Events
We host a variety of events throughout the year to provide members and prospective members with opportunities to experience the Slow Food mandate in action. We host workshops with local food producers, many food and wine events at local restaurants, two major food and wine events celebrating seasonal changes – Feast of Fields celebrating harvest in September and Roots and Shoots in April celebrating the imminent arrival of spring – wine and cheese tastings, wine and food pairings, field trips to local producers and a summer garden party to provide respite from the calamity of Stampede.
Slow Food Calgary encourages you to drink responsibly and in moderation. The legal alcohol blood level limit in Alberta is .08. Please be aware of your responsibilities and govern yourself accordingly.
January 2012
• Slow Beginnings: New Year’s Resolutions
date to be announced
February 2012
• Slow Food Community Kitchen Party
date to be announced
March 2012
• Seedy Saturday – March 17th – click here for details
• Roots n’ Shoots – March 19th
Roots n’ Shoots is a multi-course dinner exploring the terrain of Alberta’s late-winter/early spring food landscape through the eyes and hearts of some of the city’s most inspiring – and inspired – chefs.
Monday, March 19th
at River Cafe on Prince’s Island Park
6pm cocktails, 6:30pm dinner
6 courses with wine pairings
members: $115; non-members $145
Tickets at Cookbook Company Cooks
(722 – 11 Ave SW or call 403-265-6066)
• Slow Food Calgary AGM – March 31st
Slow Food Canada’s National Meeting 2013
SAVE THE DATES!
Delegates from Slow Food convivia across Canada will meet in the Okanagan from April 26th to 29th, 2013.
The planning is underway. Stay tuned for details!
The Slow Food Edmonton convivium hosted the National Meeting in May of this year.
Have a look at the agenda and guests speakers for 2012.
May-June 2012 Foodshed Rural Routes Road Trip
sponsored by city palate
You know your doctor, you know your lawyer, you know your accountant….Who’s your farmer?
Writer, chef, poet, and food advocate dee Hobsbawn-Smith takes to the road with this provocative question. Visit the farmers close to you and learn more about
Foodshed: An Edible Alberta Alphabet, the intimate guide to Alberta’s sustainable food scene.
Check out the locations and dates of all the stops on the Rural Routes Road Trip:
Foodshed_AlbertaTour
Community Capital Network for Financing our Foodshed
Tuesday, April 10 from 10:45 am – 1:00 pm
Global Business Centre (Calgary Economic Development)
4th Floor Meeting Room, 136 – 8 Avenue SE
Join REAP and its partners for our monthly gathering and discussion about local investing models. We’ll dial in to the BALLE - living economies - webinar on accelerating community capital from 11:00 am-12:00 pm to learn about Financing our Foodshed: A Slow Money Investment Club & Peer-to-Peer Model. Carol Peppe Hewiit, cofounder of Slow Money North Carolina, will present a new approach pioneered by in 2011 when Chatham Marketplace, the local cooperative grocery store, refinanced its loan through 16 individual investors.
Please arrive at 10:45 am so that you can get settled before the BALLE webinar begins. After the webinar we’ll introduce ourselves over lunch and chat about the opportunities here in Calgary. Andrew Watson from Slow Money Alberta <http://slowmoneyalberta.org/> will be in attendance to tell us about what is happening locally. Lunch will be provided. We’ll wrap up by 1:00 pm. This event is free to attend but registration is required for planning purposes. Click here to register through the Meetup page. <http://www.meetup.com/
Calgary’s Community Capital Network is proudly sponsored by REAP Business Association <http://www.reapcalgary.com> and its partners: Thrive <http://www.thrivecalgary.org> , First Calgary Financial <http://www.firstcalgary.com> , Conscious Brands <http://www.consciousbrands.
REAP, 1908 – 50 Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2T 2W2, Canada
Calgary Chefs Speak Out About Sustainable Food Systems
By Kristi Peters Snider
Across Canada, Chefs are facilitating local food movements by creating links between local farms and customers in their dining rooms through purchasing local products and featuring them on their menus. Restaurants and Chef’s interface with society in a unique way, and combined with purchasing power, they have the potential to be a strong driver for sustainable food systems change. Chefs are capable of introducing foods and influencing consumer choice; the root of many local food systems can be traced to the link between restaurant chefs and farmers; and restaurant food expenditures provide a viable market for local farm products.
