About Gail

Gail Hall was a well-known Edmonton chef, educator, writer and consultant. Gail’s food apprenticeship began at the age of five, helping her mother cook for their family of five, as both parents worked. Gail loved the attention that came with serving her family food, although it wasn’t until many years later that she realized it was a passion.

After a 10-year career with the provincial government, Gail switched paths and followed her passion for cooking. For the next 18 years, she owned Gourmet Goodies catering, an award-winning customized catering company in Edmonton that became one of the largest in Canada, employing 95 full and part time staff and generating more than $3 million annually. Her business set new standards for food quality, presentation, retailing of local and regional food products, cooking classes and culinary tours.

In 2005, Gail opened Seasoned Solutions Loft Cooking School and Culinary Tours. Gail was passionate about sourcing local and regional ingredients and supporting our agricultural community. Her cooking school was on the same street as the City Market on 104 Street. Students would shop the market with Gail, meet vendors and retailers and purchase ingredients, which they then created into a scrumptious three-course meal, paired with Canadian wines. The cooking school was a popular venue for private special events and corporate team building afternoons.

For five years, Gail was the weekly food columnist for CBC radio 740 am/93.9 fm. Over the course of 25 years, Gail continued to teach cooking classes for Metro Continuing Edmonton, was a culinary presenter at special events such as Christmas in November at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and was a regular speaker and presenter at conferences and conventions. Gail regularly cooked on TV for CTV Edmonton Morning Live, City TV's DT & Global Weekend News. In 2006, Gail was selected by the Province of Alberta to organize and present the cooking stage at “Alberta at the Smithsonian,” in Washington, DC, a two-week cultural festival showcasing all cultural and economic aspects of Alberta.

Culinary Tours were another specialty of Gail’s that started with her catering business in 1997 and continued through Seasoned Solutions. Two to three times a year, Gail organized and hosted culinary tours to great food locations, knowing that the food culture discovered while traveling will enrich our food culture back home. Her list of tours included culinary regions of the US (Santa Fe, Louisiana, Seattle, New York, Chicago, Charleston, and San Francisco), as well as Italy, New Zealand, the southwest of France, Greece and Turkey, Sicily, Chile and Argentina, South Okanagan, the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Vietnam and Cambodia, Peru, and Portugal and South India. 

Gail served on the board of directors for Theatre Network, was a Judge for Gold Medal Plates and the Sunshine Skillet, was a former president of Cuisine Canada and former Judge for Grand Prix Cheese Dairy Farmers of Canada. Gail was named one of Global’s Women of Vision; is an YWCA Entrepreneur of the Year; was awarded the Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts, and was granted a Milner Fenerty’s Pinnacle Award for Business.

At the age of 65, Gail passed away peacefully from complications in her lungs resulting from breast cancer on November 16, 2016. The staff and doctors at the Cross Cancer Institute cared for her gently to the very end. Her husband of 34 years, Jon, and older brother Allan survive Gail. Her brother Jerry, and parents Sol and Frances predeceased her.

Gail is now at peace enjoying a party that she does not have to cater or clean up.

Testimonials

  • Just writing to say thank you for an awesome cooking demo for our 4H food project. We met yesterday for our regular monthly cooking meeting and you received honours when I asked them on a scale of 1-10 how much they learned and enjoyed our time with you! Thank you for encouraging the members with their future cooking experiences!
  • I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the excellent cooking demo you provided to our local dieticians. You were such a fun and energizing force, which is exactly what I think our dieticians wanted to boost their cooking enthusiasm during Nutrition Month.
  • Thank you for the awesome experience you provided through the cooking class on Saturday. It was more than I expected – you provided much added value with the information on vendors at the market and sharing of information about how our food is produced.
  • I wanted you to know, first, how thrilled all our friends were with the birthday party cooking class…But even more importantly, my husband, who hates to be the centre of attention told me on the way home that it was the perfect way to celebrate his 60th. And, of course from my perspective it couldn’t have been better. I loved arranging the surprise, was delighted with the menu, and the good fun!
  • At Gail Hall’s downtown loft cooking school, our staff was treated to an afternoon of food preparation where each staff member interacted with each other in reviewing the recipes together, discussing and coordinating assembly partners, cooking the items and sitting down together at the dinner table to sample the fruits of our labour. Gail Hall was very informative, knowledgeable guide in fostering an environment for enjoyment, relationship growth among our staff and ultimately, in collectively celebrating a passion for food!
  • We have held our last two staff Christmas events at Gail’s Cooking School – the social highlight of the year…Our staff thoroughly enjoy the event and we believe it is a great teambuilding exercise…we also work with Gail on a sub-contractor basis, recommending Seasoned Solutions to organizations holding provincial, national and international conferences in Edmonton. Gail always provides outstanding services and the client feedback is excellent.
  • Gail’s tours are exceptional: you experience not only the sights and sounds, but the real culture of a country, by eating and learning about their food!
  • I have gone on Gail’s culinary tours and have gained a better appreciation for the importance of food, its place on the table and the joy of sharing this with others.
  • If you want to travel and experience a country, you must go on one of Gail’s tours…the culinary tour to Italy was an epiphany…I have a greater appreciation for the craftsmanship of foods such as Reggiano Parmesan and Prosciutto di Parma!
  • Dinner for 30, new kitchen, 3 hours set up time…obviously no problem for Gail Hall. It was such a pleasure to have Gail host our Cooking in the Mountains event in Fairmont Hot Springs, BC at the Residences at the Fairmont Ridge Show Home. Gail quickly became the master of ceremonies and before guests took over, they were eagerly listening to Gail walk them through the preparation of a 7 course tapas menu inspired by local ingredients and the Rocky Mountains.
  • The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge has had the privilege of having Gail Hall as a presenter at our annual Christmas in November program for 18 years. Gail’s sixty-minute classes are always popular with the attendees. her culinary class is appealing to an audience with a variety of backgrounds and skills. She gives each attendee valuable information and tips that can be incorporated into daily routines, or implemented for special occasions. Each year she re-creates her class to present something new and timely, which makes her a very popular choice with the returning guests. We have always enjoyed having Gail as part of our Presenter Line Up for Christmas in November at The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
  • Gail’s enthusiasm and passion about using local and regional ingredients and supporting Alberta’s agricultural community was evident. With limited seating, one hundred and seventy of our employees enjoyed her cooking demonstrations, her food, the information and the recipes! We taped Gail’s demonstrations and pasted them on our intranet site for the enjoyment of the remainder of our employees who were not able to attend due to space limitations. Feedback from our employees was extremely positive. Gail’s presentation was found to be inspiring and many commented that it was the highlight of our healthy company event week.

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