CHEFS OF THE KAWARTHAS
By Karen Irvine Editor, ATOTK
Monica Silva - Fresh Dreams
Monica is the mother of 5 children and the wife of Alvaro, her partner at Fresh Dreams. She started cooking very early with her family in Spain where food is especially important in their household. She learned different styles of cooking from recipe books and started to experiment on her own to find something different. Monica’s sister-in-law urged to start catering in Spain. “My catering business in Spain was Con Mucho Cariño and it was fantastic,” she said. They received many accolades from their customers. She smiled and said, “To see their faces light up and enjoy my creations - I love when people tell me they love my meals.” That catering service ran for 9 years. She took cooking classes in Spain to become a Chef, which inspired her to be even more creative. Monica and Alvaro moved to Peterborough when Spain was in an economic crisis in 2014. She says, “It’s good for everybody. My daughter Alex found Peterborough and thought it would be great. We feel more comfortable in a smaller town and love the area. I didn’t want to work for anybody because at the time my English wasn’t very good.” They were originally on Hunter St beside NaKeD Chocolate. “I would cook at home and bring the food in coolers for the customers. Everybody loved it,” she said. We wanted to grow and have longer hours, so we moved to Queen Street at the old Electric City Gardens location. I’m so happy here.” Monica only cooks with fresh, local food. “I don’t want to cook with frozen food. I want to 8
pick out my tomatoes and vegetables, and use local lentils. Canada is the world’s leading producer and exporter of lentils. I don’t use added salt. I cook with fresh ingredients, like olive oil from Spain, Greece and Italy. I don’t like processed food. Our meals are not complicated – they are easy recipes. Everything I cook is what you would eat in Spain at a family restaurant,” she said. Monica continued, “We have a lot of friends here because of food. The community supports each other. After we were first locked down, there were many new customers, friends and regulars who came out! We appreciate it very much and are growing by word of mouth. Our vision is to carry on and have the best patio.”