We wanted to hear directly from some of Calgary’s top chefs about what they are doing in their kitchens, at their order desks, and at their back doors to support a sustainable local food system for Calgary. We caught up with some of them at the annual Slow Food Roots ‘n Shoots Dinner at River Café and this is what we heard:
Michael Dekker, Executive Chef, Rouge Restaurant
Photo Credit: Rouge Restaurant
What do you do to support a sustainable local food system?
To support our local food system, we go out into our surrounding area and use every possible resource of food we have here in Alberta. Both talking to our suppliers about new items as well as working with them to see how they can produce enough quantity of ingredients to hold it on a standard menu.
What are the daily challenges you face in your decision to support the local food system? What needs improvement?
The challenges are the supply of the given product and the cost.
How can we spread the word and get greater participation from Calgary Chefs?
For better participation we simply need to have more forums and resources for Chefs to be promoted. Booths at food shows and more presence in the local Chefs association could be one way. Also we need to develop larger supply chains to enable hotels and other larger function spaces to be able to order local ingredients and participate with their purchasing power.
Are there specific practices you have that promote food system sustainability in your kitchen? Ie. Charcuterie, training programs, community outreach?
We try to promote our food systems through daily activities while living in the reality that we can’t yet sustain ourselves locally. But every step we take in the right direction is a huge one!
John Michael McNeil, Executive Chef, Teatro
Photo Credit: Chef John Michael McNeil
What do you do to support a sustainable local food system?
In the restaurant and at home, I try to use local products whenever possible. A local product also includes the use of whole animals for butchery; nose to tail.
It is important for the education of customers and our families to not only know where our food comes from but what is in our food, how it was processed and the transportation means to bring to our tables. Transportation and processing is not what we would normally think of when picking up a tomato in our grocery stores however, depending on where we purchase has a direct impact on our ecological footprint.
Local products and production means a fresher food system and world for all of us. Showcasing foods of Alberta and the rest of our beautiful country of Canada in our dishes also brings our rich traditions and heritage to a warm feeling at the table.
What are the daily challenges you face in your decision to support the local food system?
One of the main challenges of a local system is the location of our country. We live in the North; a cold climate. Our inability to predict the exact type of weather in our provinces can make for our short growing season. Our farmers have not had it easy in terms of weather and resources to bring a stable supply of products to our tables to support our growing population in Calgary. We need to focus on local foods and the Slow Food movement. It can mean a lot of pickling and preserving for the winter months.
What needs improvement?
We could also improve by education and knowing what our government is doing to provide the resources to bring nutritional foods to table. Education is knowledge and knowledge is power. Knowing the true value of what our farmers do in the fields and bringing this supply to a greater market with more locations around the city.
How can we spread the word and get greater participation from Calgary Chefs?
The best way to get greater participation is to make Chefs and the valued customers excited and passionate about the food that goes into our bodies. We can accomplish this education through social media sites that allow the greater population to see quality ingredients in fabulous dishes. Social media allows organizations like the Slow Food movement to get the word out.
When possible, it would be great for Chefs to get together to talk about local product finds and to discuss new found flavors locally. It would be even greater to bring farmers to Chefs, and Chefs to farms to get a feel for the local products.
Are there specific practices you have that promote food system sustainability in your kitchen? i.e. charcuterie, training programs, community outreach?
In our kitchens, we use whole lamb and whole pig. We live by the philosophy of using all parts of the animal such as bones for stock, tough cuts for braising, trim, fat and bellies for charcuterie. We are dedicated to educating young Chefs to see the benefits of using local ingredients for better taste and farm fresh quality.
We also educate our customers through our talented service staff by showcasing where our ingredients are from and the benefits to our environment and our local economy. The Culinary Arts are about artistry with the fresh ingredients; it is a relationship and experience with our customers. The more passionate the chef makes for an extraordinary tasting adventure for the palate.
Justin Leboe, Owner/ Executive Chef, Model Milk Bistro
Photo Credit: Natasha Drainville-Yamamoto
What do you do to support a sustainable local food system?
Maintain relationships with local purveyors, working with them to solve challenges as they arise, and help identify areas that are important to the producers rather than just a “what’s good for me” attitude.
What are the daily challenges you face in your decision to support the local food system? What needs improvement?
Cost of local products, consistent availability, quality and volume. Better infrastructure needs to be developed to support the small farms who bring their products to market.
How can we spread the word and get greater participation from Calgary Chefs?
Stronger sense of community to promote cross-pollination of ideas and information.
