Following up on the resounding success of Yukon Food and You: Food Talks in 2014, Growers of Organic Food Yukon (GoOFY) is hosting a second 3-day Food Talks event called all the bits.

Join us Thursday, Friday & Saturday; September 13, 14, & 15, 2018 as we explore the more unusual parts of eating locally. Food Talks 2 will showcase local food in a big way and introduce chefs, caterers and consumers to complete utilization of local food products.

Poster: JPG

Food Talks 2: all the bits Special Guest: Jennifer McLagan, author of Fat, Bones, Odd Bits, & Bitter

       Launches Thursday 7 pm with the film Modified at the Old Fire Hall. Admission by donation ($5 suggested) & cash bar
       Friday morning 11 am - View inspected slaughter at Naturally Northern Meats with Mobile Abattoir $20
       Friday evening 7 pm - Odd Bits Taste Fest at Takhini Hot Springs $30 with cash bar
       Saturday afternoon 1 pm - Open House - meet Jennifer McLagan, Suzanne Crocker of First We Eat, and local farmers
       Saturday evening 6 pm - Roasted Whole Pig Feast at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre $65 with cash bar and silent auction

Thursday September 13

Modified: A food lover's journey into GMOs. In the award-winning new documentary, Modified, the filmmaker and her mother embark on a very personal and poignant investigative journey to find out why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labeled on food products in the United States and Canada, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world. Interweaving the personal and the political, the film is anchored in the filmmaker’s relationship to her mom, a gardener and food activist who battled cancer during the film's production. Their intimate mother-daughter quest for answers, fuelled by a shared love of food, reveals the extent to which the agribusiness industry controls our food policies, making a strong case for a more transparent and sustainable food system. It is a visual celebration of family legacy and the love of food, cooking, and gardening. Winner of six festival awards since its release.

Following the film will be a Q&A session with Lucy Sharratt, a friend of the filmmaker, Aube Giroux, and director of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.

Old Fire Hall - Doors open: 7 pm
Introductions and opening remarks: 7:15
Cash Bar - Admission: by donation (suggest $5)

Friday September 14

Always been curious about what goes on in an abattoir? The Yukon is lucky enough to now have two inspected abattoirs - Naturally Northern Meats and the Government-owned Mobile Abattoir operated by Tum Tum's Black Gilt Meats. A member from each abattoir will team up with the local meat inspector to demonstrate the actual slaughter process for pork and beef. Additional operators will be on-hand outside to help answer questions and explain processes.

You will have an opportunity to meet our special guest, Jennifer McLagan. Jennifer is the author of the widely acclaimed books Bones (2005), Fat (2008), Odd Bits (2011), and Bitter(2014). Her books have won numerous awards from the Beard Foundation, IACP and Gourmand International. Fat was named the James Beard Cookbook of the Year and was also published in German Fett (2012). Her latest book Bitterwas selected as one of the top ten food books by The Guardian, made the long list for the Art of Eating prize, and was featured in the Wall Street Journal, New Scientist and British Vogue. Jennifer is also published in French Les Os – dix façons de les préparer (2014).

The Yukon is also luckily home to some amazing cooks. A challenge to four local chefs has been issued. Eglé Zaldokas-Barnes (Boreale Explorers), Karina LaPointe (Café Balzam), Jason McRobb (Salvation Army), & Michael Roberts (Winterlong) have each drawn lots for 4 different "odd bits" to be turned into delectable treats for an evening Taste Fest. All edible parts (possible to gather under inspection) of the animals slaughtered that day will be utilized. The challenge will also include some unusual vegetables from local growers and hearty single-grain, non-wheat bread from Alpine Bakery.

Slaughter - 11 am
Admission $20 per person

Taste Fest - Takhini Hot Springs - 7 pm
Cash Bar - Admission $30 per person

Saturday September 15

Come visit with local food producers while we roast a whole pig on the patio at Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre. Meet our guest, cookbook author, Jennifer McLagan, and chat with Suzanne Crocker, award winning filmmaker and retired family doctor,  who has spent the past year eating 100% local to her community of Dawson City, Yukon – only eating food that can be grown, raised, gathered, hunted, trapped and fished in and around Dawson.   In the process she researched the wealth of local food options available as well as the challenges and the possibilities for increasing local food security across the Canadian North. Suzanne will share a preview of the film, First We Eat, which documents the challenges they faced.

