Michael Stadtländer

Michael Stadtländer is an internationally-renowned chef, environmentalist and multi-media artist, who was among the first to bring the locavore movement to the Toronto area. His Eigensinn Farm, where guests can experience his unique organic, local and seasonal gourmet dishes, has been named among the World’s Top Ten Restaurants.

Born in Northern Germany, Stadtländer was enticed to Canada by Canadian chef Jamie Kennedy when the two met in Switzerland and then returned to Toronto to run the high-end restaurant Scaramouche in the 1980s. In 1993, Stadtländer bought his own land outside Toronto and started Eigensinn, where over 60% of the food he serves has been grown on the farm. He opened Haisai, a 28-seat solar-powered bakery and restaurant inspired by his wife Nobuyo’s Okinawan origins, in 2009.

A committed environmentalist and sustainable food crusader, Stadtländer was among the organizers of Foodstock, a musical and culinary community protest against the proposed establishment of a mega-quarry on class 1 Ontario farmland.