Pick potatoes, dig clams, catch lobsters or harvest oysters and enjoy the best of Prince Edward Island

Click here to learn more about Prince Edward Island's Fall Flavours Festival - visit www.fallflavours.ca

Speaking of parties, Toronto hop heads will descend on Hart House on Thursday, July 31 for their Craft Beer Festival and Summer BBQ. Featuring Ontario's craft brewers, the event will feature samples from local Craft Breweries, complimentary BBQ nibbles and live musical entertainment.

Prince Edward County’s Agricultural Initiative has just announced the opening of the first-ever Prince Edward County Farmers’ Market in Toronto. Fruits, vegetables, herbs and other culinary products will be brought to the city from producers in the region such as Vicki’s Veggies, Hagerman Family Farms and Fosterholm Farms. The free market will be held from 4-7 p.m. each Thursday throughout the summer and fall months at Toronto foodie shop Viva Tastings at 409 College Street. The PEC Agricultural Initiative also offers chefs a single phone number to source Prince Edward County produce, meats, cheeses and specialties. Contact Emily Seres at 613 476 9292 for more information.

The first-ever Canadian Chef’s Congress will happen from September 21 to the 22, 2008, and celebrates the diverse food culture in our country. Nobuyo and Michael Statländer will be hosting the biennial event at Eigensinn farm, and will welcome over 500 Canadian chefs to this two-day culinary festival. Panel discussions will be held on sustainable seafood, genetically modified organisms in our food, and other points related to the Canadian food scene. At the end of day one chefs such as Lino Collevecchio, Anthony Walsh, Adam Colquhoun, Jamie Kennedy, and Mark Cutrara will man "Midnight Kitchens" where participants will graze on fine Canadian food while sitting by the bonfire and watching a fireworks finale.

This Saturday, author Margaret Webb will be reading from her latest book Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover’s Tour of Canadian Farms at Toronto’s Brick Work’s Farmers’ Market. Chef Neal Noble of Noble Culinary will also be on hand for the event, preparing seasonal food treats for sampling. Check out the free, hour-long presentation at 10:30 AM.

Local, Ontario peaches have arrived at the market! Keep your eye out for this sweet fruit on your next grocery trip. Also on shleves: new potatoes and the first sweet corn.

April Kilpatrick, general manager and sommelier at Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Toronto, has just returned from Miami after completing her Master Sommelier certification. She continues to serve as a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers (CAPS) as well as the International Sommelier Guild, and received the 2004 award for Best Ontario Sommelier from CAPS. Congratulation April!

Glencolton Farms, Slow Food Toronto, and Symphony in the Barn will present a screening of the Snowy Owl Production documentary Michael Schmidt: Organic Hero or Bioterrorist, on August 10, 2008 as part of their event titled: A Celebration of Raw Milk - In Defense of Choice. After the screening chefs Jamie Kennedy, Chris Brown, Yasser Qaawish and Rowan Durham will prepare a slow food dinner. Tickets for the dinner cost $75 per adult and $12 per child with all proceeds going to The Raw Milk Legal Defense Fund. Please RSVP to jlmcgill@rogers.com by August 3rd.

News and Notes
Cowbell’s Chef Mark Cutrara has announced his three 2008 Farmers Nights. Those who participate in the dinners will be treated to a five-course menu prepared by Cutrara that features ingredients from a specific Ontario farm. The dishes will also be paired with wine from an Ontario winery. Diners will take a seat around a communal table, set up in the centre of the room, where they will chat with fellow foodies as well as the featured farmers. “Our farmers have agreed to come to Toronto to talk to our customers about their farm…how the animals are raised and how the vegetables are grown,” says Cutrara. “It gives customers a chance to connect with their food and the people who raise it.”

George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts will open up The Chefs’ House this fall. The Chefs’ House will be a unique public restaurant that is fully staffed by students enrolled in the college’s culinary programs. The 70-seat establishment is part of a $20-million expansion program for the school’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. “The restaurant will be the first of its kind in Canada,” said Dean John Walker, “serving up one-of-a-kind dining experiences to the city’s food lovers while providing George Brown Chef School students with the latest in real-world culinary training.” The Chefs’ House will also be the home of the newly formed Culinary Foundation for Chefs. A joint effort between George Brown and the Ontario Hostelry Institute, the foundation will promote national and international culinary achievement and will also celebrate the use of locally grown Canadian food and wine.

On June 24, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Leona Dombrowsky announced funding of $4 million over four years to help consumers buy food directly from Ontario farmers. The funding will help Farmers' Markets Ontario and the Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association work with farmers to sell more local food. Dombrowsky explained: ""By helping farmers' markets and other venues that directly connect farmers and consumers, we all win with a greater availability of local food, more focused promotions and more sales." There are currently 138 farmers markets across the province.

The second annual Robert Rose Inc. Lecture will take place on Wednesday September 17, 2008 at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto. This year, the theme of the lecture is From The Ground Up: Nurturing the Art of Sustainable Living, and the talk will focus specifically on our sustainable food supply. Farmer, author, and photographer, Michael Ableman will act as the keynote speaker while culinary historian Elizabeth Driver, architect Stephen Teeple, and FoodShare executive director Debbie Field, will also participate in a discussion panel. To cap off the event, Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner will prepare a gala dinner to celebrate local food and wine. Proceeds for the dinner will support the Gardiner Museum’s many educational programs. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 416 586 8080 or online at www.gardinermuseum.com.

Update: The Eco-Farmers' Market in Dalston, Ontario, just north of Barrie, will host Toronto author Margaret Webb who will be signing her pan-Canadian food epic Apples to Oysters on July 11 between 3:30 and 5:00 PM.

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News and Notes

Mayor Frank Scarpitti of Markham, Ontario announced his municipality is the first in Canada to adopt a local food policy. Markham has formed a partnership with Local Food Plus to source LFP certified material and produce from local farmers, which will then be used for food and catering services within their facilities. The agreement sees the municipality incorporating 10 per cent worth of LFP product in the first year with a 5 per cent increase every year thereafter.

Charles Grieco, President and Chair of the Ontario Hostelry Institute, is the first Honourary Degree recipient of George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality & Culinary Arts and Chef School. Grieco received the Bachelor of Applied Business award this past Tuesday at the college’s 2008 convocation ceremonies.

The Riverbend Inn in Niagara on the Lake has hired Wyndym Farm specialty vegetable grower Dave Perkins to consult and maintain a “micro-farm” on-site. This project hopes to bridge the gap between the farm and table, allowing Riverbend Inn chefs to use home grown produce and giving the diners a taste of the local food movement. "We have concentrated too much on putting ingredients together that come from here and there,” said Chris Smyth, Executive Chef at the Riverbend Inn. “What we have with the garden is a natural repertoire of ingredients at the back door, and the inspiration to create starts there.”

 Evergreen and Slow Food Toronto have announced they will host their second annual event, Picnic at the Brick Works, on Sunday September 14 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.. Guests will include top Toronto chefs as well as local farmers, producers, vintners and brewers who will collaborate to produce menus that reflect Toronto’s cultural diversity. Aside from showcasing great food, the event also seeks to “explore the ecological, economic and social issues involved in getting food from field to table.” Funds raised will support Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen.