Clinton, BC: As Executive Master Chef to Echo Valley Ranch & Spa, Kim Madsen has given the ranch cuisine a truly international flavour. Madsen, originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, has cooked for royalty and presidents, has twice received awards at the Frankfurt Culinary Olympics, has earned the Medaille Cordon Bleu from France, and has run the kitchens at numerous international hotels in Canada, Norway and Denmark. He joined Echo Valley in April, 1998, a job he actually found while browsing the internet, and in December 1999, represented the ranch at the prestigious James Beard Foundation in New York.

“Echo Valley Ranch has a great reputation and the cuisine is another reason why people return”, says Chef Madsen. “I take part in every step of the food production process, from planting the year’s vegetable and herb garden with Nan Dove, to developing the menus. And I take full advantage of the fresh organic produce -- seasonal wild berries and mushrooms so abundant in the Cariboo area of British Columbia.” Being a part of the Echo Valley story also allows Chef Madsen one of his greatest joys, “to live and work surrounded by what I describe as my piece of paradise”, he adds.

From preparing Friday night dinner for the family as a child, to cooking for the 1995 G-7 Summit at the Delta Barrington Hotel, Halifax, Chef Madsen has chalked up some impressive achievements. His resume reads like an inventory of top hotels interspersed with exalted moments of cooking for royal families.

In 1975 Madsen came to Canada as private Chef to the Danish Ambassador in Ottawa. During that time he cooked for the Danish Queen Magrete, the then Prime Minster of Denmark Anker Jorgensen and Pierre Elliot Trudeau. In 1980 and 1984 Kim was a member of the Norwegian National team at the Franklin Culinary Olympics were he won one silver and two bronze medals. In recognition of his excellence, he received the Medaille Cordon Bleu.