In November 2019, a handful of SHHS staff from our culinary, nutrition and purchasing teams attended the second annual Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef event hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The annual event aims to connect chefs, farmers and food producers, share success stories and innovations, and showcase the variety of food products produced across British Columbia. The 2019 event featured more than 60 exhibitors and speakers, from dairy, fruit and garlic associations to small food producers like Vancouver Island Sea Salt, Holy Napoli Pizza, and Canoe Cola.
Here’s what our team took away from the event.
What did you get out of the event?
Brad Vigue, Executive Chef Residence Dining:
Great connections to local producers. I was really surprised at the number of local producers I had never heard of before (Radicchio Festival, Cutter Ranch Pork, BC Artisan Cheese Association).
Vasya Molnar, Procurement Officer:
Connections with local producers who offer very interesting products: Big Mountain Foods‘s Cauliflower Crumble and Mushroom Bites, Susgrainable’s cookies made from upcycled barley mulch, as well as local fresh produce growers and a few artisan cheese makers.
Sara Kozicky, Nutrition & Wellbeing Manager:
That the Ministry of Agriculture is committed to supporting partnership development between local food producers and chefs. The ministry has also invested in an engaging Buy BC media campaign, food hubs (food product development and packaging) across BC and the Feed BC initiative. I also made a connection with the Growing Chefs program, which is a great volunteer program to direct nutrition students to.
What do you hope will come of the event?
Brad Vigue, Executive Chef Residence Dining:
Better access to the local products that were showcased. Almost all of the suppliers that we spoke to relied on a direct from them supply system. To me this is not the answer, at a time when we need to be more environmentally conscious about how we are purchasing product. The local food hubs in places like in Quesnel are what I would like to see in a larger scale here in Vancouver. Small local suppliers need to have a way to get their products out to the end user.
Sara Kozicky, Nutrition & Wellbeing Manager:
I’d like to see more discussion about how to bridge local producers with consumers, and to improve ease of access for larger institutions such as UBC. I would also like to see partnership with the ministry on Feed BC-type support for Universities in BC.
Vasya Molnar, Procurement Officer:
I hope through the connections made at the event, companies find a mutually beneficial way to work together. There is already some collaboration between local suppliers, like Biota Fermentation using Vancouver Island Sea Salt in their products.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned?
Brad Vigue, Executive Chef Residence Dining:
Haskap berries. They are grown in my hometown of Salmon Arm. I had not heard of them before, which as a Chef is somewhat rare as I get older. Also, the importance of how a local farmer/producer approaches scaling, for their business to grow proportionally to the demand and still be viable. For example, there was a local garlic provider at the event whose product is 3x more expensive than the comparable mass produced product. One restaurant committed to purchasing his product and found that the quality and strength of the garlic was 3x that of the mass produced product, so the increased cost was not a factor and the restaurant could purchase local at no additional cost.
Sara Kozicky, Nutrition & Wellbeing Manager:
BC has an exciting diversity of local entrepreneurs growing and making food products, e.g. Susgrainable (using leftover “waste” grains from beer production to make fibre-rich cookies!), Big Mountain Foods‘ sustainable plant-based protein Cauli Crumble, and High Mountain Farms‘ Haskap berries!
Vasya Molnar, Procurement Officer:
That many local Chefs both from private and government organizations are partnering with local producers and suppliers and working hard to bring Local, Sustainable and Freshly Made products to our plates. Although challenging at times due to logistical and forecasting difficulties, it was great to see everyone collaborating in solving these problems together and concentrating in getting better & tastier ingredients in our bellies.
