6 Questions with Executive Chef, Juriaan Snellen

What do you feel you bring to McCormick as our Executive Corporate Chef?

Having worked in various parts of the world, I believe l bring a variety of culinary flair to the table; from classic French cuisine mastered during my time at "Chez Renee" in the South of France to the spicy colorful cuisine of the Caribbean, adapted over the 4 years I lived in Aruba. This in combination with my 13 years of experience working for a major ketchup manufacture in North America has given me the tools to approach food in an unconventional way and turn any ordinary meal into a feast for your taste buds. It is my vision that food should be seen as emotion on a plate and not just fuel to keep you going that has led to various successful projects in the past and will continue to drive passion, innovation and sales in the years to come.

Why is having a Corporate Chef important to McCormick?

The ability to speak the chef's language allows me to communicate with our customer chefs and translate their needs into feasible projects. Being the liaison between corporate chefs in the industry and the McCormick Product Development team gives us an advantage over our competition. In addition, having a corporate chef makes our company relevant as lots of our retail consumers and industrial/food service customers rely on the culinary services we provide.

What about our “food first” (“everything we do, we do for the love of food”) approach to industrial flavourings makes us unique?

As a chef, I can really stand behind this approach. It truly reflects the fact that in my world flavour is the most important aspect! Our mission to deliver best in-class, competitive and unique products without compromising on flavour really sets us apart from the competition. That is our biggest asset and our customers and consumers love us for that.

What inspires you most about McCormick?

The long history of producing high quality spices and herbs in a sustainable and responsible way in combination with the fact that we truly embrace the field to fork approach makes me proud to say I work for McCormick. This and the people at our company that I work with inspire me every day to create, cook, teach and live life to the fullest.

What's your favourite McCormick product?

I am a big fan of our Montreal Steak Spice; it is the perfect blend of spices and herbs to create a unique tasting flavour that everyone appreciates. I love the versatility of this product, besides using it as a rub for your steaks and chops, why not mix some into mash potatoes or make a flavored butter?

What inspires you most about food?

The smiles on people's faces and the appreciation people have after eating food they really enjoyed. To a chef, that is the greatest compliment you can get.