Ned Bell is a well-known Canadian culinary talent who has forged a path as a chef, sustainable seafood advocate, keynote speaker and educator. As one of the country’s leading chefs, he uses his voice, outgoing personality, and indomitable spirit to stand up for the world’s lakes, oceans, rivers, in addition to hyper-local farming sustainability through brand ambassador roles. Based in British Columbia, Ned is the co-owner of Hatch Hospitality, Chef Ambassador at Buy BC and Ocean Wise, Culinary Director at Planetary Health, Board Member and Co-Chair of Sustainability at the Chefs Table Society, and as culinary and restaurant consultant at Hatch Hospitality Inc.
Ned’s lifelong passion for sustainable seafood, combined with his culinary interests and remarkable talents, have led him through many roles, including Culinary Director of The Vancouver Club, Executive Chef at YEW seafood + bar, Ocean Wise Executive Chef, and Chef Ambassador for the Vancouver-based global program Ocean Wise.
With the support of the Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program, Bell founded Chefs for Oceans in 2014 to raise awareness about sustainable seafood by riding his bike 8,700km across Canada. He joined the table at the United Nations headquarters in New York to engage his Chefs for Oceans platform in awareness initiatives leading up to him cooking for the UN’s General Assembly in New York. There’s nothing he loves more than uniting and collaborating with chefs, fishermen, farmers and influencers across the globe, demonstrated by the impact he’s already made throughout Canada and beyond.
For this work and more, Ned has earned honours that include Fellow of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (2019), Honorary Doctorate in Technology from Vancouver Island University (2019), SeaWeb Seafood Summit Global Champion Award (2017), leading a multi-chef sustainable seafood celebration at James Beard House (2017), Food Service & Hospitality magazine’s Pinnacle Award for Chef of the Year (2015), and author of best-selling cookbook Lure: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the West Coast.
As a father of three sons, he has dedicated himself to inspiring and educating people to become part of the solution for healthier oceans for today’s children and all the generations to come.
Ned’s Health Tip
Don’t Change Much resources encourage men that small changes can have a big impact on their health, and for me it starts with food. When I eat healthy, I feel healthy. Meals don’t have to be a chef’s creation–they can be simple, healthy and still be incredibly delicious.