Fresh: Seasonal Recipes Made with Local Ingredients

A veritable "cook's tour" of the very best seasonal cooking inspired by fresh ingredients from local farms, forests and oceans and prepared by the award-winning chefs of Bishop's Restaurant.

Restaurateur John Bishop and chef Dennis Green are justifiably renowned for their insistence on organically grown, locally sourced produce and sustainable seafood. Their menus reflect the seasons and the local bounty, from Fanny Bay oysters to Fraser Valley lamb, Okanagan peaches to Cascade Mountain chanterelles.

Fresh brings together more than 100 of John Bishop and Dennis Green's award-winning recipes and some of the stories behind the ingredients. Sumptuously illustrated, it is an exquisite homage to local, sustainable food and the committed growers who raise it.

John Bishop's love for cooking began when he was a child growing up in Newton Powys, Wales. Starting out by helping in his mother's kitchen to eventually as a young man learning the formal requirements of traditional French food preparation at a hotel school. After working as a chef in Great Britain, Bishop moved to Vancouver in 1973. At the urging of friends and investors during the recession of 1985, John opened Bishop's. Since then, Bishop's has consistently been one of the city's top restaurants. Annually the restaurant receives top grades from local as well as all the respected North American guides.

Bishop has authored four cookbooks with Douglas & McIntyre: Bishop's, Cooking at My House, Fresh and Simply Bishop's.

Dennis Green was born in Alberta, though his family has lived in British Columbia for five generations. After extensive travels with his parents, he returned to BC when he was seven years old. His love of cooking led him to apprentice at the Avenue Grill in Vancouver, and he went on to serve as the chef at Barbara-Jo’s Restaurant. He has a passion for regional-style cooking using organic, fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. He joined the team at Bishop’s in 1993 and was chef there from 1997 to 2007.

Dawne Gourley was born in Vancouver, where she has worked in restaurants for twenty-five years. In 1999, Dawne joined Bishop's as pastry chef, where she creates new recipes every week, inspired by the changing seasons and the restaurant's focus on the best ingredients available. Dawne has contributed to both Simply Bishop's and Fresh.

Gary King, with his wife, Naty, ran Hazelmere Organic Farm in the Hazlemere Valley, just north of Vancouver, where everything is grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides. It was their farm, and the quality of their produce, that inspired John Bishop to become a proponent of cooking with organic vegetables. Gary passed away in April 2009, but his work in promoting organic farming and food, continues to inspire those in the community.