Series features a diversity of culinary interests and expertise
Desserts tend to be decadent by default, but rarely are they are as rich with meaning as Peter Keith’s chocolate and coconut cake, served with Vietnamese coffee ice cream and passionfruit sauce.
On Sept. 20, Keith (Cook ’12) kicked off the inaugural Alumni Series at Ernest’s, NAIT’s fine-dining restaurant. The six dinners will be held through February 2025, each pairing four courses with wine and stories about them shared by the chef and students. What makes the public dining experience unique, however, are menus set by NAIT culinary grads who then volunteer to work with current students to prepare and serve it.
“I always considered it my duty and, really, my privilege to give back and share what I had learned, and help try to make opportunities for other aspiring chefs,” says Keith, co-owner of Meuwly’s Artisan Food Market and a business instructor at the University of Alberta.

In that sense, the significance of his cake was multi-layered. The confection offered a hands-on opportunity for students to hone their skills by capping off an evening of charcuterie, a beet salad with yogurt and mint, and variations of salmon and duck.
The icing on top, however, is that it shone a light on Keith's own path to success. Years ago as a student, he created the cake to win over culinary competition judges in Brazil. Now, in what he considers “coming home,” Keith was able to bring it to students as a taste of the sweet success that can come with talent and determination.
Buy tickets for an Alumni Series dinner. Next up: Chartier’s Tamara Solon
A long journey with NAIT

Keith was among the first grads Ernest’s manager Mitch McCaskill (Hospitality Management ’09) considered when the idea for the series occurred to him in fall 2023.
“It’s good for students to work with someone who’s been through the program already,” says McCaskill. “And it’s also good for the alumni to give back to the program. It’s a win-win.”
While Keith stood out in part for his ongoing success with Meuwly’s – which has grown after six years to also offer cooking classes, event hosting and more – he’d also made an impression for his continued involvement with the polytechnic.
“I consider myself fortunate that my journey as part of the NAIT community didn't end when I graduated,” says Keith.

After he completed, the chef got involved with the campus culinary team as a competitor and coach. He also served on the program advisory committee, chairing it for several years. Now a board member for the Canadian Culinary Federation, Keith is regularly in touch with NAIT culinary instructors.
What also makes Keith ideal for his role as the series’ first chef is his perspective on his craft, and the impact of sharing that with culinary up-and-comers. Fundamentally, cooking is about building community, says Keith.
“Chefs need to consider themselves part of something much bigger than themselves and the places where they work. We're all part of this bigger community, and we have a role to play in making that community great.”
Remarkable knowledge and skill

Making that community great is to everyone’s benefit. Diners enjoy more variety. New grads entertain more opportunities. And, as an industry, says Keith, “we have strength in numbers.” After the setbacks of the pandemic, a rise in restaurant numbers could mean more collaboration, and more sharing of ideas and even staff and resources.
The Alumni Series, which is planned to continue annually, is ultimately meant to stimulate that growth (while also injecting revenue from ticket sales directly back into the program).
McCaskill hopes that working under chefs like Keith gives students “the motivation to take that leap,” and go on to make their own contributions to the local industry.
And Keith hopes that his chocolate and coconut cake leads to many more tasty dishes served up at Ernest’s with sides of great stories to appreciative, epicurious diners.
He sees the series as throwing open the kitchen door for those who may be surprised to learn their four-course meal was made by students.
“These young cooks are doing some pretty incredible work back there,” he says. “The level of skill and knowledge that they're developing is remarkable.”
The development of that skill and knowledge will continue Oct. 25 with Tamara Solon (Culinary Arts ’16, Cooking ’15), head chef and co-owner of Chartier.
“[It’s] a special opportunity to celebrate student success … and appreciate NAIT and the great work that they're doing,” says Keith. “People are in for an evening of great food and hospitality first and foremost. But it goes so much beyond that.”
The 6 chefs of the Alumni Series Dinners
As part of the fun, Ernest’s will reveal the next chef in its Alumni Series Dinners after each event concludes. The group will feature a diversity of disciplines and areas of culinary expertise, and members will all be graduates of NAIT culinary programs. We’ll update this list each month.
- Sept. 20, 2024: Peter Keith (Cook ’12), co-owner of Meuwly’s Artisan Food Market and business instructor at the University of Alberta
- Oct. 25, 2024: Tamara Solon (Culinary Arts ’16, Cooking ’15), head chef and co-owner of Chartier
- Nov. 22, 2024: Kaitlin Omdal (Culinary Arts '12), cooking show host at CookwithKait.
- Dec. 13, 2024: Francis Flores (Baking '14, Culinary Arts '12), first official member of Canada's new National Culinary Team.
- Jan. 24, 2025: Shariff Rajpar (Culinary Arts '17), a casual instructor at NAIT and chef at Fu's Repair Shop.
- Feb. 14, 2025: Stay tuned!
The series leads up to the Hokanson Chef in Residence, which will host a renowned chef as a student learning experience in March.