RIPE 2009 was a huge success!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. That’s what we’d like to say to all of you who attended, supported, blogged, tweeted and talked about RIPE in these past months.  We’re so excited to have put on the event this first year, and even more excited that we have a foundation for future years.

On that one night  at the start of October, you helped to rais over $9,000 towards the establishment of the New City Market permanent farmers market building, and started a Farmers Nest Egg Fund for farmers in need. Woo hoo!

This will be an annual event and we will raise more money for local food and local farmers year after year!!

Here are some shots from the event, and a flickr slideshow here.

RIPE's wonderful MC Jamie Maw. Thank you Jamie for supporting us and lending your soothing voice and talent to the event!

The amazing bike donated from Millennium Water for our silent auction

Inner Alchemy serving up fabulous tea!

the food...mmm the food.

so many dedicated supporters!

 

Vancouver Farmers Markets Executive Director Tara McDonald thanking everyone for coming, and speaking to the importance of supporting local food and local famers. Go Tara!

New City Market and RIPE ticket giveaway!

So we’ve been posting and chatting all over about the great food, and the fabulous silent auction items, and everything else that you’re going to get to enjoy at RIPE on Thursday evening, but where will all the money raised be going? Why are we doing all of this?

This is a major reason why.

Check it out; it’s big.

So…anyone who would like to support this initiative by attending RIPE: send an email to jackie@eatlocal.org with 3 of the other purposes the New City Market will be for, beyond a year round farmers market, before 3pm Wednesday September 30th to win of 2 tickets to RIPE! (the winner will get an email response, will be posted on the blog Wednesday evening, and tickets can be picked up at will call).

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Congratulations to Demer McIntosh, the lucky winner! Demer correctly responded with 3 other purposes the New City Market will be for: event and meeting space, processing centre, and storage and distribution. See you tomorrow eve Demer!

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RIPE’s getting some coverage!

There are many great places to get your news online – whether it be foodie news, or otherwise – and RIPE has been promoted by our fabulous media sponsors on their blogs and in their tweets. And, come event day, we’ll be able to add radio station coverage and video to the mix!

A big thanks to our Signature Radio Sponsor, The PEAK FM, who will be at the event with their community cruiser and cutting in live to the evening show.

Our Signature Media Sponsor, Scout Magazine, chatted about the event with Simi Sara on Talk 1410 and Fiona & Michael on Urban Rush!

Both UrbanDiner and Edible Vancouver have graciously had online ads up on their sites for us for months.

Check out some blog coverage here, here and here from Granville Magazine.

Oh, and here from Miss604…gotta love the RT‘s from @eagranieyuh and @LucisFerre !

And don’t forget about The Tyee here.

Post RIPE we are crossing our fingers to read more about what these well respected foodies thought of the event, and…the food! Don’t forget about the food!

Meet one of RIPE’s Gold Sponsors: Parklane Homes

We’re so thankful Parklane Homes has come on board to support RIPE and the Vancouver Farmers Markets! We wanted to tell you a bit about one of their projects, East Fraserlands (EFL).

EFL is a 130 acre property beside the Fraser River at the south eastern edge of the city of Vancouver. Previously a sawmill, Parklane Homes will transform the property into a master planned community of approximately 13,000 residents using the guiding principles of environmental and social sustainability. The plan’s design reflects the area’s ecology, local climate and industrial history. Located within the Fraser River Estuary the site recognizes the critical role it plays on one of the world’s most prosperous salmon rivers and in the migration path of the songbird. Once completed, EFL will be one of the first neighbourhood projects building on the City’s vision of sustainability with a commitment to building a LEED Gold community.

Industrial damage to the area’s sensitive ecology will be restored through the creation of additional shoreline area and a sanctuary island for migratory birds complete with duck nesting grounds. Residents of the community will benefit from the fruits of the land through urban agriculture sites dispersed in the development’s 25 acres of parks. EFL will create a thriving complete neighbourhood made possible with the addition of two school sites, one community center, four daycare centers and 1300 affordable housing units.

Currently the development is in phase two of three rezoning phases. To date it has been the recipient of four national awards, including; Smart Growth BC’s Smarty Award for Best Development Proposal and the Canadian Institute of Planner’s Award for Excellence in Neighbourhood Planning.

RIPE menu is here!

We must start by thanking all the farmers and food producers who provided food for RIPE. That’s right, all the food you’ll be enjoying this Thursday night is from a selection of the farmers you see at the markets every week. Stay tuned for a huge and official thank you to them all in the coming days. For now, here is the menu you’ll be enjoying at RIPE! Happy drooling!

Roasted Chilliwack corn with chive creme fraiche

Rare seared albacore tuna, green onion & granville island sake emulsion

Pickled beetroot, gratin of alpindon cheese

Overnight braised beef shortrib, sweet & spicy, stonefruit chutney

Rare seared beef with marinated radish, sweet onion dressing

Smoked sablefish, pickled shallot & fava bean relish

Cherry tomatoes stuffed with fresh goat cheese and thyme

Spot prawn and tomato salad, marinated cucumbers

Herb cured salmon with slow roasted peppers

Sunchokes

Blueberry financier

Roasted peach shortbread

Raspberry flan

Eat Your History

Part of what RIPE is all about is based on local food and knowing the story, the history, behind what we’re eating. That’s exactly what one of our media sponsors, The Tyee, writes about in their column Eat Your History. Launched just this Summer, guest edited by J.B. MacKinnon co-creator of the 100-Mile Diet, and written by Jeff Nield and Joanne Will it’s about food; place; history. “A stimulated mind and happy taste buds” so they say.

