By Gaëtan Vaudry
Running a chocolate shop involves a deep commitment to a fascinating world. This is exactly what chocolatier Véronique Émond has been doing since founding Choco Véro in 2017. A year later, she left her role as the head of food services at the Baie-Comeau detention center to dedicate herself entirely to her business.
In an interview with journalist Charlotte Paquet from the La Manic newspaper of Baie-Comeau in 2018, Véronique stated that "there is no price for living your passion." And that’s what she has been doing with her partner, investing at least 70 hours per week. Besides selling her products at her Place La Salle store and through her Facebook page, Véronique also offers her products in about a dozen convenience stores from Colombier to Port-Cartier.
The Best Local Ingredients
Since October, the artist at Choco Véro has been working on her holiday products and, for a few days now, preparing her offerings for Valentine's Day, a pivotal period for chocolateries. This will be followed by Easter, Mother's Day, and Father's Day: "Our products are handmade with the finest local ingredients," the chocolatier proudly emphasizes. "We guarantee that you will savor the taste of your personalized treat with every bite."
In our meeting, the businesswoman explained her deep involvement in fundraising campaigns. Numerous organizations seek her services for custom-made chocolates, which they then sell for fundraising purposes. "I love to get involved in these causes close to my heart," she specifies. "Choco Véro is also actively involved in the campaign for the Canadian Multiple Sclerosis Society, as well as cancer causes." Last November 28, Véronique proudly participated in GivingTuesday, where several businesses in Baie-Comeau donated their day's profits to United Way.
Choco Véro
8, Place La Salle
Baie-Comeau, Québec
418 293-2120
chocovero.com
By Gaëtan Vaudry
Photo: Facebook
Summer 2024 will see the release of "
The Chef and the Customs Officer
", the new film by Baie-Comeau filmmaker Manon Briand. It will have been 10 years since her last work, "
Liverpool
", released in 2012. In an interview with journalist Maxime Demers of the Journal de Montréal, Manon Briand explains that this is the fifth script she has worked on over the past decade and it’s the one that finally led to filming.
The new film by the director of "La Turbulences des Fluides" tells the story of a fame-seeking French chef who tries to help a child win a culinary contest. However, he must face the hostility of an entire village towards the child's mother, the uncompromising local customs officer. The lead role in this comedy was given to French actor Édouard Baer, known for his role as Astérix in "Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia". He is well supported by Julie Le Breton, Sylvain Girard, Normand Chouinard, Michèle Deslauriers, and Dominic Paquet: "I treated myself. I included everyone I love", notes the director in the interview.
In 2003, Manon Briand received 4 nominations at the Jutra Awards (now the Iris Awards), including Best Screenplay, for her masterpiece "La Turbulences des Fluides". A decade later, she won the Women in Film and Television Artistic Merit Award at the Vancouver festival, for her feature film "Liverpool".
Sexual Ambiguity
A graduate of Concordia University in Fine Arts, majoring in film, Manon Briand captures the pulse of her generation of trendy urban gays, lesbians, bisexuals – and even heterosexuals – for whom sexual identity is a matter of the heart, in her first work "Les Sauf-Conduits" in 1991, a short film starring Luc Picard and Patrick Goyette. With her first feature film "2 Seconds", the filmmaker presents a deftly crafted melodrama about a washed-up lesbian cyclist who thrives as a bike courier in the worn streets of Montreal. Charlotte Laurier, Dino Tavarone, Yves P. Pelletier, and Suzanne Clément star in this 1998 film.
In the early 2000s, "Heart—The Marilyn Bell Story", an English-language television biography about Toronto marathon swimmer Marilyn Bell, starring Caroline Dhavernas, allowed Briand to hone her directing skills, as well as to further explore her interest in female bodies, athletic challenges, and sexual ambiguity.
Needless to say, the free encyclopedia Wikipedia categorizes Baie-Comeau's Briand in the category "Canadian female directors whose work is marked by LGBTQ themes".
By Gaëtan Vaudry
I knew that stopping in Baie-Comeau, an industrial-port city on the North Shore, would give me the chance to meet friendly people. This was indeed the case with Frédéric St-Laurent Garon, one of the three shareholders of the Boucherie les trois p'tits cochons. Getting to know Fred, as everyone calls him, is to meet a passionate craftsman. For him, meats hold no secrets, not to mention sushi, of which he became a master over a good decade. The most loyal customers praise the impeccable service of the butchery's team, as well as the great variety of numerous products, their quality, and the much-anticipated return of the sushi counter.
Fred and his partner make it a duty to offer a good dozen products from local producers (including those from Les jardins de Carmanor farm), and several products from Boucherie les trois p'tits cochons also feature on the menus of Manicouagan restaurants: "It's important for us to promote the work of local artisans," the main interested party emphasizes. "We're even thinking of proposing to another butchery in the region to create a new sauce with us. Simply to demonstrate the beautiful fraternity that exists between the businesses of Baie-Comeau."
Well worth the detour!
Among the top sellers at Boucherie les trois p'tits cochons are, of course, classic beef, but also marinated meats, a wide variety of sausages, charcuteries (including those from Charcuterie Le porc-épique), beef and salmon tartares, not to mention the veal and haskap berry tartare, a real lightly fruity delight, and the house's cheeseburger tartare. During my visit, Fred had just finished preparing stuffed jalapeno peppers with cheese and wrapped in bacon... who can top that?
Always in search of novelties, Fred is very happy about his new collaboration with Pinto's MC Wagyu, offering Wagyu beef of exceptional quality, originating from Japan. "The quality of this beef is incredible," the young businessman points out. "And its flavor, highly enhanced. It's not cheap, but it's worth the detour!"
Fred and his team have many projects. The return of the popular sushi counter shows just how much this product is in demand at the Baie-Comeau butchery: "The boxes disappear almost the moment we place them in the counter," explains the expert. "We are therefore in constant production, to meet the high demand." I personally had the chance to experience a dish of 10 sushis, specially prepared by dear Fred. And I can now understand the enthusiasm of aficionados for this excellent product of Boucherie les trois p'tits cochons!
Boucherie les trois p'tits cochons
873, rue Bossé, Baie-Comeau
418 294-0804
Visit the butchery's Facebook page
