Chef Fred Decker

Chef Fred Decker is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia. A lifelong devotee of cooking and food lore, he returned to school in his late thirties to become a professional chef. Chef Decker initially apprenticed at Unheardof, one of Edmonton's finer restaurants. He moved to the Sunterra Group, and was elevated to Market Chef of the downtown Edmonton Commerce Place Sunterra location in 2005.

Chef Decker returned to his beloved East Coast in April of 2007 to take over the food and beverage operations at the Mariner's Inn in Chance Harbour, converting the Inn's dining facilities into a standalone restaurant (The Mariner's Table*) offering casual fine dining with an emphasis on local ingredients.

In November of 2008 Chef Decker opened a more casual restaurant, the Harbour Diner, in Mace's Bay. The Diner also has a local focus, utilizing Bay of Fundy seafood and local naturally-raised beef for its hamburgers.

During the 2010 season, Chef Decker will be at the Kingston Peninsula Farmer's Market most Saturdays. He'll be cooking and demonstrating a variety of dishes using fresh ingredients from his fellow market vendors and other local food suppliers. "It's great to get out of the kitchen sometimes and interact with the people I'm cooking for," he says. "And if you want to work with fresh, local ingredients, it just makes sense to go where the ingredients are!"

Fred attibutes his keen interest in local food to his father's influence. “My Dad was ahead of the curve,” he explains. “He was already into organic, sustainable agriculture by the late 1960's. Some of the first things I can ever remember reading are magazines like Organic Gardening and The Mother Earth News.”

*Note: The Mariner's Table is on hiatus during 2010, awaiting the sale of the Mariner's Inn.