Canadian food celebrated

Share this story

Tweet

• from Jude's Kitchen: food to celebrate occasions
• Food safety workshop planned
• Workshops for aspiring food writers
• Steele: Water-wise food crops
• Vehicles premiere at Canadian International Auto Show
• from Jude's Kitchen: love food

From breakfast in St. John’s, Nfld., to a crab cookout on a beach in Tofino on Vancouver Island, celebrations for Food Day Canada on Saturday will include events, contests, special restaurant menus and great Canadian food.

The Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar in Kelowna will be among the 300 restaurants participating in the nationwide event, serving an all-Canadian menu.

Food Day Canada celebrates the fact that Canadians are becoming more aware about buying and eating local, regional and seasonal Canadian foods.

Studies have shown that Canadians prefer to buy Canadian foods whenever they can.

Around the world, the red maple leaf on a food product label identifies it as safe, fresh and of top quality.

“Canadians are becoming more patriotic about food,” said Anita Stewart, the culinary writer and University of Guelph consultant who founded Food Day Canada in 2003 and has enthusiastically developed the celebration across Canada.

Sheraton executive chef Roary MacPherson is assembling a team of top St. John’s chefs to kick off the national party by cooking breakfast at the Signal Hill National Historic Site.

Food Day Canada will end with a crab cookout on Chesterman Beach in Tofino at the Wickaninnish Inn.

“Food Day Canada is one of many ways we love to promote the hard work and success of our Canadian farmers and producers,” said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.

“I invite all Canadians to take part—either by sparking up their barbecues or heading to a Food Day Canada restaurant.”

The sponsors will offer awards to both restaurateurs and individual Canadians in a variety of categories.

For example, the Beef Information Centre will honour the wildest menu created by a member of the general public; the Egg Farmers will recognize the best brunch in Canada; and the University of Guelph will again offer an award for the most innovative menu.

Canadians are invited to submit their menus, photos and videos to the www.FoodDayCanada.ca website and check out this year’s Food Day judges.

“We look to restaurants for innovation, but it’s the home kitchens that have the real food of this nation,” said Stewart.