Building a Local Food System in Calgary, Alberta at Calgary Eats, pt. 1

Photo taken BEFORE the event even started!The City of Calgary is in the process of building a food system assessment through the Office of Sustainability and the Calgary Food Committee. As part of the process, they organized a free public event called Calgary Eats at the Ant Hill Community Centre building in the Kensington neighbourhood. It was an information sharing and gathering event with 40 booths of local producers and other people already working in the Calgary local foods arena, along with two panel discussions.

The event was wildly successful...with about 1000 Calgarians going through the all-day event. I was really happy to participate in one of the panels, not only because I was happy to share my experiences and anecdotes about local food systems I've seen around the world, but because I love being in the right place at the right time. I definitely had that feeling yesterday. For those who didn't have the opportunity to be there, he's a little recap of the day's events and highlights. (Please feel free to email me or leave a comment on the blog with your comments if you attended, or links to other recaps of the day.)

First of all, a huge thanks to the Calgary Food Committee and the City of Calgary office of sustainability for inviting me to speak at the event. And thanks to the Hotel Arts for the generous hospitality in putting me up in such high-style. I love this boutique hotel in downtown Calgary.

From Hotel Arts, it was a short walk to the Calgary city transit bus and a 10 minute ride to the Ant Hill Community Centre. Already by 10 a.m. the place was filling up. The event had been publicized through the usual local food channels, but it was also on the local morning tv news, which I think helped diversify the crowd.

By the time the first panel discussion began, it was standing room only in the hall, which is great, because the chef panel had some rather important things to say.

Julie Van Rosendaal, cookbook author, writer, blogger at www.dinnerwithjulie.com, and tv cooking show host was the moderator of "Meet the Chefs." Connie DeSousa, chef/owner Charcut restaurant, Andrew Hewson, chef instructor at SAIT culinary arts, Cam Dobranski chef and owner of Muse Restaurant, Brasserie Kensington, Kensington Wine Bar and AKA wine bar, and Paul McGreevy of Craft Beer Market were the chefs.

Cam Dobranski told the crowd that he does what he can, like the other chefs on the panel, to build a strong local food system by sourcing and showcasing quality local products. Bu the cards are stacked against the small owner/restaurateur. Not only do the chefs have to invest a tremendous amount of time sourcing local ingredients (because the distribution channels are not there yet to bring efficiencies to local foods) but then they are burdened with crippling taxes and regulations that eat away at the tiniest of profit margins. (Is it any wonder that Alberta is so dominated by chain-restaurants? They have economies of scale for their food supplies and have a chain-restaurant's advertising power to influence diners to a level that no independent can.) Cam said that he knows that when customers see prices on the menus, they might think that its a gouge, but independents are working like mad just to stay in business. And many don't succeed because it is so hard, the hours are so long, and the payoff is just not what it would be for the same amount of time and commitment in other businesses. He told the crowd that what chefs like him need is for the community to support and dine at his restaurants so that he can keep supporting the local farmers and producers in the Calgary area. In other words, keep those dollars flowing in a local economy if you want local food, local farmers, and local products.

• My two cents: I couldn't agree more. There are a number of excellent models and movements out there that are going to influence this discussion. And hopefully get people thinking about the huge potential effect that their everyday decisions, like where to go to eat, where to buy books, where to buy any goods and services. In Edmonton, the Live Local / Shop Local / Original Fare collaborative has been quite successful at raising awareness of what keeping dollars circulating locally can do. And in a broader sense, the Slow Money movement is happening. While this is a type of raising capital and investing in local food businesses at the moment, I see that it will get people to think about how their money could be spent, locally or otherwise. And soon people will realize the huge reserve of capital that we collectively have even as a community or a city. And that WE have the power to change our economic models simply by changing our spending habits one dollar at a time. The prosperity will follow where our dollars go, so we simply have to send our dollars in a different direction if we want local food, local independent restaurants supporting those local food systems, and providing us with amazing meals and dining experiences.

Andrew Hewson, chef instructor at SAIT culinary arts program, talked about the multiplier effect that teaching the next generation of chefs is going to have on the city. SAIT also has a food garden associated with its culinary education program to promote what Hewson calls "culinary-agro-literacy" among its chefs. Read about the school garden in Avenue Calgary magazine.

One of the ideas from the crowd was that people wanted to know how to use local ingredients and asked the chefs if they would do a local cooking show even on the web.

• My two cents: Great idea! Maybe something like what chef Rod Butters of RauDZ Regional Table of Kelowna, BC, does. He's got his Homeplate cooking shows on iTunes and on the web.

I was part of the second panel discussion "From Farm to Plate." Lots to say about what was said, so I'll save it for another post. Soon!

It was nice to catch up with "old" friends. Cam and I go way back to his Edmonton days.