Chopped Canada Champion chef Mark McCrowe has teamed up with fellow chef and photographer Sasha Okshevsky to present Island Kitchen: An Ode to Newfoundland. With a foreward by Chuck Hughes, this unique cookbook will document Newfoundland's up and coming culinary style, and various products and suppliers. Traditional indigenous ingredients and local artisan products are showcased in unique recipes that bring a new light to Newfoundland cuisine and help carry its tradition and culture to a new era. Island Kitchen is a celebration of the amazing food, tradition and people that make Newfoundland such a special place.

Mark McCrowe was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland. Growing up around simple Newfoundland dishes using fresh seafood and wild game inspired an appreciation of the city's local style of food and where it comes from. After studying Culinary and Baking and Pastry Arts in British Columbia and working in some of Vancouver's finest kitchens, he returned home to further his own individual style as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, Aqua, at the age of 26 and his second more casual gastro-pub, The Club, at the age of 29. Mark is living his dream, cooking the food he loves to cook and doing it in the place and for the people that mean so much to him. Island Kitchen will be an extension of Mark's love for the island and the food and producers that make it such a special place. Happy Cooking! Sasha Okshevsky is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. He studied Graphic Design at Dawson College in Montreal before returning to his hometown of St. John's, NL. Sasha's artwork has been shown at various locations in the downtown St. John's area including numerous restaurants and galleries and can be found online at his photoblog S.O.D.A. He has a product line of office collateral featuring his artwork which is sold at a variety of retail locations throughout St. John's. Sasha is also a talented cook in his own right having trained and worked under Chef Mark McCrowe at Aqua and The Club for the past decade, as well as bistros throughout Montreal. Sasha enjoys the creative gastro-pub style of cooking he currently practices at The Club and looks forward to sharing Newfoundland's proud culinary traditions inventively re-imagined in Island Kitchen.

Mark McCrowe's profile page

Sasha Okshevsky is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. He studied Graphic Design at Dawson College in Montreal before returning to his hometown of St. John's, NL. Sasha's artwork has been shown at various locations in the downtown St. John's area including numerous restaurants and galleries and can be found online at his photoblog S.O.D.A. He has a product line of office collateral featuring his artwork which is sold at a variety of retail locations throughout St. John's. Sasha is also a talented cook in his own right having trained and worked under Chef Mark McCrowe at Aqua and The Club for the past decade, as well as bistros throughout Montreal. Sasha enjoys the creative gastro-pub style of cooking he currently practices at The Club and looks forward to sharing Newfoundland's proud culinary traditions inventively re-imagined in Island Kitchen.

Sasha Okshevsky's profile page

• Short-listed, APMA's Best Atlantic Published Book Award

"This imaginative, fun cookbook celebrates traditional Newfoundland cooking as never before. It is indeed a heartfelt ode." - Valerie Mansour, Atlantic Books Today.