6. Chef Lauren Marshall

 

Lauren Marshall is the owner of Real Fake Meats, which she describes as “small in the city but big in your soul”. Those who know Lauren or have just had the chance to speak with her, know that her soul is almost as big as her heart. Most of her staff have been with her since she began Real Fake Meats, which is a testament to how she runs her business and treats her people.

“Kindness and being able to listen to your staff go a long way. I'd like to say I want to be there for them if they need something and I feel like that's always helped keep people for a really long time. We have some people that have worked for us for years. I feel really lucky at five years. Some people have been here since we opened. Some have been here for two or three years. That feels really special with only seven or eight staff members.”

Lauren’s passion for cooking started at a young age with a heavy influence from her grandfather who was a chef at the Navy base in Halifax. Lauren had two very hard-working parents who didn’t have much time to focus on exploring beyond meat-and-potatoes, however, her grandfather would often send buckets of homecooked meals that tasted amazing.

“My dad owned the Petro Can on Victoria Road and would work until 11 o’clock at night and my mom was a schoolteacher at Dartmouth High School. It’s not that my mom didn't like to cook, it was that she had three kids and a full-time job, so I remember just from a young age I would be like, “can we try something new?”. From here, I got really into going to the grocery store with my mom and seeing what I could find that was new. That's kind of where I started to explore what I could do with food. My granddad gave me his old catering books from the 60s, which I still have in my old room. I would use them and make him talk to me on the phone and teach me how to make meals like mushroom soup. I would burn it and it was awful, but it started my love of cooking”.

Lauren’s decision to become a chef also came at a young age and was inspired by time spent with her mother on outings to the Prince George Hotel.

“My mom wanted time with her daughter. I had two brothers, so my mom would make sure we would get special time together. She would take me to the Prince George Hotel and even back when I was a kid, they always did the buffet. I remember having homemade mushroom soup from there and saying, “what the hell is this? It's so good.”  Going to those buffets with my mom and seeing how food could be prepared professionally is kind of where I was like, I'm going to be a chef.”

Prior to starting Real Fake Meats, Lauren explored cooking in many different ways. She helped run a tearoom in her hometown of Mount Uniacke when she was only 14; she attended culinary school at Holland College and later taught nutrition at NSCC in Dartmouth; she has worked professionally in kitchens in Nantucket, Australia, Belize, Montreal, and Halifax; has taught cooking classes at various superstores across the HRM; and led healthy cooking retreats around Nova Scotia and even one in India. It is surprising that Lauren had never intended to open a restaurant until Real Fake Meats happened, almost by accident.

“I was never of the mindset of, “I want to open a restaurant”. In my head all I could think of was that it's a lot of work, there is no real guarantee, and it's really stressful. I knew that. I'd worked with many people and owners who have gone through that. I would always say, “I'm here for you because I know how hard it is”.

“By chance, I had a friend who had asked if I could make a vegan donair for his birthday. I hadn’t done it before, but I managed to put it together and we thought it was really good. After that we said, “we can't get this in Halifax... well, I guess we better do it”. It’s kind of crazy, but that’s how Real Fake Meats started. My friend started doing it with me, but he wasn’t interested in owning a business, so I ran with it. We started by doing vegan meat and cheese boxes to see what people thought. It ended up being really popular with a pretty big crowd for it. From here I thought, well, if people want this, then I'll try to look for a space to have a kitchen. Through some crowdfunding and trading food for an oven, I was able to find a space and create a kitchen for Real Fake Meats.”

Lauren has since expanded the original space to create the beautiful space Real Fake Meats has become. Shortly after the space was expanded Lauren unfortunately suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and is on the road to recovery. She admits in hindsight she likely wouldn’t have expanded if she knew this injury was coming but said her staff have been amazing as she takes the time to recover. Lauren ended our conversation with some advice for others based on her injury.

“Business owners and chefs in general, we all work too much, and I think I’m a living example of, sometimes it's really good to take a step back so you don't overdo it and you don't injure yourself.  I'll never work overnights by myself in my kitchen like I used to because I can't fall and hit my head again. I encourage you to take care of yourself so that you can do what you love for as long as you can, you know? Take care of your body and do other things that you love. Spend time with family, you know, so you can put all that you love and care for in because if you overdo it, sometimes bad things happen.”