Are there specific practices you have that promote food system sustainability in your kitchen? Ie. Charcuterie, training programs, community outreach?
A food purchasing plan that states whoever can get products off the tree and to my back door the fastest gets the business, because the shorter the transport time for food, the fresher it is and the smaller carbon footprint it has.
Andrew Winfield, Chef, River Café
What do you do to support a sustainable local food system?
Taking time out of my schedule to go to local markets for personal shopping, as well as for my restaurant. Making a decision to choose a product when it is locally available, then feature the product as well as talk about the producer with guests at the table.
I believe in keeping guests informed by sharing with them the provenance of ingredients, that they can also purchase these local ingredients where possible. Choosing an ingredient from a farm is not just a decision based on quality but also a decision based on support of that grower.
Many times I have chosen a product based upon my general appreciation of the farmers decision to do the right thing, and then encouraging them to keep going. I believe more farmers selling their product are better than a single farmer occupying an entire market group.
What are the daily challenges you face in your decision to support the local food system? What needs improvement?
A daily challenge is getting guests to recognize the value of a product that has been undercut in value by society for too many years. For example the cost to raise a chicken ethically, then take to slaughter, then process for consumption is an expensive endeavour. Customers however have seen the price of chicken so low from mass production that they don’t realize the cost behind raising a healthy animal, and think the true cost is abnormal.
The other challenge and common issue is quality. Just because a product is local does not mean that it is quality. The tag of ” locally sourced” is a common issue that undercuts the value of other products when supplied by quality producers.
It seems to be a term taken on by large supply companies grabbing hold of a local product (that perhaps was always local).
How can we spread the word and get greater participation from Calgary Chefs?
Constant communication about the effectiveness and freshness of having a product travel less.
Letting the knowledge that customers when given a chance to choose between equally priced products from local vs imported would likely choose local. Nobody would choose a tomato from Mexico over one from your backyard if they were equal in cost or flavour, it would just seem wrong to them.
Prices are typically higher for local products, but financially, products will last longer, have better flavor, better texture from freshness, and have a higher yield from less loss.
Are there specific practices you have that promote food system sustainability in your kitchen? Ie. Charcuterie, training programs, community outreach?
At River Café, we have an on site garden, which was established many years ago. It gives us an opportunity to show guests how easy it is to simply cook what you grow.
It also educates our cooks with an understanding of natures power, with heat, rain, handling, and of course how great fresh picked product tastes.
Training staff on an appreciation for local products means visiting areas and producers, farms and ranches, and meeting them at markets and sharing like a family or large community. River Café also has a partnership with a local urban gardening co-op which raises products in all areas of Calgary. They provide locally foraged and cultivated items from across a network of urban backyard gardens and advocates an awareness of the need to keep gardens in our own yards.
Krissy Dumas, Pastry Chef, River Café
Photo Credit: Natasha Drainville-Yamamoto
What do you do to support a sustainable local food system?
We use dairy and eggs from local farmers. We grow edible flowers, herbs, and vegetables right here at the restaurant. Honey is a primary sweetener that we purchase from local Alberta farmers. The flour we use is organic and from Highwood Crossing Farm which is located in Aldersyde Alberta.
What are the daily challenges you face in your decision to support the local food system? What needs improvement?
Some of the daily challenges that we face in supporting the local food system include being limited in fresh fruit and berries for most months of the year. Thankfully we have local farmers that have frozen or preserved berries from the summer and fall months so that we can use them in the winter. It is challenging to create a menu but I still think we succeed in creating something wonderful for our guests.
How can we spread the word and get greater participation from Calgary Chefs?
By creating conversation through publications such as City Palate and local food blogs explaining the benefits of supporting local food system. This is spreading the word through the industry to other Chefs and hopefully we will see more participation.
Are there specific practices you have that promote food system sustainability in your kitchen? Ie. Charcuterie, training programs, community outreach?
At River cafe we have a great recycling and composting program in place. We also do our butchery in house so every part of the animal is utilized.
Interested in learning more about Sustainable Food Systems and what is happening in Calgary? Visit: yycfood.com
Shots from Roots n’ Shoots…
Roots n’ Shoots is an annual multi-course dinner exploring the terrain of Alberta’s late-winter/early spring food landscape through the eyes and hearts of some of the city’s most inspiring – and inspired – chefs.
It took place on Monday, March 19th
at this event’s abiding venue:
River Café on Prince’s Island Park
