Eat Alberta: A Celebration of Our Local Food Heroes

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What could be more fun than a conference about food, with local talents presenting and preparing?  This conference is an excellent opportunity for everyone to get out there and meet other local Edmontonians, not just “foodies”, this is for anyone who is interested in backyard gardening,  learning about eating locally and generally educating themselves about the wonderful food community in Edmonton.

I repeat: this is for the average person wanting to dip their toes into the Edmonton food community. That means YOU.

Do you like to eat? Drink wine? Go to the farmers markets in Edmonton and buy local food?

That covers about 95% of my readers, (the remaining 5% are those crazy foodie zealots haha)  so get out there!

I will quickly list a few sessions that I think are incredibly exciting:

Top 10 Edible Plants within City Limits (Robert Rogers): This workshop will look at ten indigenous plants with high edibility in roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruit of northern Alberta. Identification, methods of preparation and storage, as well as tips on enhancing the gustatory experience through molecular matching with other foods and wines will be discussed.

Home Coffee Brewing Techniques (Josh Hockin): Learn to brew like a pro at home. Transcend Coffee trainer and competitive professional barista Josh Hockin will explain the fundamentals of proper coffee extraction and give you a step by step demonstration on how to make great coffee at home using multiple brew methods. website: www.eatalberta.com, there are a few spaces remaining.

Smoky Valley Goat Cheese Tasting (Holly Gale): Join farmer and artisan cheese maker Holly Gale for a tasting of some of her goat cheeses.

Learnings from the “From Local Farms” Project (Kevin Kossowan): Kevin will present a highlight reel of the 2010 episodes of “From Local Farms”, and talk about his unintended head-first-plunge into the world of local food, farming challenges, farmer’s market politics, and community. The local food scene is not as incredible as we might think it is: it’s even better.

Go here and register now, before they are sold out!

The press release for the conference:

Through a mix of hands-on and demonstration workshops, tasting sessions, and presentations from some of the leaders of our food community – farmers, chefs and local food advocates – Eat Alberta participants will learn how to use and source local food as well as develop nurturing and ongoing relationships with one another and with those that produce our food.

We who are so passionate about the local food opportunities that our city provides are acutely aware that food expertise (in a variety of forms) lies within each of our neighbourhoods. This is our first Eat Alberta conference of what we hope to be many that will celebrate local food throughout Alberta.

This is a DIY conference! Some of the hands on sessions include:

· Sausage making
· Cheese making demonstration
· Apple pie and pastry making
· Bread making
· Pasta making

Tasting sessions include:

· Fruit wine tasting
· Honey tasting
· Coffee tasting
· Canadian wine and cheese pairing
· Goat Cheese Tasting

There will also be opening and closing keynote sessions on urban gardening and urban homesteading, respectively.

What the day looks like:

· 8:30 to 5 p.m.
· Continental Breakfast followed by the morning keynote
· Two morning break out sessions (choose from 8 different sessions)
· A charcuterie and cheesetasting lunch with artisan breads
· Two afternoon break out sessions (choose from 8 different sessions)
· Closing session followed by a “wine” down