The People Behind the Yukon's Food Scene

A Top Chef Canada competitor, an airline with its own in-house kitchen, and a Dawson City restaurant with a national reputation, here's who's actually shaping how the Yukon eats.

Chef Michael Bock and Air North's Flight Kitchen

The most unusual story in Yukon food isn't at a restaurant at all, it's at the airport. Michael Bock is Air North's long-time Catering and Cabin Services Manager, and under him the airline's in-house Flight Kitchen prepares more than 200,000 fresh meals a year out of its Whitehorse facility, working regional ingredients like elk, bison, and wild low-bush cranberries into what passengers actually eat onboard. He's also the reason behind the airline's well-known warm cabin cookies and cheesecakes. The concept became popular enough that Air North now retails pre-cooked, frozen versions of its meals through Whitehorse grocery stores, and Bock's team went on to open Black Wolf Bistro at Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport, bringing full food service back to the terminal for travellers and locals alike.

Chef Chris Irving and the Yukon Chef Collective

Chris Irving is a Whitehorse chef whose resume spans Switzerland, Tofino, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Mexico City, and New York, and he's set to appear as a competitor on Top Chef Canada's tenth season, premiering September 26, 2026. He's also the founder of the Yukon Chef Collective, which he started in 2020 during the early pandemic: a volunteer group of local chefs who cooked and delivered several hundred meals a week to the Whitehorse Food Bank using donated ingredients, born out of Irving's own delayed business launch that year. The Collective grew directly out of Well Bread Culinary Centre, the territory's private cooking school run by Cat McInroy, where Irving had been teaching classes.

Well Bread Culinary Centre

Cat McInroy's Well Bread Culinary Centre is the Yukon's own licensed cooking school, running hands-on classes for home cooks in Whitehorse. It's also where the Yukon Chef Collective's earliest meals were cooked, McInroy's teaching kitchen sat empty during the pandemic's early closures and became the Collective's first production space.

Yukon Bunsik

Run by a Korean couple in Whitehorse, Yukon Bunsik serves authentic, from-scratch Korean dishes, house-made kimchi, dumplings, and even their own soy sauce, in a small, well-reviewed spot locals consistently point newcomers toward for something genuinely different from the rest of the city's food scene.

BonTon & Company, Dawson City

Proof that culinary recognition in the Yukon isn't limited to the capital: BonTon & Company, a queer-owned restaurant in Dawson City that opened in 2021, has been recognized by both Air Canada and OpenTable as one of Canada's best new dining spots, a genuinely national-level accolade for a restaurant in a town of a few hundred people.

The Yukon Culinary Festival

Since 2013, the Tourism Industry Association of Yukon has organized the Yukon Culinary Festival, an annual event held in Whitehorse each August with support from the Government of Yukon. It's built around exactly the kind of people in this piece: local chefs, growers, and producers brought together in one place, past editions have included events at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre and a food showcase tied to the Fireweed Community Market. Confirm current dates locally before planning a trip specifically around it.

Questions, answered

Is there a real cooking school in the Yukon?

Yes, Well Bread Culinary Centre in Whitehorse, run by Cat McInroy, offers hands-on culinary classes for home cooks.

Has a Yukon chef ever appeared on national television?

Yes. Chris Irving, a Whitehorse chef with international restaurant experience, is set to appear on Top Chef Canada's tenth season, premiering September 26, 2026.

Is Air North's food actually made in the Yukon?

Yes. The airline's in-house Flight Kitchen in Whitehorse, led by Michael Bock, prepares more than 200,000 meals a year using regional ingredients, and some of its recipes are sold as retail frozen meals in Whitehorse grocery stores.

What's notable about Dawson City's restaurant scene specifically?

BonTon & Company has earned national recognition from both Air Canada and OpenTable as one of Canada's best new dining spots, genuine evidence that Yukon's culinary reputation extends well beyond Whitehorse.

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