Follow us on Facebook!
 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review of Organic Advocates, Feast of Fields Event
"Living in Harmony with the Land"
Glen Rouge Park, Toronto, Ontario
Sunday, September 12, 2004
 

On a glorious autumn day in September, 6 degrees.ca attended the Organic Advocates, Feasts of Fields 15th annual fundraising event, ‘Living in Harmony with the Land' in the Glen Rouge Campground at Rouge Park in Toronto, Ontario.

 

»

For more information on The David Suzuki Foundation visit:
 www.davidsuzuki.org

 

Feast of Fields, an organic harvest celebration, started in 1989 with Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtländer , two well established Toronto chefs, who wanted to bring together organic farmers and chefs. The main goal was and still is to raise public awareness about organic farming, environmental sustainability and a more healthy lifestyle. Today, after 14 successful years of events, hundreds of visitors from various walks of life came to sample the delectable organic food, wine & beer. The Glen Rouge Park 's lush campground offered a perfect setting for the booths, tents, refurbished school buses and BBQ grills serving the superb creations of organic and natural products prepared by many of southern Ontario 's finest chefs.

Each artistically presented h'ors d'oevre offered was impossible to refuse, they were all mouth watering. The food was served on environmentally friendly biodegradable or edible products like lettuce leaves, corn husks or squares of bread. There was something very tempting and satisfying to take the food with your fingers and devour it in one or two bites. For example, you could sample Charred Tomato Salsa served in Sweet Potato & Corn Fritters from Sosnicki Farms or Organic Mango Tango Sushi from Chef Jennifer Italiano, Live Café. Another example, one could die for was the Organic Country Pate with Rustic Loaf from Chef Scott Kapitan, Crush Wine Bar or the Warm Brie with apple & onion served on slices of baguette from Harmony Organic Dairy Products. Others were the Pear Ginger Grilled Salmon from Molly B's Gourmet Organics or Braised Saugeen Country Lamb Leg of Lamb Steaks on a bed of Watercress from Chef Gallagher of the Red Chef Catering on behalf of Saugeen Rivers Farms. There were desserts like Plum Kuchen from Wanda's Pie in the Sky and Espresso Bavarois served in a Caramel Basket topped with a Kalhua Drizzle and Candied Lemon zest from Jason Thede and Andrew Seal, The York Club. Each of these could be accompanied with a glass of organic wine, beer or juice. There was representation from local wineries, breweries like St Peter's English Ale, Frogpond Farm & Winery, Cilento Wines and King Brewery.

The ambiance, the knowledgeable servers and all of the stimulating tastes of the food and drinks supported the original ideas of Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtländer, to bring together the brilliance of fine dining and locally produced organic food by the Southern Ontario farmers.

For the first time, Feasts of Fields hosted an information session and press conference forum. The forum consisted of experts on the controversial subject of farmed and wild salmon, the practices of fish farming and the impact on the wild salmon.

Dr. David Suzuki, the keynote speaker, was accompanied by the moderator, Clayton Ruby, a well known criminal lawyer in Toronto.

The other panel members, Jennifer Lash, the founder and Executive Director of Living Oceans Society and the coordinator of the Coastal Alliance for Aquaculture Reform (CAAR) and John Volpe, a faculty member at the University of Alberta who received his PhD from the University of Victoria in the ecology of farm-escaped Atlantic salmon. The final panel member was David Rideout, the Executive Director of the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA).

Dr. Suzuki referred to Clayton Ruby as one of his great heroes and thanked him for introducing him and being there. Clayton Ruby kept the panel's Q&A's focused and rewarding for the audience.

Dr. Suzuki in his usual eloquent, personable and challenging style presented his opinions and ideas and focused on several major environmental issues that are greatly affecting the food industry, the environment and our biodiversity's future.

He told the audience that he was especially delighted to talk to this particular group of people, the group who are involved in various ways of growing food, preparing it and consuming it. He felt that the people who are actually involved in the business of food have a very important role to play in educating society today about our relationship with food.

Here are a few quotes of the many areas he covered:

He said,” You see, we are living in a very critical and absolutely unprecedented period in the history of life on this planet.”

“In the 4 billion years that life existed, there has never been a situation where a single species, namely us, has acquired the power, the capacity to undermine the life support systems for all of us on earth.” He continued that “air, water, and soil biodiversity are absolutely critical for us all to flourish and we human beings are now undermining the capacity of those life support systems.”

“In the last 100 years most people alive in the world were involved in farming. Today, as you know, farmers are a very very small minority of our population. Now with 85% of people living in urban centres we all have a very different relationship with food.”

He gave an example that today, it appears that only the native communities still hold on to the world view that everything is connected to every thing else, nothing is isolated.

Suzuki continued that he feels that globalization has helped to create the shattering of our connection with the earth. As consumers, we don't think about all aspects of the products that we buy, “we never ask who made these, what were their working conditions like... If we no longer see the connections then we don't have an idea of what our responsibilities are.”

“We no longer see what our ancestors did and that we are connected to the totality of the biosphere of the planet ourselves….and it is the biosphere that makes businesses possible.”

After a disturbing and challenging debate between the panel and question period, the audience walked into the fantasy wonderland of Glen Rouge Campgrounds to taste the magical creations of food and drink from the organic farmers and creative presentation of the chefs.

This event was a successful showcase for small to medium sustainable agricultural businesses in Ontario and has sister events in other cities of Canada . Generous support was provided by volunteers, chefs, farmers, exhibitors, associations and non-profit groups.


The funds raised through Organic Advocates Feast of Fields help support organic agriculture and the promotion of growing and eating organic food. It is worth every mouthful to attend this event.

 

Want more information on our products or company? Click Here
If you are a retail store needing more information, click here.
Interested in free gluten-free cooking classes? Click Here
Do you have a great gluten-free recipe you would like to share? Click Here

Coming Events . . . for more details on events, go to Molly B's News Page

     
    Do you have a recipe you are willing to share? If so, click on Recipes
    Interested in gluten-free cooking classes? Let us know . . .
                       go to Cooks Corner for more information.
   
 

Search this site:

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

NOTE:  This website is best viewed with Internet Explorer

Send mail to generalinquiries@mollybglutenfree.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2002-2010 Molly B's Inc.
Last modified: 02/08/10