Eatdrink #67 September/October 2017 "The Decade Issue"

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14 | September/October 2017 Food Writer at Large eatdrink.ca |@eatdrinkmag Ten of My Favourite Articles Looking Back at a Decade of Writing for Eatdrink By BRYAN LAVERY Ten years ago, before there was a wide-reaching turn toward charcuterie, farmers’ markets, food trucks, plant-based cuisine and gluten-free cuisine, we originated the Buzz column in Eatdrink magazine to introduce readers to local chefs, restaurants, restaurant personalities and rising culinary stars. In the absence of local culinary media, it was just as important to encourage dining out. In 2007, procuring local food was a chef-driven trend that involved sourcing ingredients at farmers’ markets and directly from producers at the kitchen door. Today we are more than a decade into the farm-to-table movement, which has become a much wider concept and an ethos that encompasses the entire food supply chain. When Eatdrink began a decade ago, Chef Amédé Lamarche was introducing molecular gastronomy on his tasting menus at The Church Restaurant in Stratford; The Only on King had recently opened and was serving local and organic ingredients and trying to be as much “Slow Food movement” as possible; and the pomegranate martini was one of the Tasting Room’s bestsellers. Food media continue to be necessary members of the culinary community. Like any thoughtful patron, I attempt to bring appreciation, sensibility and intelligent discourse to the table. When I go out to eat I am drawn to businesses that support local Writer at Large Eatdrink Food Editor and Writer at Large Bryan Lavery doing field research. farmers and to food artisans who source and feature local ingredients, products and beverages. Patronizing farm-to-table inspired restaurants makes sense because it supports and sustains economic activity on a local level. I have always tried to write about and cover food and drink as culture. Good writing furnishes the reader with enough information and insight to enable educated decisions, while helping to arbitrate the standards of dining out. If you don’t have good, strong food media — whether you like them or loathe them — you don’t have the same degree of interest, enthusiasm and accountability in the community. Despite the changing definition of restaurant professionalism, poor customer service and unfriendly reservation policies disappoint us, and good service fosters loyalty, which in turn inspires repeat business and great word-of-mouth. Once trained to view things from both a chef’s and a restaurateur’s perspective the ability never leaves you. After three decades of working at both ends of this spectrum, I continue to be inspired by dedicated culinary entrepreneurs and artisans who embrace the benefits of building community engagement through food. In no particular order, here are ten favourite articles about some of the many interesting people, restaurants and subjects that I have written about over the last decade.
By BRYAN LAVERY | Photography by STEVE GRIMES № 44 | November/December 2013 By BRYAN LAVERY By BRYAN LAVERY № 55 | September/October 2015 Photo by Melissa Doyle, Casting Memories № 56 | November/December 2015 The LOCAL Food & Drink Magazine 1 Culinary Farmer Paul Spence and the Chatham- Kent Table: A fifthgeneration farmer, Paul Spence can debate the economic impacts of food policy with agility and is equally knowledgeable about the urban farmers’ market culture and the practicalities of traditional farming methods as he is on the subject of greenwashing. His fierce championing of local food has won him both admirers and detractors. www. eatdrink.ca/a-culinary-farmer/ 2 12 www.eatdrink.ca T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant: For more than a decade, T.G.’s Addis Ababa has offered a tour restaurants An Authentic Taste of Ethiopia at T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant, in London D ining at T.G.’s Addis Ababa is characterized by the ritual of breaking injera (the traditional yeast-risen flatbread which is spongy in texture, crêpe-like in appearance and has a sourdough tanginess) and sharing food from a communal platter, signifying the bonds of loyalty and friendship. For more than a decade, T.G.’s Addis Ababa Restaurant has offered a tour de force from the Ethiopian culinary repertoire. The modest restaurant is tucked away off the beaten track, in an unassuming brick building on the south side of Dundas Street, near the corner of Burwell and Maitland. de force from the Ethiopian culinary repertoire and has garnered repute for being blistering-hot, but truly authentic. T.G.’s signature dishes comprise permutations of sweet, bitter, sour, salty, hot and fragrant. These flavour contrasts and the refinement of her cooking is the hallmark of her cuisine. www. eatdrink.ca/t-g-s-addis-ababa/ 3 T.G. Haile Chef/restaurateur T.G. Haile is dedicated to supporting important cultural and charitable initiatives and events, despite the fact that she is a hands-on owner who does all of the cooking at the restaurant. T.G.’s Addis Ababa has been a stalwart participant in the Taste for Life campaign to support the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. T.G. supports the efforts of local student organizers at Brescia University during their annual Multicultural Show, as well as the London Black History Coordinating Committee. Recently, T.G. was selected as An unassuming