Jonathan grew up in the restaurant business. Hanging out in the kitchen of his father's restaurants, because that's where the action was, he developed a passion for food from a very young age. Jonathan began his cooking training at the Culinary Arts program at Vancouver Community College and learned the basic principles of classical French cuisine, during a three year apprenticeship at Vancouver’s Le Petit Genève under Gerhard Pichler. After obtaining his Red Seal, Jonathan moved to Hong Kong to work at his family's restaurants where he learned many different styles of cooking including German, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. After two years in China, Jonathan moved to Montreal and he was the Sous Chef at a restaurant in Old Montreal. But Jonathan’s long-time dream was to not only cook, but to teach others of the joy of cooking and this became a reality with the opening of Appetite for Books.