If you’ve dined at Rapids Grill before, you became acquainted with Chef Cody Sayers. You watched him cook, your shared stories and probably learned a thing or two that you took back to your own kitchen.

We’re excited to announce that this season Cody will once again return to the lodge, but this time as our executive chef. His years of experience working at the lodge will be a valuable asset as he oversees our kitchens, dining areas and menus.

“We’re thrilled to be able to move Cody up to this position,” said Justin Farr, the lodge’s general manager. “He’ll be able to put his stamp on the food we serve to our guests and maintain our high level of service.”

Subtlety is Key

The lodge has built a reputation as a fine dining destination in the Discovery Island chain and Cody intends to maintain those expectations for visitors. He’s excited to use ingredients found around Dent Island such as feral garlic chives, a multitude of wild berries and seaweed harvested in the waters surrounding the lodge.

“I’m really into wildcrafting and foraging and would like to fuse these activities with my passion for food,” he said.  “We’ll continue to focus on local products
and producers. I do like working with colorful oils and powders so you might see that influence next season.”

Family Influence

Cody grew up in a multicultural family in the Vancouver area. His grandmother on his father’s side of the family is Hungarian. She cooked traditional peasant foods. His mother has roots in the West Indies. She cooked curries.

His youth was spent in the family kitchens watching both sides of the family preparing those traditional dishes.

“My grandmother and mother are amazing cooks,” he said. “They’d always tell me to get out of the kitchen and into a professional one.”

Lodge Connection

Cody took that advice and spent 10 years working in professional kitchens in the Vancouver area. Four years ago, he was at a meditation retreat where nobody could speak for 10 days. He noticed one of the other guests had some very familiar looking scars on his arm. To a chef, those scars are a badge of honor and the signs of a career chef.

Once the silent period ended, he approached the other person to compare notes. Turns out that was the lodge’s previous executive chef, Jonathan Caramel, who convinced Cody to come work for him that season.

Family Affair

The rest, as they say, is history. Cody said he continues to return to the lodge because he loves the natural surrounding and the culture that the Farrs have created.

“Justin and Trish are fabulous people to work for,” he said. “They’ve created a real family-oriented scene. It’s such a tight knit group.”