MacKinnon describes the idea behind Eat Your History, and what gave him the idea:

“Eat Your History will highlight foods that tell a story about the place we live in. The first article is a great example. Jeff takes a look at the Olympia oyster, which was once the only native species of oyster on the coast. The fact that most of us have never heard of the Olympia oyster, let alone eaten one, tells a story about how dramatically our coastline has changed since the arrival of European settler. The way we eat shapes everything around us — we don ourselves a major disservice when we ignore that history.”

Well said James, well said.

p.s. Can’t wait to host 2 of The Tyee’s readers at RIPE – was it you that won their ticket giveaway?

Local recipe alert from Celyddon Farms: Eggplant stuffed with ratatouille & asiago cheese

If you’ve shopped at a weekly Vancouver Farmers Markets you may have purchased some of your veggies from Celyddon Farms. But if you haven’t, here’s your chance! Stop by Celyddon Farms’ table on September 20th at Kits Market, or September 26th at Trout Lake market, or any Wednesday Main Street market and pick yourself up some organic eggplants for this tasty recipe:

Eggplant Stuffed with Ratatouille and Asiago Cheese (serves four)

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants, cut in half
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
• 1 japanese eggplant, diced
• 1 green zucchini, diced
• 1 yellow zucchini, diced
• 1 large ripe tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1 cup asiago cheese, grated

Preparation

Place halved eggplants skin side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or brushed with a bit of oil).  Drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400°F/200°C for 15 to 20    minutes or until soft to   touch. Remove from oven, cool.  Turn over and gently press in centre of eggplants to create a cavity for the stuffing. Season cavity with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a fry pan heat remaining olive oil over medium heat and saute onion, garlic and peppers briefly until fragrant.  Mix in japanese eggplant, zucchini, tomato, thyme and rosemary.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Divide and spoon ratatouille (vegetable) mixture into each eggplant half.  Top each stuffed eggplant with a ¼ cup of grated asiago cheese and place in preheated oven (400°F/200°C) for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and forms a golden brown crust.

* This recipe is found on page 178 of the ‘Chefs in the Market’ cookbook by Bill Jones and Stephen Wong.

We are proud to recognize Celyddon Farms as a Bronze Sponsor of RIPE.

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Vancouver Farmers Markets presents

RIPE: The 1st Annual Evening of Local Food & Libations • Oct 1st, 6- 10pm Performance Works, Granville Island

About RIPE • Tickets • Sponsors • Get Involved

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RIPE has a venue: Performance Works, Granville Island!

We’re excited to announce that RIPE will be held at the beautiful Performance Works on Vancouver’s Granville Island!

image: www.granvilleisland.com

Why are we so excited about this space for RIPE? Granville Island prides itself on promoting all things local including food, farmers & growers, artisans and artists, plus the Performance Works space caters to non profit organizations making their space available for local theatre performances and other community events, so we think it’s a perfect fit.

all Performance Works photos: www.giculturalsociety.org

Performance Works is located at 1218 Cartwright Street, beside the Granville Island Hotel. Parking is free on the Island for 3 hours, and unlimited between the hours of 7pm and 7am. Visit here to see a detailed map.

Please support the Vancouver Farmers Market and your local farmers and buy your ticket to RIPE!

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Vancouver Farmers Market presents

RIPE: The 1st Annual Evening of Local Food & Libations • Oct 1st, 6- 10pm Performance Works, Granville Island

About RIPE • Tickets • Sponsors • Get Involved

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Meet the event Chef’s:Part 2, Quang Dang

RIPE readers, meet Quang Dang. We’ve introduced you to Robert Clark via the black & white video series already, now it’s Quang’s turn. Similarly to Robert, Quang doesn’t have a favourite anything either. Maybe this is a common theme with chefs?

Some formal biographical info for you:

Quang Dang, C Restaurant’s Chef de Cuisine, exemplifies the new breed of chef making the Pacific Northwest’s food scene avant-guard and ultramodern. He is a blend of styles mixing magician with kitchen improv in a “hold no prisoners” fashion. His inventive and resourceful nature combines with intense curiosity and high-energy to permeate this young man with a talent so distinct, he is recognized as one of Vancouver’s most ingenious hot new chefs.

Chef Dang’s apprenticeship took place over his 3½ years at the four-star Diva Restaurant at the Metropolitan Hotel in Vancouver. During this time he also actively participated in a number of international food competitions such as the 2003 Bocuse D’Or in Lyon France, and the National Chaine des Rotisseurs in Winnipeg in 2002. Chef Dang has studied the food chain. He knows where C’s food is coming from, where it was harvested, who fished it, and how it was handled.

Welcome aboard Chef Quang Dang!

Meet the RIPE event Chef’s: Part 1, Robert Clark

RIPE readers, meet Chef Robert Clark. Along with Quang Dang, both of Raincity Grill, NU and C Restaurants, Robert will be working with our local farmers to provide delicious and most importantly, local, food to the upcoming RIPE event. We’ve brought you this short & sweet, not to mention very honest, video created by the people over at the restaurant group.

Oh, and when you do meet Robert at RIPE or the next time you’re dining at one of these three restaurants, don’t ask him what his favourite anything is, he doesn’t have one. Er, except for a favourite beer. But that’s beside the point.

A bit from the formal bio of Chef Clark:

Chef Robert Clark began his culinary training at Ontario’s George Brown College, graduating in 1982.  Throughout his career he has trained with Canada’s top chefs such as Jamie Kennedy, Michael Bonaccini and Mark Thuet. Clark now heads the culinary operations for C Restaurant, Raincity Grill and NU Restaurant & Lounge.  Clark’s belief in food is pure and simple:

“As chefs, our job is not only about serving great tasting food, but encouraging our staff and our guests to learn how to get sustainably produced food to the table.”