Kimberley teaches private technique-based cooking classes in Vancouver. Born and raised in Alberta, she always had an interest in food. During her administrative career, she completed a chocolate course at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and operated a successful home-based chocolate business on the side. While living in the US, she took part-time culinary and pastry classes at the L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland. This catapulted her to switch careers completely and she returned to Canada to enroll in a full-time culinary and pastry program in Vancouver where she received honors. She went on to work with a start-up company where she developed, filmed, and taught professional cooking skills online. In between all that, she has traveled to 40+ countries and developed a keen sense of cuisines and flavors. She is blessed to be situated in Vancouver where she can play with plenty of fresh, local ingredients, as well as the diverse food imports from around the world. She enjoys teaching cooking classes one-on-one or in very small groups for the most intensive learning, and that matches her love for Context’s small group tour size. Meeting other travelers, learning, talking about, and sharing local food, brings her tremendous joy.

Christine was born in Paris, France and raised in Vancouver, BC. She credits her mother, an avid adventurer and teacher, for instilling in her from an early age, the love of travel, culture, food and being a lifelong learner. Christine has a varied background, from a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuropsychology from McGill University, to being an assistant director in Vancouver's Film and Television community, and sharing her deep love of the French language and culture through teaching. In 2004, Christine received her Professional Culinary and Pastry and Desserts Certificates from Dubrulle International Culinary Arts/The Art Institute in Vancouver, BC. Christine had the once in a lifetime opportunity of staging in the kitchens of Alice Water’s Chez Panisse and Annie Somerville’s Greens in California. Her passion for cooking has lead her up the ranks in the kitchen brigade to Head Chef, gaining varied expertise from classical, French fine dining to vegan, raw food, from intimate private catering to back-country cooking in tents for avid hikers and most recently, teaching cooking to elementary school children. As a Chef, Christine strives for excellence in food preparation, execution and education in a collaborative kitchen, wholeheartedly committed to sustainability, biodiversity, organics and the amazing abundance of local foods from British Columbia. Christine is a firm believer of the power of food, as a nurturing connection with the Earth and others; sharing a meal together can transcend cultural differences and the world’s ills, and not only feeds our bodies but our souls as well. "Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” ~ James Beard

Tracy is a former yacht chef who has cruised extensively in BC and Alaskan waters. Born in Vancouver, she grew up all across Canada and came back west as a teen. Her mother and sister were both fantastic cooks and the family had adventurous tastes, however Tracy could barely make toast when she moved to Montreal to pursue a degree in Earth Sciences. That city’s fantastic food scene plus a solo trip full of cooking courses awoke her culinary passions. When the tech bubble burst, Tracy was propelled from a web career to freelance food & travel writing, and puzzled over how she could see and taste new things for a living. She took a deckhand job on a private yacht and sailed south throughout Central America and the Caribbean. She spent a year in NE Brazil helping build a new yacht, all the while honing her skills as a self-taught chef, delighting in all the new flavours and ingredients. She and her captain husband moved back to Vancouver to help with another new build, during which time she went to culinary school. For the next 8 seasons, that yacht explored the length of the BC coast and Haida Gwaii, SE Alaska and the Kenai Fjordlands. Her cuisine naturally specializes in fresh-caught seafood paired with the region’s best local ingredients, with an emphasis on nutrition and whole foods. Tracy believes that supporting our BC fishers, farmers and food fabricators is the best way to promote healthy eating, cross-cultural exchange, and to ensure a sustainable food web for the next generation. These days she is a private chef, especially to her foodie 5-year-old son, and still travels every chance she gets.