A Chat With Daniel Bresca

It wasn’t an initial love for cooking that led Daniel Bresca to his role as a chef, but it’s clear he ended up where he was meant to be. What began as a job washing dishes transitioned into helping out in the kitchen before becoming a cook, and eventually training to become a chef. Now, with decades of experience under his belt, Bresca has worked in a wide variety of venues, from banquet halls and golf courses to some of the finest kitchens in the GTA and beyond. His journey culminated in 2014 when he started his own catering company, Farm & Wild. Of his journey, Bresca says, “I truly love this. It started as a job, but it was really my path. I love cooking and I love the adrenaline rush and the pressure; I thrive on it.”

His catering kitchen is based in Oshawa and services the Durham and York Regions for anything from small, intimate events to weddings with hundreds of guests. “At Farm & Wild, we always use fresh ingredients and everything we do is made from scratch,” says Bresca. “That’s our philosophy. If you use good ingredients and good technique, you’re going to have wonderful food. That’s our motto.”

Having gotten to know many people in the area over the years, Bresca appreciates Durham’s strong sense of community and aims to support local talent where he can, saying, “You’re only as good as your staff, and I’m proud to say I have amazing people that work for me. I build relationships with them, I take care of them, and I invest in them. And I treat them like they are my family, because they are my family. […] We have a lot of people coming and going in this industry unfortunately, but I’m proud to say I’ve been able to keep a lot of good people working for me.”

Bresca and his team at Farm & Wild are looking forward to a busy summer of long overdue weddings and events. In fact, event days are his favourite part of it all. As a creative individual, Bresca loves that each event is a new challenge, with a different venue and the chance to start from scratch on new dishes that have been customized to his clients’ wishes.

When asked of his plans for the future, Bresca laughs and says, “I’ve been really wanting to start a homestead. People laugh at me, but it’s really a dream of mine. Having a cow, some sheep, some chickens, my own homestead just for myself. There’s nothing better than local and doing it yourself.” He jokes that his son is too young to be a farmer just yet, so for the time being he’s happy to focus on Farm & Wild because as he says, “It’s a wonderful thing when you love what you do for a living.”