Steve Conway and his wife Filez and their three-year-old son Liam are returning to Turkey after spending the past eight months living in Westville. (Goodwin photo)

A renowned chef who grew up in Westville is preparing to become the new chef at the Canadian embassy in Turkey.
Steve Conway, his wife Filez and their three-year-old son Liam spent the past eight months in Westville getting a taste of life in Pictou County with an aim to settle down here.
“We wanted to come here for a year and give it a try, see life here. “It’s been 10 years since I’ve been home any length of time.”
However, Conway’s fame as a chef in the diplomatic sector of the Turkish capital of Ankara has once again landed him a job there.
Their passports arrived last month and they were preparing to leave for Turkey Feb. 11.
The Conways own a home in Ankara and a getaway residence along the Mediterranean Sea.
Steve resigned from his position as executive chef at the American Embassy to bring his family back to Pictou County.
A chef for more than 20 years, he considered opening a catering business, while Feliz was prepared to take time away from her law practice and return to school, possibly to earn a Masters degree in sociology.
She is a member of the Union of the Turkish Bar Association’s international relations department and that included time working with the European Union.
She has also written several manual and articles concerning law.
“We’ve met people from all over the world,” Steve Conway said. “We’ve made some really good friends. I like the flexibility of working at embassies. It’s a lot better than working at hotels.”
During their flight to Nova Scotia, Feliz was amazed at the amount of forest she saw during their descent compared to the arid landscape in most of Turkey, except near its north coast along the Black Sea.
“I remember very clearly looking down and wondering what that darkness was,” she said. “I found it very relaxed living here compared to Ankara. Life is going too fast there.”
Steve was working in Ankara, where Filez was born, when he met his future wife.
“I used to hang around a lot of English teachers,” he said. “Feliz was studying English and came out with them one evening and that’s how I met her.”
The Conways wanted to allow their son at least one lengthy stay in Pictou County to learn about life here.
“I wanted to start a catering business when I came back,” Steve said. “We’ve been here for Christmas and a couple of weeks of summer, but we wanted Liam to come here. We locked the house up in Ankara and came because we wanted Liam to have three things I had growing up – fishing and going to the park and libraries. He loves libraries.”
Liam’s parents encouraged him to go out in the back yard and play, something denied children in the cramped spaces around their home in Ankara
“It’s a concrete jungle in Ankara and here he was with all this open space and at first he didn’t know what to do. He just stood there on the back deck," said Steve. "Then all of a sudden he bolted and started running around our yard and our neighbours’ too.”
While Filez is fluent in Turkish and English and Steve can speak about 75 per cent of the language, moving back to Turkey means their son must learn the language.
“It will be tough on him going back because he’ll have to learn Turkish," Steve said.
While in Westville, the Canadian embassy invited Steve back to Turkey after receiving a ringing endorsement by the wife of the American ambassador.
He was 16 when he began working as a cook, first at Stonehame Chalets in Scotsburn and later at the Consulate Inn operated by Gary and Debbie Jardine in Pictou.
In between, Conway completed a culinary arts course at the Nova Scotia Community College’s Akerley campus in Dartmouth.
“I give Gary all the credit,” Steve said. “He’s a hidden gem and I owe my career to him. He showed me how to be a chef, how to be organized, how to meet people.”
The Conways see contrasts to life here and in Turkey, whose citizens work 12 hours a day, six days a week.
“Food is expensive here and housing is expensive there, and gas is $3 a litre,” Steve Conway said. “I don’t know how they do it because wages for most Turks are not that high but they live good lives.
“Food here has so much packaging. In Turkey it’s always fresh. We stop at the market every day.”
Water is in short supply in much of Turkey. Sectors of Ankara take turns with water shut off.
“Water is going to be a very important issue in Turkey and around the world,” Feliz said.
The Conways expect to remain in Turkey for at least a year or two before considering another move back to Pictou County.
“We know what to do to make it successful,” Steve said. “I’m at a point where I’ve set other priorities. Family is important.”