Defending Our Back Yard Food Festival, Vancouver Island

The 3rd Annual ICC LOCAL FOOD FESTIVAL: Defending Our Backyard is one of the highlights of Vancouver Island’s festival year. Chefs from some of the finest restaurants on Vancouver Island are working together to raise public awareness of the importance of local food and supporting local farms. Defending Our Backyard celebrates Island food, farms and flavours at the picturesque Fort Rodd Hill & Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites in Colwood.

Despite the high overcast and intermittent light drizzle we still had over 1200 people join us at our 3^rd annual Island Chefs Collaborative “Defending our Back yard” Food Festival, wow…quite a mouthful in itself…

This is the major fundraiser for our Farmer Grant Program. All proceeds from this event go towards grants for our local farmers. So far we have given 20+ thousand dollars in grants to our local farm community. This year we will be giving away another 10 thousand dollars to deserving farmers, we will be announcing these recipients at our ICC Bastion Square Market on July 1^st. - Ken Nakano, Executive Sous Chef, Fairmont Empress

Defending Our Backyard is aimed at the growing audience of people interested in food issues and increasingly seeking local food. In the first year, Defending Our Backyard brought together over 600 people.

They've expanded the event to feature more local food, information and activities. Defending Our Backyard focuses on personal experience and, in addition to sampling some tastes of the Island, participants will also learn about growing more of their own food, composting, the ethical harvest of seafood, local wineries and breweries, the work of food-related special interest groups and farmers’ markets.

About the ICC
The Island Chefs’ Collaborative (ICC) is a community based, social profit organization dedicated to supporting sustainable food and agriculture on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Over the last five years, the ICC has provided $22,000 worth of equipment to 16 small farms on Vancouver Island — helping to make those farms more sustainable. The ICC’s inaugural Defending Our Backyard raised funds to provide $9,500 in grants to:

Sooke School District’s WestShore Teaching Garden in Colwood | Haliburton Community Organic Farm in Saanich Silver Cloud Farm in Sooke | Holland Farm in Saanich | Kennego Farm on Salt Spring Island

For more information, please visit:
http://www.iccbc.ca

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Success! Comox Valley Shellfish Festival

Comox, BC June 21, 2010 – The 2 –day Comox Valley Shellfish Festival concluded yesterday and the combination of weather, attendance and record sales have organizers elated and already looking forward to next year’s event.

“First of all I have to thank Mother Nature for providing us with the best possible weather over
the weekend, it couldn’t have been better. Our gala dinner for 200 guests at the Filberg Lodge
was a huge success and we were able to raise $3,000 during our silent auction for Y.A.N.A. It
was great seeing all nine chefs and their sous-chefs working collaboratively to prepare the
finest nine-course seafood meal served on Vancouver Island,” said festival producer Matthew
Wright.

Sunday in Comox Marina Park drew a throng of locals and visitors alike to the site to enjoy live
music, a beer garden and plenty of tasty seafood treats.

“The festival day in Comox Park was also a huge success with record numbers in attendance
which we estimate to be over 2,000 people. Our food vendors were sold out by 3 p.m. and the
oyster shucking contest was a crowd favorite,” Wright said.

Nine competitors from as far away as Vancouver drew shucking knives and went toe-to-toe
while a large crowd curiously watched and cheered them on. At the final tally, it was 23 year-old
Comox Valley resident and line cook Devon Shute from Avenue Bistro who won the $500 cash
prize.

Organizers were also extremely pleased with the amount of attention the festival generated
this year culminating in a mention in this past weekend’s Globe & Mail as well as by the
attendance of two food/travel TV shows from both internationally and nationally broadcast
companies who will be highlighting the festival.

The festival would like to thank all the generous sponsors who generously donated to this
year’s live auction including BC Ferries, West Coast Air, Cindy Mawle, The Old House Village
Hotel & Spa, Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa, Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community, Atlas Café, Avenue Bistro, Horne Lake Caves, Mustang Survival, the Vancouver Aquarium, Mussels and More Pottery and Horne Lake Outdoor Centre.

Festival organizers are now setting their sights even higher for next year’s festival, stay tuned to
developments at www.comoxvalleyshellfishfestival.ca

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Food Paparazzi

As the popularity of food blogging and social networking collide, the World Wide Web is seeing more photos of food from all walks of life. ABC News is currently airing a story called “Food Paparazzi: It’s Their ‘Porn’”, which includes an interview with NYC Food Guy. How did it go? You’ll have to watch the video and see...

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(April 19, 2010)  by Greg Morabito from Eater.com

The LA Times runs a story today on the growing trend of diners taking pictures of food, or as they claim chefs now call these customers, the "Food Paparazzi." Naturally, chefs are both annoyed and flattered by the camera-wielding diners. Grant Achatz, who banned flash photography from Alinea, has been an especially outspoken critic of food photos recently.

Crediting bloggers for buzz, Top Chef Masters' Ludo Lefebvre recently sold out every single reservation at his restaurant Ludo Bites. He's even hosted a private 18-person meal just for bloggers, with a light box to help with photo ops. As Lefebvre puts it, "This is the game we all now play... we cook, we smile -- and the people, they don't eat. They get their cameras."

· Dinner is Theatre As Food Paparazzi Converge [LA Times]

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Pourhouse

Gastown's Pourhouse - Wonderful Comfort Food

By George Froehlich

Originally Posted on The Savvy Insider

Comfort food.

There is nothing quite like.

It's simple, straightforward and it packs a myriad of flavours.

Its recipes are time-honoured.

And now a number of restaurants are coming on to the Vancouver culinary scene perfecting new flavour combinations and ingredients - all in the quest for the perfect comfort food.

In Gastown, Pourhouse, is yet another small place carving out a clientele that loves plain old comfort food that is simply delicious.

Pourhouse reminds you of one of those old-fashioned, back of the century saloons, steeped in the traditions of history.

Dark wood, exposed brick, old fashioned chandeliers, dim lights, are all part of the decor that says come in, relax, enjoy, enjoy some good old-fashioned comfort food.

Take the simple grilled cheese sandwich.

At Pourhouse it is divine and decadent but never forgetting its classic roots. Three cheeses are packed between two slices of dark bread - pan fried in butter.

The end result is something that is yummy and outstanding.

It comes with a roast vine ripened tomato soup. The soup, almost a bit sour and tart, the acidity of the tomatoes cutting through the richness of the sandwich.

It is a perfect pairing.

And that Sloppy Joe sandwich - flavours galore singing in unison from the shredded pork and beef, both simmered for hours to develop their fullest flavour profile.

The Slopping Hill pork, rich and succulent. The Pemberton beef, robust and hearty.

The house made Bap, a large roll, it originated in Scotland, is soft in texture, a perfect place for the beef-pork mixture.

And that warm chocolate cake, oozing dark rich sweet chocolate, as soon as you spoon into it, surrounded by a lovely smooth caramel.

On top a caramel salt infused ice cream - a perfect antidote to that rich sweet chocolate filling.

Double espresso, packing a mean wallop of bitterness, the best we ever had.

Pourhouse is all about attention to details.

The server was terrific, explaining all the dishes in detail.

Everything is made from scratch in the kitchen. The chocolate cake alone took 15 minutes to prepare.

Its espresso machine is one of only 10 in all of Canada. The coffee comes from J.J. Bean a local supplier and roaster.

It is only kept for 10 days after that oxidization kicks in and the coffee loses its punch.

Pourhouse - serving excellent comfort food in an atmosphere of history and tradition.

See what else is on the menu at Pourhouse.

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