Archive for the ‘Global’ Category
Community, Global, Growers and Farmgate Sales
Island Chefs Encourage Field to Fork Dining
Victoria, BC is well known for its love and support of local food and an extension of this is the Island Chefs Collaborative (ICC) Farm Market. Now in its fourth year, the popular downtown market will return to Bastion Square on June 3, 2009.
The ICC identified a need in downtown Victoria for urban residents and visitors to taste some of the Island’s finest produce with local, primarily organic fruits and vegetables for sale at farmgate prices. What began as a small two table market has quickly grown to represent over 100 local farmers and producers.
Each week, ICC chefs will be on hand at the market to provide recipes, cooking tips, and explanations of the more exotic items for sale. The two-day ICC Farm Market will be held every Thursday and Friday through September, from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm.
The ICC aims to increase public consumption of Island-grown produce and to decrease reliance on imported foods. Sales from the market will help provide income for local farmers; many of whom have come through the Island Chefs Collaborative funding program. For more information visit : www.iccbc.ca
Global, Slow Food Calgary
Lindsay Anderson writes from UNSIG
dispatch #2
Buon giorno from Parma! More specifically, Colorno, where our University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) campus is located. The school is housed in the Reggia di Colorno, a grand, buttery-yellow former palace built as a fortress in the 13th century. As a later Baroque palace, it was home to Napoleon’s second wife, and has since been occupied by a number of institutions, including – fun fact – an insane asylum. Now it is home to a variety of organizations including UNISG and ALMA, an international Italian culinary school. Our classroom runs the length of the palace’s gardens, which I must say provides the loveliest views I’ve ever had from a desk.
Our class is made up of twenty-five students, and each of us are proud to belong to the most diverse group UNISG has ever seen. We represent sixteen different countries, a privilege which has already enlivened classroom discussions and offered promises of a ‘Korean’ or ‘Greek’ or ‘Japanese’ night, to name a few. I am already pondering what on earth I will make on July 1st.
Ultimately, we share several things in common. Firstly, there is our love of food in cooking, eating, and discussing the issues surrounding it. Secondly, many of us have encountered the same dilemma: describing to people that we wish to work ‘in food,’ but then explaining that no, this does not mean we want to be chefs or food critics. This leads to the task of figuring out what our non-chef/non-critic niche is in the food world, with desires to extend ourselves beyond just trendy restaurants, glossy photos of styled food, and the Food Network.
Don’t get me wrong – I love eating out, reading food magazines, and I’ve learned most of what I know about cooking from people like Christine Cushing. It’s just that there are an indescribable number of things that food affects that aren’t always focused on, broadly including the environment, economics, politics, psychology, and anthropology. Within these many disciplines, there is all sorts of work to be done which relates to food, and amongst these lesser-known avenues are where many of us hope to find some understanding through this program.
We have been in school less than a week, but so far we have been lectured on molecular science, with a professor so understanding of her students that she made frequent analogies to butter and compared micelle cells to Ferrero Roche. With another prof, we have begun the long and perhaps impossible process of defining the word ‘gastronomy.’ Several days ago, we learned about the science of taste and smell, then were tested with scents to determine the winner of the ‘Gold,’ ‘Silver,’ ‘Bronze,’ and ‘Stone’ Noses (I did not win but thankfully wasn’t declared ‘Stone’).
We met and were lectured by Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food. Through an interpreter, we listened to this very intense and passionate man talk about the need for gastronomy to be understood as a science, rather than the ‘art of eating delicately’ or ‘food pornography’ (a term quite frequently used in school thus far). He discussed the current food system, the notion of consumption, people’s right to pleasure, and issues surrounding Slow Food and elitism. Ultimately, he told us that the one thing we can be sure of after this program is that we will be confused. Even more-so than when we began it.
Judging by my experiences so far, I am willing to whole-heartedly embrace this confusion and ready to muddle-up-my-mind even further. And with you I shall share the chaos.
Two new things I learned in Italy today? That there are five, not four bakeries on my block, and that I have some incredibly poetic classmates.
Until next time!
Global, Slow Food Calgary
Dispatches from the University of Gastronomic Sciences
Lindsay Anderson, former Slow Food Calgary Planning Committee member, is enrolled in the University of Gastronomic Sciences. She sends us dispatches from the Piedmont region campus where she is immersed in Slow Food theory and practice…
dispatch #1
Ciao! My name is Lindsay Anderson, and I recently began the Master in Food Culture and Communications program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNSIG, a.k.a. the Slow Food University). This twelve-month program is based in Parma, Italy, and is made up of twenty-five international students. Rather than a culinary school, it is a place to academically study the many inter-connected roles that food play in the world, as well as develop skills in food journalism and photography. It is the program I have envisioned for years, perhaps since first realizing as a child that food meant more to me than just fuel. I discovered UNISG several years ago, could barely believe my luck that such a program existed, and at once began my pursuit of it.
