Canada’s Top Chefs Gather on Vancouver Island

September 4th, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – This September 11th and 12th an extraordinary event will take place on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  An unprecedented gathering of Chefs from across the country to affect change in the health of our oceans – Chefs from coast to coast and from north to south, every Province, all three Territories.

The event is the Canadian Chefs’ Congress, a biennial gathering of Executive Chefs, cooks, culinary instructors and students as well as farmers, fishers and producers. Their dialogue is on Canadian food identity, food security and sustainability and what they as a national group can do to affect change.

This year the Canadian Chefs Congress will be held in British Columbia on Providence Farm, a beautiful 400 acre farm nestled under the cliffs of Mt. Tzouhalem (soo hay lum) in the lush Cowichan Valley, fittingly close to the mouth of the Cowichan River and an ocean estuary teeming with Dungeness crab, spot prawns and our magnificent sockeye salmon. There, on September 11th and 12th, the Chefs Congress will present Oceans for Tomorrow, this year’s theme.

Through conversation, panel discussions, workshops and presentations, chefs will discuss sustainability and how they can make a difference. How, as a national group, they can affect change on the state of our water ways, what their effect on marine life is and what constructive steps their industry can build to help improve the health of our oceans. Chefs will be housed in tents throughout the property, will dine on local ingredients, taste BC wines and talk long into the night. This gathering of chefs for the health of our oceans has never happened before in Canada. We don’t believe it has ever happened anywhere in the world!

The congress is attracting icons of the industry and the crème of the Canadian culinary world including congress founder Michael Stadtländer, long considered one of the world’s top chefs and the pioneer of Canada’s new breed of Farmer-Chefs. From Vancouver Chefs Robert Clark and Vikram Vij to Toronto’s Jamie Kennedy; the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Culinary Instructor Michael Allemeier and Quebec’s Pearson School of Culinary Arts instructors to the Food Networks’ Ned Bell; From Director of George Brown College Chef School John Higgins to Michael Bonacini, Executive Chef and co-owner of five of Toronto’s top restaurants, chefs from every part of Vancouver Island and chefs from every Province and every Territory will be in the Cowichan Valley. The list of chefs participating is unprecedented, the guest speakers compelling, panel discussions enlightening.

During the event many are calling the “Woodstock for Chefs”, British Columbia’s amazing sustainable and local seafood ingredients will be showcased. The presenting sponsor is the BC Shellfish Growers Association, a partner in sustainability, who will be showcasing a variety of Pacific Kiss oysters, local mussels, clams, scallops and geoduck, and dazzling delegates with their taste and quality. Shellfish aquiculture is a BC success story that will be celebrated at the congress and profiled to the visiting chefs on the half shell and in one of several sustainability-themed workshops.

Says Vancouver Island’s Bill Jones, Canadian Chefs Congress, BC Steering Committee, “The main goal of the congress is to get chefs together to communicate and create positive changes. In doing so, they hope to impact the health of our oceans and our local food systems.”

With a little help from our friends:

The conference is made possible from funding (and fundraising) by the BC Chefs Table Society as well as our Title Sponsor, the BC Shellfish Growers Association overseeing sustainable farming practices employed by BC shellfish farmers, enabling them to produce succulent raw oysters, clams, mussels, jumbo scallops, fresh and nutritious shellfish year round.

The Canadian Chefs’ Congress connects chefs to our land in solidarity with farmers, fishers, gardeners, foragers and all artisanal food producers. This biennial gathering of chefs from across Canada reinforces the passion and integrity of Canadian food culture.

Le Congrès des chefs de cuisine canadiens a pour but d’unir nos chefs à nos terroirs en étroite collaboration avec les agriculteurs, les pêcheurs, les jardiniers et les cultivateurs, en somme tous ceux qui produisent nos aliments de manière artisanale. Grâce à ces rencontres biennales, les chefs pourront exprimer leur passion pour la culture canadienne de la table.

For further information on the congress visit http://canadianchefscongress.com/british-columbia/