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With massive amounts of
agricultural land, it’s no wonder
you can eat like royalty in our
province. Take a look. Did you
know all of the following foods
are local to Alberta?
Animals
• Beef
• WILD Fish
• Bison
• Goat
• Wild boar
• Lamb
• Chicken
• Pork
• Deer
• Rabbit
• Duck
• Turkey
• Elk
Grains andoilseeds
• Barley
• OATS
• CanolA
• Rye
• Flax
• TRITICALE
• HEMP
• Wheat
Pulses
• Beans
• Peas
• Lentils
• SOYBEANS
Dairy
• Cheese
• Yogurt
• Milk
Fruits and vegetables
(grownoutside and in
greenhouses)
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Beets
• Peas
• Bok choy
• Peppers
• Broccoli
• Potatoes
• Brussel Sprouts • Pumpkins
• Cabbage
• Radishes
• Cauliflower
• Raspberries
• Carrots
• Rhubarb
• Celery
• Rutabagas
• Cherries
• Saskatoons
• Corn
• Spinach
• Cucumbers
• Squash
• Currants
• Strawberries
• Eggplant
• SUGAR BEETS
• Horseradish
• Tomatoes
• Kale
• Turnips
• Lettuce
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
* SOURCE: Alberta FarmFresh&Alberta Agriculture
and Rural Development
In the province’s many vibrant farmers
markets, however, customers purchase
directly from the farmer who raised the
animals or pulled produce from the
ground the day prior.
“The biggest benefit is the direct
connection,” said Bailey. “There’s no
one between the customer and the
producer.”
Customers can appreciate where their
food comes from, how it was grown
and by whom, while farmers receive
a hotline to market
demand direct from
the end users.
The economic
opportunity is
tremendous, she said,
but the parties have
to meet in the middle.
While consumers and
restaurateurs need
to actively support
market vendors,
farmers can’t, for example, demand that
buyers drive to the farm to pick up their
purchases.
TELL YOUR STORY
It’s a fresh, sunny spring evening at River
Café, located idyllically on an island
park on Calgary’s Bow River. Nationally
acclaimed for its contemporary Canadian
cuisine and use of local ingredients,
its seasonal menu features meat and
produce grown by a network of more
than 60 producers. Open windows
allow a breeze into its fishing-lodge-
chic interior where Slow Food Calgary
hosts Roots and Shoots, an annual five-
course dinner utilizing “good, clean and
fair” ingredients prepared by several
of the city’s best chefs. Tonight’s meal
incorporates products ranging from
Highwood Crossing steel-cut oats and
Greens Eggs and Ham duck breast to
Hog Wild Specialties boar tenderloin.
“The menu is 100 per cent Alberta-
produced and -grown,” announced Slow
Food Canada chair and former president
of the Calgary chapter Janet Henderson
to enthusiastic cheers. The group works
diligently to meet farmers halfway.
One of three Alberta “convivia,” Slow
Food Calgary is one of the country’s
most active, and part of its mission is to
connect consumers and chefs with local
producers.
SlowFood also conserves heritage
animal breeds as well as grain and
vegetable varieties that are amajor
component of the altruistic, eat-local trend.
“It’s people wanting to know where
their food comes from,” she said. “If
you have kids, you’re
thinking about it.”
Also in attendance
is Hotel Arts Group
director of business
development
Fraser Abbott.
The group’s three
critically acclaimed
restaurants—Chef’s
Table, Raw Bar by
Duncan Ly and Yellow
Door Bistro—utilize Alberta-grown
ingredients. Abbott is also vice-chair of
the Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance,
whose mission is to unite its producer,
distributor, restaurateur and tourism
stakeholders behind compelling Alberta
food stories that respond to media and
consumer hunger (forgive the pun) for
culinary connection.
Though the organization focuses on
specialty producers, Abbott said hewould
like it to advocate for big ones as well.
“There might be a malt producer
here in Alberta growing some amazing
product they’re exporting to Belgian
beer producers. From an economic
development perspective, we’d love to
tell that story, too.”
Both Henderson and Abbott
encourage farmers to contact them.
“Tell us what you’re doing,” advised
Henderson. “What is it that might be
in sync with our goals that we could do
better together?”
These offers make it clear that farmers
are no longer stuck merely responding to
food trends, but can take an active hand
in creating and steering them.
The Food Issue
2014
grainswest.com
25
“The concept of the
mixed farm is really
passing away. Commit
to something and go
for it.”
–John Gilchrist
HOMEGROWN