A native of Prince George, BC, I graduated two years ago from the University of Victoria with a degree in Art History. I have spent the last two years happily vagabonding around this and other continents, working in various food-related jobs.
The wonderful folks at Slow Food Calgary, whom I had the opportunity to learn from for six months while living there, have been kind enough to allow me to share my adventures with you over the next year. I’ll be writing updates on my experiences both in and out of the classroom; as part of the program, we’ll be visiting farmers and producers in various regions of Italy to see their work first-hand, as well as attending Slow Food events such as Terra Madre in Torino. Additional trips to Greece, Belgium and Spain will round out our education at various times throughout the year. I have no doubt that these experiences will yield more than one interesting story, and I look forward to sharing them with you.
One new thing I learned in Italy today? Football (soccer) fans are louder than those of hockey, if you can believe it. Until next time….
Feel free to write me with any questions or comments you have at lindsaylaurenanderson@gmail.com
Global, Slow Food Calgary
University of Gastronomic Sciences – Dispatches
Lindsay Anderson, former Slow Food Calgary Planning Committee member, is enrolled in the University of Gastronomic Sciences. She is sending us dispatches from her immersion in Slow Food theory and practice…
dispatch #1
Ciao! My name is Lindsay Anderson, and I recently began the Master in Food Culture and Communications program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNSIG, a.k.a. the Slow Food University). This twelve-month program is based in Parma, Italy, and is made up of twenty-five international students. Rather than a culinary school, it is a place to academically study the many inter-connected roles that food play in the world, as well as develop skills in food journalism and photography. It is the program I have envisioned for years, perhaps since first realizing as a child that food meant more to me than just fuel. I discovered UNISG several years ago, could barely believe my luck that such a program existed, and at once began my pursuit of it.
A native of Prince George, BC, I graduated two years ago from the University of Victoria with a degree in Art History. I have spent the last two years happily vagabonding around this and other continents, working in various food-related jobs.
The wonderful folks at Slow Food Calgary, whom I had the opportunity to learn from for six months while living there, have been kind enough to allow me to share my adventures with you over the next year. I’ll be writing updates on my experiences both in and out of the classroom; as part of the program, we’ll be visiting farmers and producers in various regions of Italy to see their work first-hand, as well as attending Slow Food events such as Terra Madre in Torino. Additional trips to Greece, Belgium and Spain will round out our education at various times throughout the year. I have no doubt that these experiences will yield more than one interesting story, and I look forward to sharing them with you.
One new thing I learned in Italy today? Football (soccer) fans are louder than those of hockey, if you can believe it. Until next time….
Feel free to write me with any questions or comments you have at lindsaylaurenanderson@gmail.com
Community, Global, Slow Food Calgary
And the nominees are…
It’s time to submit nominations for Terra Madre 2010!
21 Oct 10 – 25 Oct 10
TERRA MADRE world meeting of food communities
Turin, Italy
Southern Alberta Farmers…
• who have not been to Terra Madre
• who practice good, clean and fair farming without chemical inputs
• who would like to do more toward making their farm practices sustainable
• who would like to do more toward growing and distributing good food in clean and fair ways
• the cultivation or interest in same of heritage/heirloom varieties will be considered
Southern Alberta Youth Farmers…
• same criteria as above only candidates must be younger than 35
Southern Alberta Cooks…
• who have not been to Terra Madre
• who have a demonstrated track record of supporting locally grown and raised food but who are keen on learning more about what it means to successfully source good, clean and fair local produce/products and to build a sustainable/marketable cuisine from them
DEADLINE: March 31, 2010
Names of candidates, a brief description of who they are and what they do and any words or letters of support should be sent to:
info@slowfoodcalgary.ca
WE HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Community, Events, Global, Local, Slow Food Calgary
Latest Terra Madre Day Tidings…
Karen Anderson, a pillar of the Slow Food Calgary planning committee, had 30 women to her house for “Ladies eating Local” on Dec 10, Terra Madre Day.
She says: “The Very Local Menu proves that, yes, you can eat local in December in Alberta”.
Tilly Sanchez, host Karen Anderson and Chef Tanya Geutre
Kayben Farms Black currant punch, Okotoks, AB
Blue Mountain Brut Rose Sparkling Wine, Oliver, BC
Valta Bison Chili, Valhalla Center, Peace River, AB
Tres Marias Blue Corn Chips, Calgary, AB with salsa from
Gull Valley Tomatoes and Cucumber Man basil, Calgary Farmer’s Market
Red Lentil Hummus with Highwood Crossing’s Flax Oil, Aldersyde, AB
Spelt Pizza from the Ladybug with Sylvan Star Gouda and Sunworks Farms
Rosemary Chicken Sausage from Sylvan Lake and Armena, AB
Saskatoon Tarts from Pearson’s Berry Farm, Innisfail, AB
Chocolate Truffles from Choklat in Inglewood
$330.00 was raised to help send a youth delegate to Terra Madre in Turin, Italy in 2010.
