Published on October 29, 2026
Chocolats FAYS: A Passion for Quebec Chocolate
Swiss chocolate, Belgian chocolate… We know them well! But Quebec chocolate? We sometimes hesitate to give it the same recognition. Yet cocoa doesn’t grow in Switzerland or Belgium any more than it does here. So why shouldn’t we be just as proud of our own chocolate?
In Oka, Mathilde FAYS has a delicious answer to that question. At her chocolate shop, she pairs carefully selected chocolates with local ingredients, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. Behind her creations lies a strong belief: Quebec chocolate can have an identity of its own, shaped by local expertise and the richness of our ingredients.
For this chocolatier, who was born in Alsace and moved to Quebec at the age of 16, chocolate is also a story of family, encounters and curiosity.
Chocolats FAYS: A Passion for Quebec Chocolate
A Childhood Filled With the Smell of Chocolate
Some childhood memories stay with us forever. For Mathilde, they have a very particular smell: freshly baked chocolate croissants, straight from the oven.
In Alsace, her family lived above her father’s pastry shop. Every morning, the aromas of butter, warm pastry and chocolate would drift up into their home. Chocolate was part of her everyday life, from shared moments with her father to the creations they made together, including the famous chocolate masks she crafted as a child.
“We would wake up in the morning to the smell of chocolate croissants,” she recalls.
That family history is even reflected in the logo of her chocolate shop. The rooster featured in it pays tribute to her father, who made a chocolate rooster every Easter. It is a way for Mathilde to keep a little piece of her childhood at the heart of her business.
Although she grew up surrounded by delicious treats, Mathilde developed her own expertise over the years through experimentation, reading and training. She eventually launched her business in a small space in Oka while keeping her full-time job. To get the word out, she took part in markets and trade shows and visited retailers, bringing chocolates for everyone to sample.
Word of mouth did its magic, and her local customer base continued to grow until she was able to open a shop.
But success also brought new challenges. Following the pandemic, the business began growing faster, and Mathilde found herself increasingly caught up in management and expansion projects, leaving less time for what she loves most: making chocolate.
“It also made me realize that I need to stay involved in production, both for the business and for myself.”
Today, she wants to continue growing Chocolats FAYS without straying too far from her workshop or losing the joy of creating. As Geneviève O’Gleman puts it during their conversation: “Less management, more chocolate!”
Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates, Especially at FAYS!
Remember the famous line from Forrest Gump? At Chocolats FAYS, it takes on a whole new meaning. Between classic flavours and more adventurous creations, you never quite know what you are going to get. And that is precisely what makes discovering them so much fun!
Mathilde loves surprising the taste buds, but her flavour combinations are never random. They often begin with a meeting with a producer, the discovery of an ingredient or a chocolate whose aromas inspire her to experiment.
Her playground? The flavours of Quebec, in all their diversity. Her creations might feature black garlic, sea bacon, a Quebec-grown seaweed or even lactarius, a mushroom with a distinctive maple-like aroma. These are ingredients you might not expect to find in a box of chocolates, but they open the door to exciting new culinary experiences.
“We often think of exotic fruits as having bold, explosive flavours, but there are so many possibilities right here at home.” Why always reach for passion fruit or mango when we can discover sea buckthorn or pawpaw? For Mathilde, Quebec ingredients are not simply substitutes. They have their own flavours, personalities and untapped potential.
And her creativity does not stop at chocolate! The shop also offers pastries, where Mathilde applies the same philosophy: highlighting local ingredients and daring to combine flavours in unexpected ways. Local flours, butter, honey, maple syrup and lesser-known fruits give her an enormous creative playground, with the possibility of making treats entirely from Quebec ingredients.
A sea buckthorn tart instead of a lemon tart? What a delicious way to discover our local terroir from a fresh perspective!
Quebec Chocolate: A Fine Creation Worth Discovering
Cocoa does not grow in Quebec. But does that mean chocolate made here cannot be considered Quebec chocolate? For Mathilde, the answer is clear.
“It is chocolate made here, with expertise. The more people learn about it and the more we produce, the more an identity develops around it.”
Her craft involves selecting chocolates, understanding their characteristics and pairing them with other ingredients to create her own recipes. She works with a chocolate maker from the Gaspé region who processes cocoa beans in Quebec, allowing her to favour smaller batches and a shorter supply chain.
This choice also means accepting that chocolate may vary slightly from one production run to another. For Mathilde, that is part of its charm: “That is the beauty of it, too, because it is a living product.”
Like wine, chocolate reflects its origins and how it is made. Soil, climate, harvests and the different stages of processing all influence its aromas. The chocolatier's role is then to find the pairings that bring out those qualities. It is enough to make Geneviève exclaim: “You are like a chocolate sommelier!”
We readily accept that one bottle of wine may cost more than another because we recognize differences in quality and expertise. Why not take the same approach to chocolate?
And above all, why not take the time to savour it with the same attention? A single little chocolate can involve several days of preparation. From making the fillings to allowing them to rest, cutting, coating and finishing each piece, every step requires time, precision and considerable expertise.
Mindful chocolate tasting also means appreciating all the work that may not be immediately visible. Take a moment to smell the aromas, explore the textures and let the flavours unfold instead of swallowing the chocolate in two seconds!
This is one of Mathilde's ambitions: to give people a glimpse behind the scenes in her workshop and encourage them to approach chocolate tasting much as they would wine tasting.
This philosophy goes hand in hand with a deep commitment to local products. Although cocoa comes from elsewhere, Mathilde draws on Quebec expertise and local ingredients to give her creations a distinctive identity.
The Aliments préparés au Québec logo on her products recognizes the transformation work carried out here in Quebec. For Mathilde, the logo reflects something deeply personal: “Quebec and local products are truly at the heart of who we are.”
You might discover that chocolate can tell a story that goes far beyond cocoa. It can also tell the story of a place, the people we meet and a chocolatier who has never lost her desire to experiment.
Discover Mathilde FAYS and the Art of Quebec Chocolate
In this episode of the Les gens derrière nos aliments podcast, Geneviève O’Gleman meets Mathilde FAYS, founder of Chocolats FAYS in Oka. Together, they explore the inner workings of her chocolate workshop, her adventurous flavour combinations and the expertise that gives Quebec chocolate its distinctive character.