First We Eat:  Food Security North of 60 celebrates the ingenuity, resourcefulness & knowledge of Northern Canadians and our relationship to the land through the food that we hunt, fish, gather, grow and raise in the North. Whether you are concerned with community (knowing where your food comes from and valuing the land and the people who produce it),  sustainability, the nutritional value of your food, a finite oil supply, carbon footprint or food costs and accessibility – food security is a topic of interest for many Northerners.

The silent auction will include boxes of selected beef cuts from Friday's beef as well as local food and farm items. Proceeds from the 3-day Food Talks event and auction will be used to support the Kids on the Farm program which helps to connect groups of children with local farms.

And what could be better than the succulent taste of slow roasted pork? The event will culminate with a whole roast pig feast accompanied by sides and dessert created from local ingredients and keynote address by Jennifer McLagan. As we all gradually come to the realization that good fat is - well - good for us, Jennifer has been a champion for returning good food/good meat to our tables. Nigella Lawson says it well "It's a brave woman who, in these dietarily correct times, not only writes a book called Fat, but has on its cover an edifice of raw cutlets, their glossy red flesh flanked with a thick white stripe of the stuff. But this is surely a book worth writing; it is certainly a book worth reading. I loved Jennifer McLagan's first book, Bones, and this follow-up is no disappointment. The recipes are fabulously greed-inducing (grilled steak with red wine sauce and bone marrow, lard-fried choux paste beignets, salted butter tart are top of my to-do list right now) the writing, while it has a light touch, is firm and compelling. In the gentlest possible way, she not so much defends her subject, as champions it - and with charm and elegance to boot. As the introduction promises: 'This is not simply a cookbook. These pages are larded with the history and culture of fat..."

Open House 1 pm to 5 pm
Silent Auction & Cash Bar

Whole Roast Pig Feast 6 pm
Admission $60 per person
Silent Auction & Cash Bar

Four local chefs have been working all summer to perfect their recipes for the special ingredients to share with you on Friday night. The challenge has involved drawing lots for some of the more unusual parts and coming up with just the right presentation.

Eglé Zaldokas-Barnes is a born-and-raised Yukon chef. She has travellend outside of the Yukon numerous times throughout her career, ganing a diverse range of skills that she now calls on to create culinary experiences as the chef at Boreale Exploreres, as well as in her own Whitehorse-based catering company, EZB Catering. Having grown up in the forested village of Tagish, Eglé holds inherent knowledge and respect for ingredients that can be harvested from the land (aka our backyard!). Food sovereignty and the right and access to nutritious whole foods are principles that she holds dear and advocates for. with the rise of the Yukon culinary scene, Eglé enjoys spreading awareness through thoughtful recipes that incorporate and highlight the many diverse resources that the Yukon's forests, waters, and producers have to offer!

Karina LaPointe is the owner/chef of Café Balzam, a gem located at the heart of Takhini Hot Springs. Karina's success is simple French cuisine based on local & sustainable food products - all of it blended with lots of imagination into a true, tasteful Yukon experience. Karina attaches particular importance on featuring as many local products as possible. This approach allows her to offer fresh and tasty products which are traceable adn which support our Yukon farmers. Although it can be a challenge in the Great North, most of her partners practice organic and sustainable agriculture across the territory. For Karina, it is far more than an opportunity to avoid buying food shipped over long distances; it is a real chance to highlight the diversity of local flavours, and to make sure they are always fresh and of the best quality.

Jason McRobb started cooking young alongside his mother who taught him the importance of following recipes. He quickly figured out he wanted to be a chef and worked while in school at Yukon Meat and Sausage learning about cuts of meat, curing, and sausage making. Jason completed his training in Victoria where he worked with a variety of talented chefs in pubs, restaurants and hotels. He learned to use local and organic ingredients and participated in food festivals such as Feast of Fields which piqued his interest in the Slow Food movement.

Michael Roberts has been working professionally in the food industry for over 5 years and provided contract catering for local businesses and bespoke food and menus for private clients. His philosophy and passion for food and its preparation is driven by a consciousness to seek out high quality ingredients; sourced locally and used respectfully so as to maximize flavour and minimize waste. Michael continues to learn and challenge himself using traditional and modern techniques to create thoughtful, nourishing and flavourful food.

Feeling out of the loop? There's a slew of great books out there. Many can be borrowed from the Public Libraries in the Yukon, or the Energy, Mines and Resources library on the third floor of the Elijah Smith building, or COG members can request books from the COG library.

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