Chantal Leblanc and Slow Food Calgary President Dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Catharine Hortsing and Penny Marshall
Community, Events, Global, Local, Slow Food Calgary
December 10th is Terra Madre Day
Slow Food International has declared December 10th to be
Terra Madre Day.
*Visit the official Slow Food Terra Madre Day website complete with press kit and a guide to organizing a TM day event.
“Every convivium, every food community and all people supportive of Terra Madre and Slow Food ideals are invited to organize an event, however small or symbolic, in their local area.”
Terra Madre is a worldwide network that gives voice to small-scale farmers and food producers and brings them together with cooks, academics and youth to discuss how to improve the food system collaboratively. Meetings are held at the global, regional and local level and resulting projects are promoting knowledge and exchange. Learn more about the Terra Madre network.
Slow Food Calgary will mark the occasion by promoting Alberta Locavore Challenge Eat at Home Dinners. The idea is simple: We ask that people in our community – yes you – host a dinner on December 10th built from locally grown and raised foods. Aside from the local food proviso and, we hope, a convivial spirit, these dinners may adopt whatever character or form the organizers and guests desire – big, small, formal, casual, potluck, multi-course, one big pot…let creativity reign!
Invite a Terra Madre delegate to your dinner! Several Alberta Terra Madre delegates have volunteered to attend and speak at Terra Madre Day Locavore Challenge Dinners about their experiences at the most recent Terra Madre gathering of farmers, cooks and food artisans. If you are interested please contact: info@slowfoodcalgary.ca
To further the Terra Madre network, Slow Food Calgary is also asking that Locavore Challenge Eat at Home Dinner organizers collect donations, one hundred percent of which will be submitted to a Terra Madre fund to send an Albertan youth delegate to the biennial Terra Madre gathering in Torino, Italy in 2010.
*Donation cheques should be written to Slow Food Calgary with “Terra Madre Day funds” clearly marked on the cheque. We would also LOVE you to send us a copy of the menu you prepared for the evening, including the names of the local products sourced and for the meal. Cheques should be mailed to Slow Food Calgary, P.O. Box 70043 Bowness RPO, Calgary, T3B 5K3
Community, Global
PRESS RELEASE
SUBJECT: Cowichan Bay becomes the First Cittaslow Member in North America
Cowichan Bay, August 6, 2009. Cowichan Bay, a small seaside village locatedone hour north of Victoria, British Columbia, will be the first Cittaslow member in North America. Cittaslow is an International network of towns committed to putting quality of life first. Cowichan Bay, a village of less than 3,000 inhabitants is rich with small and medium scale agricultural operations, wineries, a charactaristic waterfront center, acres of green space, traditional First Nations land. Visitors and residents alike are attracted to the area because it has managed to resist fast food and big-box retailers.
Continue reading this article …
Global, Slow Food Calgary
Red Fife Wheat Pasta
Yes, Canada’s first nomination to Slow Food’s Ark of Taste has taken on a new form – pasta. Recently embraced by artisanal bread makers nationwide, this heritage cereal planted on the David Fife homestead in Peterborough in 1842 has survived the onslaught of industrial seed proliferation, to exist today. It is now thriving, in fact, as more farmers choose to grow quality plants that exist, tenuously, outside industrial agriculture’s canons.
In this case, the same people who grow the wheat – John Rowe and Paul Moyer – mill it and make the pasta. “I don’t think any other pasta product you buy,” Mr. Rowe says, “can tell you where the wheat was grown, how it was grown and when it was milled.”
Read about how this extant wheat with a distinctive red kernel got from the mill stone to the pasta bike. >Special to the Globe and Mail, by Ivy Knight – posted Wednesday June 3, 2009.
Global, Slow Food Calgary
Not so many fish in the sea…
Ethical fish consumption is a can of worms. How does one navigate the ship of good, clean and fair to land the catch of the day? Many will argue that we simply cannot and so should keep our mouths and bellies out of the water entirely while there are still fish to consider frying. Others think that this itinerate and finite resource may, in some of its forms, sustain a presence on our plates.
Looking for information on fish with the smallest fin prints?
Check out these web sites:
For a prominent Canadian authority on the topic: www.seachoice.org
The American authority: www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp
Further information on best fish to buy: www.seafood.audubon.org