Alberta Program puts local produce in the spotlight by Cinda Chavich
The Globe and Mail, September 12, 2007

CALGARY — For the rest of this month, Albertans will be celebrating the harvest season with something local on their forks.

The province that's rolling in dough thanks to booming oil revenue is asking diners to "do the planet a favour and bite into a meal that required a minimum of fossil fuels to get here," during the annual Dine Alberta: Savour Regional Flavour program.

Diners at one of the 120 restaurants across the province participating in the event may try an Alberta beef burger washed down with a local Big Rock Traditional Ale at a pub, an Indian curry featuring local lamb, or an upscale wild boar pâté starter, with Hotchkiss heirloom tomatoes and microgreens, drizzled with nutty Highwood Crossing cold-pressed canola oil at a top dining room.

It's all part of a program designed to link local restaurateurs with Alberta farmers and encourage chefs to create regional dishes. Those with at least three dishes on the menu that showcase local products are featured in the Dine Alberta guide and website (dinealberta.ca).

"This program allows local chefs to make important, long-term connections with producers in their region," said Shirley McClellan, Deputy Premier and Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. "These relationships provide our producers with new markets and chefs with some of the finest quality produce and meats available."

Since its launch in 2003, the program has succeeded in boosting local food sales and getting regional ingredients onto menus in a variety of venues outside of the big-city restaurants such as Calgary's River Café or Edmonton's Hardware Grill where buying locally has long been the norm.

These days, that may include Italian-style Alberta bison at Bricco in Calmar, Tim Wood's seriously local Eco Café at Pigeon Lake, local take-out at Calgary's Forage: Farm to Fork Foods to Go, or Mark Klaudt's inspired regional home cooking - crispy lake fish wonton ravioli and wild rice paella with pheasant breast and venison sausage - at The Route 40 Soup Co. in Turner Valley.

While the Dine Alberta program was originally funded by the provincial government's agriculture department, now partners and sponsors include producer groups such as the Alberta Elk Commission, the Bison Producers of Alberta, Alberta Pork and the province's Fruit Growers Society.

Albertans already spend more per capita on restaurant meals than other Canadians - 39 per cent of their total food dollars or $1,830 a household annually compared with $1,777 nationwide - but the month-long event boosts restaurant and locally produced food sales by an additional $3-million and $1-million respectively.

Although the trend toward eating locally is growing across the country, buying locally can be complicated and expensive for restaurants. But programs such as this build relationships between farmers and chefs, and help to iron out supply and delivery issues, says Janice McGregor of Alberta Agriculture.

"Producers are becoming more knowledgeable about food service requirements and can often tailor their products to the differing demands of specific chefs," Ms. McGregor says.
And it's a win for restaurants, too.

"It really makes me feel good that I am supporting the family farm by buying local products," says Chef Jasmin Kobajica of the Crowne Plaza, Chateau Lacombe, in Edmonton.