Joan McElman was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. As the youngest of 10 children, she discovered learning to cook was a necessity. Joan became seriously interested in cooking while living with her oldest brother and sister-in-law in logging camps during the summer months. While at the logging camps, Joan worked with her sister-in-law who cooked for between 10 and 30 men.

Joan married a Canadian Airforce pilot in 1963 and developed a love of cooking ethnic meals and exotic food from the diversity of people they met during those years. While her husband traveled with the military, he would gather different recipes for her from the various places he visited, which led to a very extensive recipe collection.

In 1983, she took over the show; "Cable Kitchen," on Mid-Valley Cable in Aylesford, N.S. Joan was the third host of the show, the other two went on to other things within the cable station. Today, Joan continues to volunteer as the host of "Welcome To My Kitchen" on EastLink TV where she can be seen every week preparing a variety of easy-to-make recipes.

Currently, Joan and her husband Bob are retired and live in the central Annapolis Valley, a place where they thoroughly enjoy the pace of life and the people. Joan is the mother of a daughter and a son, and grandmother to 3: 1 grandson and 2 granddaughters. Joan loves cookbooks and reads them like novels. Her friends know her passion for cooking and cookbooks, as she always loves receiving different cookbooks as gifts.


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