Our mission is to make plant based food delicious, elevated and *FUN*, using real food ingredients for taste and health.
The people behind Knifey Spooney are:
Christina Avery
Christina’s food passion started when she transitioned to a plant-based diet in 2007. From that moment, she set out to show the world that not only does vegan food not suck, but it can be comparable in taste, texture and decadence to any non plant-based cuisine.
Her journey has taken her to Texas, Los Angeles, New York and coast to coast in Canada in search of the best vegan eats. After settling in Kingston, Ontario she shifted her full focus to learning and growing within the world of professional cooking and baking. She’s the Spooney of the operation, and most likely the one writing you back. She also has the world’s biggest sweet tooth, and does all our baking. She operates the blog, and produces a plethora of content for our social media feeds.
Her professional highlights include:
- Being nominated for the national 2SLGBTQIA+ Business of the Year award from the CGLCC.
- Transforming the sanctuary of Next church into the Great Hall in Harry Potter, while also executing a HP themed meal for many, many enthusiastic people. All while not giving a cent of royalties to she who must not be named.
- Met her teenage idol, Bif Naked and got to serve her cookies. She now knows who they are.
- Making the wedding meal and cake for a friend of over a decade.
- That time she spent a whole season paying rent with vulva cupcakes.
- Carrying around a “Fuck Ford” button for months, trusting that the universe would deliver an opportunity to use it at the right time. At a Restaurants Canada Show, he shows up folks. And they were able to get a delightful series of photos with him directly in the background of the pin.
- Seeing kids faces when they see and eat delicious treats. Every. Time.
Radford Cowan
Radford’s formal training in culinary studies and his strong roots in Kingston have led him to work for some of Kingston’s best restaurants.
Beginning as an apprentice, he left Kingston’s well respected Chien Noir to become the handmade pasta, Chef de Partie at Riva.
Rad left the fast paced kitchen industry work to pursue the growing demand for vegetarian cuisine in the community to enable a sustainable and delicious future.
Radford is the Knifey of this operation, and is our head chef. Rad is a perfectionist in the kitchen, and takes some of our loveliest food photos.
His professional highlights include:
- Winning one of the 40 under 40 awards from the City of Kingston, and also the political statement it gave him the platform to make.
- Perfecting sourdough, Brie, Bleu and plant based meats.
- Getting to feed, meet and hang out with both Laura Jane Grace (of Against Me notoriety) and Basia Bulat.
- That summer everyone gave them their hibachi bbqs, and he did festivals keeping three going at one time.
- Being part of creating “Stonewall Sour” a beer in collaboration with Stone City Ales, that put part of the proceeds to the ReelOut Queer Film Festival.
- The years long pursuit of the perfect pizza included lessons in Sicilian dough making, hand making cashew based cheeses using traditional cheese making techniques and trying to master the illusive wood fired pizza oven.
- That time they helped their pal Cass and Atomica create Kingston’s first plant based menu and be part of their exciting launch.
With a shared sense of social justice and passion for the environment, Rad and Christina are working to bring artisan plant based cuisine to Kingston, and invest deeply in growing the reputation of delicious vegan food.
Knifey Spooney 