Sash Simpson (born 1970) is a

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

and owner of the

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

restaurant ''Sash''. He was a

street kid Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids or street child; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policyma ...

in southern India before being adopted by Sandra Simpson of the Toronto charity ''Families for Children''.

Biography

Early life

A runaway as a child, Simpson lived in a movie theatre before being taken in by an orphanage in

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

sponsored by a Canadian nonprofit, Families for Children, when he was seven. In 1979, Simpson was adopted by Sandra Simpson, the founder Families for Children, the group that sponsored the orphanage. He moved to

with Ms Simpson, where he lived with the Simpsons' four biological and 28 other adopted children. Shah dropped out of high school in the 12th grade to work full-time in the restaurant industry.

Culinary career

Sash Simpson started his first job of delivering newspapers when he was 12. He worked as a dishwasher when he was 14. He helped in the Toronto restaurant run by Ms Simpson called ''Mel’s Montreal Delicatessen''. In 1993, Simpson joined the restaurant ''North 44'' in the northern section of Toronto. He initially joined the restaurant as an unpaid

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

, before working his way up in the kitchen. He left ''North 44'' briefly in 2002 to help open ''Bymark'', another restaurant by ''North 44'' owner

Mark McEwan Mark McEwan is an American-born Canadian celebrity chef based in Toronto, Ontario. He was head judge on Food Network Canada's ''Top Chef Canada''. McEwan had his own television show on Food Network Canada entitled ''The Heat'', which followed h ...

, as executive sous chef. However, he returned to ''North 44'' soon after and, in 2003, became the executive chef of the restaurant. Simpson worked at ''North 44'' until the restaurant closed in 2018. Simpson opened his own restaurant ''Sash Restaurant & Wine Bar'' in 2019. Documentary filmmaker Barry Avrich is in production on a documentary about Sash's life. The film is being shot in Toronto and India.

Personal life

Simpson met his wife Robin Pitcher in 2008. The couple married in 2011. Simpson returned to India in 2018 to open a restaurant at his former orphanage, where orphans who reach the age of 18 can work and develop skills.

References

External links

The gourmet chef who used to beg for food (BBC)The Forest Hill Couple Who Adopted 30 Kids (Toronto Life)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Sash Living people 1970 births Canadian male chefs Canadian restaurateurs Businesspeople from Toronto Chefs from Toronto