Finding her forte: local food culture consumes Thunder Bay caterer.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: CONFERENCE & CONVENTION

Preparing a menu for an upcoming reception of 192 people wasn't the least bit intimidating to Rhonda Bill.

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The owner of A Fine Fit Catering and Consulting was "up for the challenge" of cooking for a wedding party inside an unusual setting of a barn hayloft on a Thunder Bay area farm this summer.

"I like to say working at the tree-planting camps--which is very stressful in cooking for 75 people--and being a teacher has given me a thicker skin. That's given me an extra tenacity and the ability to handle high volume and stress."

Being a professional chef and caterer has always stoked her creative fires when given unique ingredients, interesting requests or the opportunity to cook in unconventional settings.

Growing up in the northern British Columbia community of Terrace with a vegan father and a celiac (gluten-free) mother, Bill was handed the apron early on.

"My mom was so sensitive that she couldn't be in the kitchen when flour was in the air I was the baker from an early age and then I started doing the pasta and took over the things by mom wouldn't be able to do."

High school cooking classes led to a community college scholarship and then it was on to the remote tree-planting camps, waterfront resorts, and just about every restaurant in her hometown for the next decade.

Some teaching stints overseas and humanitarian work in South America and the Bahamas broadened her horizons and her love for international cuisine.

After moving to Thunder Bay in 2008 with husband Steve--a hometown boy--and a young family, Bill needed an outlet that nurtured her passion for cooking and teaching.

When Bill established her home-based business in 2010, she initially found her forte preparing and delivering wholesome frozen food for clients with special dietary needs. Since then it's morphed into event catering, corporate luncheons...