While some may see honeybees as fear-inducing, stinging insects, for Isabelle Chung, executive chef at Victoria’s Fairmont Empress, these bicolour pollinators are incredible climate heroes, capable of producing a delectable, golden liquid.
As the hotel grounds are currently home to four beehives, tucked away in one of the Fairmont’s numerous gardens, the chef considers herself lucky to rub shoulders with these winged insects, whose harvested honey is served in a variety of the hotel’s culinary offerings.
Chung’s love story with honeybees began more than a decade ago while she was working in the kitchen of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle.
Just a week into her new job, the executive chef told her to set aside her knives and apron as he had a task for her. Unsure of what to expect, she hopped into a small Volkswagen parked out front of the hotel.
After half an hour of driving north, the two pulled up to a small farmhouse with five boxes sitting on the front porch. The chef pointed at them and asked for Chung’s help.
Within minutes, the boxes were loaded in the car's trunk and they were back on the road.
“You could hear the bees,” said Chung, who recalled feeling a wave of anxiety rush over her upon this realization.
Back at the hotel, the two carefully unloaded the precious cargo and brought it to the 12th floor where she discovered the hotel’s five beehives sitting on the rooftop garden in downtown Seattle. A surreal sight at first, she immediately got to work.
“One week into my new job, I am installing beehives, and know nothing about beekeeping at this point in time,” Chung said. “But here I am shaking these boxes and installing the beehives.”
Although this introduction was abrupt, the chef “totally fell in love with bees,” and quickly developed a passion for the craft.
“They are endlessly fascinating,” said Chung. “Every season I learn something new.”
Over the years, as she advanced within the Fairmont group, the novice apiarist deepened her knowledge of bees and beekeeping, devouring everything she could, from books to forums, and learning from fellow enthusiasts.
After working stays in Hawaii, Bermuda, and Whistler, Chung joined the Empress last February as the hotel’s new executive chef. Eager to bring her experience to the table, she’s ready to translate her passion into every dish she serves.
Although Chung currently has limited time and equipment for beekeeping, she thanks Saanich’s Babe Honey for caring for the Empress’ hives, which produce about 50 pounds of honey each year for the hotel.
And for the chef, this golden liquid represents more than a simple ingredient.
“Honey is magical,” she said.
As bees forage from flower to flower, they collect nectar and carry it back to their hives, depositing it into hexagonal cells. Worker bees then reduce the nectar’s moisture until it reaches the right thickness and sugar content, transforming it into honey.
For the chef, one of the best things about honey is that it's “a perfect reflection of the terroir that it comes from.”
If the bees reside near blueberry bushes, an apple orchard, or a pumpkin patch, the aromas of the honey they produce will reflect those plants, Chung explained.
“You get all of these (flavours) because there's a limited amount of distance that a bee is going to fly to get resources,” she said. “The honey here gives off sort of a wildflower mixed aroma.”
As her knowledge of bees grew, so did her respect for these tiny pollinators.
“As I learned more about beekeeping and about the production of honey, I've become a lot more respectful of it,” said Chung. “It takes the lifetime of a single bee to make a (twelfth) of a teaspoon of honey.”
While many recipes use honey in cooking, Chung prefers to let this unique ingredient speak for itself, using minimal intervention to stay true to the bees’ work.
Using it mostly in raw applications like salad dressing or poured over yogurt, the chef said honey loses its properties, including its distinctive flavour, when heated above 40 C.
Spending her first summer in Victoria and getting accustomed to the new product, Chung looks forward to continuing the hotel’s 11-year tradition of hosting beehives on its grounds.
Considering herself fortunate to have access to this raw gold close at hand, the chef said it also provides an opportunity to start conversations about the vital role bees play in the broader ecosystem, beyond just producing a sweet spread.
“It's really important for us, as humans, to understand that we're going to lose a lot of our agricultural crops if bees no longer exist,” she said. “We have to understand… that apples, almonds, blueberries, cherries – all of these are highly pollinated by honeybees. So honey is a great vehicle for the conversation about pollination and sustainability.”