building facade disguises a uniquely original interior #44 — Nov/Dec 2013 Andrew Fleet, Food Literacy and Growing Chefs!: Based on the idea that education can alter behavior, Growing Chefs! and its many volunteers have made tremendous strides by changing the way many children perceive food, and encouraging them to become excited about nutritious and healthy food choices. The former Auberge du Petit Prince restaurant has been transformed into the new Growing Chefs! headquarters and 18 www.eatdrink.ca farmers & artisans A Culinary Farmer Paul Spence and the Chatham-Kent Table F or the most part, Ontarians are complacent about the origins of their food and oblivious to the challenges farmers face just to stay on their land. Paul Spence is the archetype of the intrepid, modern Ontario farmer advocating for change to our food system. His family has been working land in Chatham-Kent since 1852, when his ancestors settled in this biologically diverse Carolinian zone of southern Ontario. Spence and my paths intersect at events supporting local food and agricultural initiatives, culinary events and tourism conferences. We often discuss the fact that an obvious lack of commitment to locally procured food takes away from the integrity of many of these events. A fifth-generation farmer, Spence can debate the economic impacts of food policy with agility and is equally knowledgeable about the urban farmers’ market culture and the practicalities of traditional Paul and Sara Spence, with their farming methods as he is on the subject of greenwashing. His fierce championing of local food has children, at Spence Farms won him both admirers and detractors. Spence and his wife Sara, who emigrated from hormones or additives, they developed Ecuador, founded Lo Maximo Meats in 2009 as an a reputation for Latin-style cuts of outgrowth of Spence Farms. Uniting the food of quality fresh-frozen beef, pork, lamb Sara’s culture and his farming practices of growing and goat. Soon they were retailing his own feed and raising the meat without growth pasture-raised ducks, geese and rabbits from other small family farms in Chatham-Kent. I became acquainted with Spence during the four years he spent as a vendor at London, Ontario’s Masonville Farmers’ Market. In 2012, Spence and fellow-farmer and River Bell Market owner, Joseph Grootenboer, collaborated to establish the first Chatham-Kent Table. Over 100 attendees savoured a repast, prepared and served by the farmers from where the products originated. They achieved this with the assistance and support of the contributing farmers, their families and sponsors. Paul Spence (right) with Twisted Lemon (Cayuga ON) Chef Dan Megna at the Ontario Southwest’s City Fare in Toronto 8 www.eatdrink.ca food writer at large Food Literacy and Growing Chefs! F #55 — Sept/Oct 2015 ood literacy, when taken literally, means a person’s ability to correctly read food labels and Canada’s Food Guide and the aptitude to comprehend basic nutrition well enough to apply that knowledge to food preparation. Food literacy also includes understanding how food is grown and produced, where it originates, how production affects the environment and who has access to what types of foods. The need to introduce food into school life is the most compelling at the primary level, when children are just starting to establish food preferences, make independent choices and influence their friends. Growing Chefs! was conceived in Vancouver B.C. by Chef Merri Schwartz in 2006, as she identified a need to articulate the story of the food we eat. Believing in greater engagement between chefs, farmers and the general public, she set out to educate children, families, and community members about nutrition, sustainability and healthy food systems. Schwartz achieved this by providing programs, seminars, and workshops in classrooms to promote local and healthy eating. After working with Schwartz and recognizing the influence that Growing Chefs! was having in Vancouver, Andrew Fleet was inspired to launch the program when he returned to London, Ontario. Consequently, The Growing Chefs! Ontario Classroom Gardening Project was established in the spring of 2008 at Tecumseh Public School. Fleet is the Executive Director of Growing Chefs! Ontario. What was initially known as the Classroom Gardening Project has been redesigned as a full-school project. The Growing Chefs! team visits every class in each partner school allowing individual schools to contribute time and effort into the coordination piece of the programming. With this model, Growing Chefs! is able to reach three times the number of elementary students annually, that’s 2,600 students up from 800. “Kids are well educated in our school system on health and they know they need to be making healthy choices but we don’t show them how to actually do that,” Fleet explains. “That’s the Growing Chefs! philosophy — you give kids a chance to cook real food with real flavour with a real chef.” This year Growing Chefs! hired Katherine Puzara as the lead chef Students at the Montessori Academy of London enjoy lunch — Growing Chefs style! #56 — Nov/Dec 2015 Reverie Reverie Reverie OPENING SOON twelve seats five course tasting menu Contemporary Canadian Cuisine By Reservation Only 208 Piccadilly Street, London reverierestaurant.ca
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Eatdrink #67 September/October 2017 "The Decade Issue"

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