As the first ever Culinary Week preceding the Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival approached, it was time to crank-up the media machine and get the word out to as many foodies as possible!
You may have noticed that the latest Fall edition of the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine (one of my personal favourite publications) featured a stellar ad for the festival!
Viewers of the popular CITY-TV morning show Breakfast Television were treated on Wednesday to a preview of the Savour Stratford Fest. First off, Live Eye host Jennifer Valentyne interviewed Soiled Reputation's farmer Antony John; she wanted to find out what was in season from one of the vendors in the massive farmers' market that is taking place at the festival. Jenn then enjoyed a sample of the dish Bijou Chef Aaron Linley is going to be creating for the Sunday Tasting Tent in collaboration with August's Harvest Farm: garlic confit with a roasted tomato salsa and pickled garlic scape, topped with creamy goat's cheese.
The host moved on to interview a representative of wine sponsor Chateau des Charmes, as well as the owner of Stratford Brewing Company (one of the sponsors of the BBQ, Blues and Brews event on Saturday night). Finally, Ruth Klahsen of Monforte Dairy provided a group of enthusiastic children with a preview of the ice cream making workshop that is going to take place in the Monforte-sponsored Kids Tent at the festival! Lots of people showed up for the broadcast, and viewers enjoyed a sneak peak of the enthusiasm and community spirit that has placed the Savour Stratford festival in the top ten food festivals in Canada today.
That was on Wednesday.
On Thursday, I was asked to accompany a group of Paul Finkelstein's Stratford Northwestern Secondary School Culinary Arts students (aka the Screaming Avocado gang) to be on the CHCH Hamilton TV news channel early Friday morning. On our way, we realized that we'd forgotten a frying pan and cooking oil, which were both pretty important for the corn fritters that the kids were preparing on camera. Through the miracle of modern technology (cell phones & GPS) we were able to locate a frying pan and oil en route without even missing a beat. The kids killed it, and I had an absolute blast sharing everything I knew about the Festival that I've been working on for the past half year!
So here's the breakdown of events for Culinary Week and Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival:
Saturday, September 18: Garlic Festival
Sunday, September 19: Garlic Festival, Perth County Farm Tour, City Hall presents Ratatouille.
Monday, September 20: Shake Your Martini Fundraiser, Gallery Stratford
Tuesday, September 21: Women in Food; Beast Restaurant Chef Scott Vivien at Screaming Avocado Cafe for Tents for Pakistan Fundraiser.
Wednesday, September 22: Feast of Comedy, City Hall Auditorium
Thursday, September 23: Pubs, Pilsners and Spirits haunted pub crawl
Friday, September 24: Documentary Foodland at Factory163; Launch Party, Foster's Inn
Saturday, September 25: Savour Stratford Saturday; BBQ, Blues & Brews
Sunday, September 26: Savour Stratford Sunday, York Street Tasting Tent w 30 chefs/producers (including Screaming Avocado gang & Bijou Chef Aaron Linley!)
When something is as good as Savour Stratford promises to be, it's important to spread the word. After this week, half of the civilized world should have our festival on their radars, so all I can say at this point is:
COME!!!!!!!!!!
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