WinSport Line Cook provides full spread of food for thought

And after putting her professional trajectory under the microscope, Ally Noble has found a recipe that works.      

Noble originally enrolled in marine biology as a post-secondary student before a hunger struck to begin culinary school. 

Fast-forward to today, and the lifelong foodie has carved out quite the career with WinSport’s in-house Food & Beverage team. 

The logistics of her job look a lot different than her first day, and so does her long list of responsibilities. Noble looks after front-of-house orders, oversees the daily specials at the Garden Café, assists with the food line during the daily lunch rush, and much more. 

“I’ve been here at WinSport for about seven-and-a-half years,” says Noble, whose father’s friendship with Bernard Callebaut led to her first-ever job—in one of the local chocolatier’s shops which her parents owned. “I started over in the Day Lodge when we used to deliver over the food from there to the Garden Café. We ended up moving over to the main kitchen (in the Markin MacPhail Centre) just to make things easier with bringing quality food upstairs.” 

In addition to mastering her daily duties, Noble was approached by the on-site National Sport School’s principal, Rob Jewan, to lend her expertise by orchestrating a cooking class during a Professional Development Day this past spring. 

In needing to put a plan together to best prepare food in large quantities, Noble knew just what to help the staff whip up for the full-morning event. 

“There were probably 24-28 teachers up there, and we did a couple of different groups,” says Noble, who notes that the high school is well-equipped with four full-sized kitchen stations for their students’ home economic classes. “We did two different pans of shakshuka—one spicy and one mild. One of the bigger groups did a French toast casserole, another did a fruit salad, and the remaining group did two different kinds of scones— a savory and a sweet. Everyone then sat down and had a great breakfast.” 

While obviously well-versed when it comes to preparing amazing meals, Noble had never led a cooking class. Although, as expected, everyone left with a terrific taste in their mouth.   

“It was a fun event,” Noble recollects. “There are cooking teachers up there who were also helping, and there were a few who hadn’t done too much before, like zesting oranges or chopping chocolate. Everybody had a lot of fun. There were a lot of laughs, and everybody really enjoyed themselves.” 

Her full plate of work at WinSport isn’t her only tie to Canada Olympic Park, however. Noble’s 11-year-old daughter has already completed three years of freestyle skiing on the winter hill and is about to take to the trails for another season of participating in a mountain bike summer camp.  

How about that for a steady diet of delectable offerings at WinSport? 

For more information about Food & Beverage at WinSport, please click here.