Mary Bailey and Cyrus Shaoul will be giving a talk at the the Stanley A. Milner Library on June 23rd at 2pm. We will be covering the history and philosophy of Slow Food, as well talking about the Edmonton Convivium. All are welcome!

For more info, see the EPL web site.

Mark your calendars for:

Indulgence, a Canadian epic of food and wine

Monday June 18, at The Marriott at the River Cree Resort [Whitemud Freeway and 215th Street, or see this map]
Tickets are $50, available through the Junior League of Edmonton, 433- 9739. Tickets go on sale April 30.

Read the rest of this entry »

With eating locally as the hottest trend, it’s worth posting 10 Reasons to Buy Local Food, written by Growing for Market. They encourage groups like ours to post this list. It’s definitely food for thought.

1. Locally grown food tastes better.
Food grown in your own community was probably picked within the past day or two. It’s crisp, sweet and loaded with flavor. Produce flown or trucked in from California, Florida, Chile or Holland is, quite understandably, much older. Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from farm to plate is 1,500 miles. In a week-long (or more) delay from harvest to dinner table, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink, and produce loses its vitality. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark your calendars for the third annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ. We’ve changed the date to Sunday, September 16 this year because the summer had a number of Slow Food events already, and we’re looking forward to a wider array of local foods available at that time of the year.

For the past two years, this event has sold out over a week before, so please get your tickets early to avoid disappointment! We expect that we’ll be sold-out at least 10 days before the event. Tickets go on sale on-line on this site by July 15 and at Alley Kat by Aug 1st.

This is a non-profit event. Your ticket price will go to cover the costs of the event: the food, the rentals of dishes, etc and the music. The beer and venue is being generously donated again by Alley Kat. Slow Food Edmonton member and chef Gavin Strombecky is going to put on a great spread. It’s a great way to show your support of local food producers.

Slow Food members can purchase tickets at a reduced price of $35 per person; note that this price only applies to members buying tickets for themselves. All non-members who attend pay $40. Children 10 years old and under pay $10.

Jennifer

Here’s the official media release below:

Media Release
June 9, 2007
Back by Popular Demand! Wild Boar and Beer BBQ

Back by popular demand! Slow Food Edmonton’s 3rd annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ takes place on Sunday, September 16, 2007, at Alley Kat Brewery (9929-60 Avenue) from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

This wildly successful event has been a sell-out two years running because of the combo of great local food, great local beer and great local music. And the organizers have moved the ‘cue to the fall, to have even more fantastic locally grown and produced central Alberta foods on the menu. This celebration of local food and drink is open to the general public featuring beer samplings and brewery tours of Edmonton’s award-winning microbrewery, Alley Kat and wild boar from Mayerthorpe’s Hog Wild Specialties as part of the menu of local and regional, seasonal foods. Even the live music will be local.

With the increasing awareness of carbon and ecological footprint our foods come with, concerned consumers are becoming more and more interested in sourcing foods closer to home. And food less travelled just tastes better, is fresher and leads to a more vibrant food community.

Tickets are $40 per person, $10 for kids 10 and under. Tickets can be purchased at on-line at www.slowfoodedmonton.ca as of July 15, and at Alley Kat Brewery as of August 1st. For event information, consult Slow Food Edmonton’s Web site.

What is Slow Food?
Slow Food is dedicated to the revival of the kitchen and the table as centres of pleasure, culture and community; to the invigoration and proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions; and to living a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life. It’s an international movement headquartered in Bra, Italy. Slow Food now has over 600 members across Canada. For more info, go to www.slowfood.com.

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For further information, please contact:

Jennifer Cockrall-King
Jennifer
Event Web page: www.slowfoodedmonton.ca

Another great web site that inspires Albertans to seek out local food adventures. If you’re looking for a culinary road trip, what’s in season (there’s a Harvest Calendar), looking for a farmers’ market or a U-pick, check out the “Chomp Around Alberta” site.

CBC Edmonton Radio and CBC News at Six has announced a series on eating locally in Edmonton. The series name is “Food Fight: Local versus Global”“and it digs into the local food scene from June 11 to 15. Log on to for the week’s program, to follow the Mackay family’s 100-mile diet challenges and to vote to choose Edmonton’s iconic food.