East Coast ‘Home’ Cooking with Master Chef Canada’s Andy Hay

Lobster and lots more with MasterChef Canada’s Andy Hay 

By Lorie Steiner

A down-home Maritimer with big talent and a generous soul, Andy Hay is a self-described “Chef of sorts” with a passion for food, technology and all things East Coast. Many of us know Andy from his culinary adventures on MasterChef Canada Season 5, where he finished as runner up and won the hearts of a nation. Based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, he now spends his time creating tasty, easy-to-follow food content for home cooks via his social media channels. Sharing a super busy life with his wife, Jessica, and young daughters, Violet & Lucy, Andy is on a journey to get the whole country cooking! 

H: Andy, what inspired you to pursue food as a career?

Andy: Right out of high school, I went to Mt. Allison University, did a Bachelor of Commerce and worked in tech for about 10 years. I travelled all over North America for Salesforce.com, managing sales cycles and slinging social media software but cooking was always something I liked to do. 

In our twenties, my wife and I would have friends over to our house for dinner parties. Saturdays I’d go to the market first thing and cook all day, just for the love of it. Then I started getting into food media. For years I had cookbooks beside my bed to read before I went to sleep. I watched MasterChef and all the different food shows. After my first daughter was born, at age 30 I was burnt out from the tech world, so I decided to quit. 

I didn’t know what direction I wanted to go. Then I thought, I’m going to try out for MasterChef and see what happens. It’ll be a hilarious story if I can audition. Serendipitously, they called me back and said, “Come to Toronto, you’re part of the top 21.” Even then, I was just thinking I could get a long weekend out of it. Every time it was just get one more week, one more week, and I made it to the end. Becoming a chef seemed like the coolest thing I could possibly be – that’s what was motivating me to at least try. 

H: Did you go to culinary school?

Andy: No, I just did it myself. I watched YouTube videos, read cookbooks and threw myself into it. That’s how I learned. Maybe it’s cockiness, maybe it’s confidence but I trust in the fact that I’ll figure it out. I like the physicality of cooking – the heat, the speed, the chopping, the movement. It’s almost like there’s an athletic component – that tactile piece. I like using my hands, so I learned really quickly in the kitchen. And there’s so much content out there that I can sort out what I want and pull it together.

H: Tell us about East Coast Kitchen, how has it evolved?

Andy: East Coast Kitchen is a food content studio where we create content for the digital world. I’ve kind of gone back to the media world that I used to work in. We create content for followers, creating approachable meals for busy Canadians. Recipes that any home cook can make in their kitchen. For me, food is about sharing knowledge, feeding people, showing love, telling stories, it could be your culture. That’s the fun part of cooking.

Right now, we’re a team of four and we have a food blog, Instagram channel, TikTok and a few other businesses we’ve launched. East Coast Kitchen at its core is a food media company. Very similar to an online food magazine, we create content for our subscribers. It’s always free. They’ll see a video on my Instagram, go to my website and then cook it for their family. There’s a lot to it; thinking about what foods I love, what recipes I think families will love. It’s also looking at what’s trending online. I understand how to look at trends and the tools available online to take those data points and turn them into recipes, then get them in front of the right people. It’s a cool world that I’ve landed in – the food + technology space is a space I think I can win in.” theeastcoachkitchen.com 

H: Let’s talk lobster… what makes Atlantic lobster so scrumptious?

Andy: In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine, you’re getting a specific kind of lobster from the Atlantic waters that’s incredibly delicious. Compared to a Caribbean lobster, the flavour of the Atlantic lobster is so rich – it’s buttery, it’s succulent, it has a lovely texture. I think it’s the very salty, very cold water that makes it so much better. Lobster is abundant here and it’s a big, important part of our history. 

For me, there are only two ways to eat lobster. The main way is a full-on lobster boil. I have a real problem eating lobster in a fancy restaurant setting, in my opinion it doesn’t belong there. I think the perfect way to eat a lobster is at the beach close to the ocean. You put a big pot over burning coals to boil the sea water. It has to be water from the Atlantic Ocean. Just pour them out onto a picnic table, dig in with your hands, get covered in lobster juice and make a big mess. That’s the best way to do it – the picnic version. It’s fun sharing a meal that you roll up your sleeves and dive into. Obviously, lots of butter to dip in, fresh rolls, potato salad, maybe some corn. 

Now, my favourite way to eat it is a traditional lobster roll. That’s what Nova Scotia does really well and I just love it. Get really beautiful lobster and mix it with mayo and green onions and chives and then toast a beautiful bun, it doesn’t get better than that. Lobster mac and cheese is a fun one too. It’s rich, so I can never eat that much but it’s always a nice treat. I love chowder, as well. Having a really bountiful seafood chowder with a big knuckle of lobster meat in there is lovely. These are quintessential Nova Scotia things to eat – classics that are there for a reason.

Follow Andy on Instagram @andyseastcoastkitchen_