go in to see the artist for who they are. I’m striving to do that same thing. Inviting people to come and experience the way I do things. I’ll walk them through this, and they’ll love the journey through my creative little brain,” she says.

As chef Ross was being interviewed, we noticed a mass of gratitude she has towards people trusting her to create extraordinary dishes for their event. Often hired for weddings and other private events, the cost that comes with that, and people willing to pay for her services, brings an abundance of appreciation.

“It truly is an honour that people choose and trust me. It’s so fun to inspire joy, reverie, enjoyment, and indulgence. It’s such a treat, and I love doing that for people and with people.”

People can reserve their seat at the first Sunday Service, on Sunday, September 3, 2023 here.

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