Help Jamie Oliver and WIN!

This is my 4th year being a part of Food Revolution Day and participating by hosting events and spreading the word.  Food Revolution Day events are happening all over the world this week leading up to Food Revolution Day on May 15th.   I am hosting my event the day after Food Revolution Day and it's already SOLD OUT!  I will have over 80 people attending my event but there are larger and smaller events happening everywhere.

This year Jamie Oliver is on a mission to get everyone to sign his PETITION to get G20 leaders to put Food Education on the curriculums of schools all around the Globe.

I have signed the petition.  Have you?  Please SIGN IT and SHARE IT and help Jamie reach a MILLION signatures before Food Revolution Day on May 15th.   www.change.org/jamieoliver

What's in it for you?  Well you can help future generations live in a world without kids having Type 2 diabetes because of their diets.  You can help future generations live healthy and productive lives and not drain health care costs to society.

Just to make it worthwhile for you if you SIGN the PETITION and SHARE IT.

Take a selfie like this or one at an Aroma Espresso Bar in Canada and tag me on Twitter & Instagram @lindamatarasso and HASHTAG it #FoodRevFoodie 

Thank @aromaespresso on twitter and  @aromaespressobar on Instagram and say hello to my great sponsor partner.

I will pick ONE person with the best photo to WIN an AROMA ESPRESSO GIFT CARD for $10

You have until MAY 15th!

The WINNER will be notified on MAY 17, 2015 through social media

(no purchase necessary)

Aroma Espresso Bar is supporting #Foodrevolutionday with this special offer.  

Drop into any Aroma in Canada and order this special DOUBLEUP combo.

www.foodrevolutionday.com

Food Revolution Day Plans

This past weekend some of the Food Revolution Day Ambassadors in Toronto got together for Brunch to chat about all of our individual Food Revolution Day plans.

Food Revolution Day -  15 MAY 2015 

We have lot's of events leading up to the day and afterward.

This year we have a lot of different things on the go.

1.  The first one coming up is Dorothy Pang's Vegetarian Culinary Competition at Nella Cucina  on Bathurst Street in Toronto on Sat. April 25th.  I will be one of the judges along with fellow ambassador Carol Harrison.  

2.  Susan Ng will be getting my Grade 13 school Northview Heights involved on May 15th with some cooking classes.

3.  Mardi Michels and Mary Catherine Anderson will be hosting a parent and child hands on class at Royal St. George College on Food Revolution Day.

4.  Chef Mary Hulbert will do a cooking class for an after school program at St. Alban's Boys and Girls Club on Food Revolution Day.

5. Christine Barisheff will have events at Jean Augustine Centre for Youth Empowerment and also and adult event at Cirillos Culinary Academy.

6.  Jen Farr will be hosting a Food Revolution Day party at her home on May 16th.

7.  Carol Harrison is going to be doing a cooking demo with her kids on Rogers television and has plans to do some in school cooking classes.

8.  I will be doing my Wonky Veg cooking demo at Hendrix equipment on May 16th.

We all volunteer our time and couldn't do these events without the assistance of great partner sponsors.

Thank you to our Host venues:

• Hendrix Restaurant Equipment
• Nella Cucina
• Cirillos Academy
• Northview Heights SS.
• Royal St. George's College
• St. Alban's Boys and Girls Club
• Jean Augustine Centre for Youth Empowerment

We also rely on assistance for our food, supplies and prizes to make these events successful.

My sponsors include:

Sobeys for food donations and prizes

Fresh City Farms with generous support of fresh vegetables for the photo above, cooking demo and gift certificates for a prize draw. 

Good Food For Good for fabulous products for recipe demo and prize draw

Aroma Espresso Bar for having a special Food Revolution Day Special on May 15th which includes a Chopped Salad, Mediterranean Sandwich and a free Mint Tea.  They are also providing gift cards.

Other sponsors contributing to other Ambassador Events include:

Chef Susur Lee

A.Vogel

The Detox Market

An easy way for you to participate without leaving your chair is to Sign Jamie Oliver's Petition for Food Education here:  www.change.org/jamieoliver  Sign it!. and Share it!

For more information about Food Revolution Day on how you can join us check the website at:

www.FoodRevolutonDay.com

Follow the global hashtag feed #foodrevolutionday

and the Toronto team at #foodrevTO

Follow me @lindamatarasso on Twitter and Instagram

or Join the Toronto Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/FoodRevolutionDayToronto

Food Revolution Day - Sign It. Share It.

Food Revolution Day 2015 is coming soon.

15.05.15 is the Global Food Revolution Day so save the date to participate in whatever way that you are able to.

This year's theme is FIGHTING FOR FOOD EDUCATION.

Jamie Oliver wants you to sign his Global Petition to get G20 governments to add Food Education to the curriculum of all schools to stop the epidemic of global obesity and teach kids where there food comes from and that they have the power to make a difference in their own lives.  They will learn skills for life.  Every child deserves that right.

Please SIGN IT and SHARE IT.           www.change.org/jamieoliver

Starting April 1st you can start to register to come to my Food Revolution Day FREE Public Event at Hendrix Restaurant Equipment & Supplies in North York.  If you register on Eventbrite and bring a copy of your registration to the event on May 16th you can hand it in to us to be entered into a draw to WIN a Jamie Oliver Cookbook and there are also other prizes that will be drawn in store.

I will be doing a Healthy Lunch Demo in Hendrix Equipment's Test Kitchen starting at Noon on May 16th.  At 3pm we will be drawing for prizes.  I will be making flatbread from scratch, grilled cheese and Mediterranean vegetable sandwiches and a spicy carrot soup.

You can start registering for my event starting April 1st on this page:  EVENTBRITE

How you can participate:

1.  Attend my event or other Global Events.  for the Toronto Area event updates will be posted on our Facebook page.  Like Us and get the updates.  Facebook Food Revolution Day Toronto

2.  Sign the Petition and pass it on.

3.  Become an Ambassador.  Sign up at www.foodrevolutionday.com

4.  Host your own event or have a family dinner or party and cook a meal together.

5.  Set up a food education program in your community.

Take a Selfie of yourself like this and post it to your social media to get other people to sign the Petition at change.org/jamieoliver
Tag it #Foodrevolutionday and #foodrevToronto if you are in Toronto.

The importance of Food Revolution Day.

I became involved in Food Revolution Day just over 3 years ago after I watched Jamie Oliver's Television series Food Revolution where he went to a town in the U.S. and tried to set up a pass it on movement to teach people where there food comes from and how to cook it to try and tackle their massive childhood obesity problem.   Jamie began his journey into this Food Revolution movement by trying to change the school lunches in the U.K. and found that there was a lot of resistance from the government, the schools and the kids in the schools at the beginning.  He managed to change a lot of things and the kids adjusted to the changes and their behaviour and learning in the schools improved.   This was just through the power of making some changes to the food that was being served to kids.  Jamie was on a mission.  What if he could spread this out all over the world to change what kids are eating and have people take control of what they are eating instead of relying on fast food nation.

The Food Revolution Global Day of Action began 3 years ago where Jamie and his Foundation's team recruited people like me to be Ambassadors to try and spread the word and try and get people involved.   This year Jamie wants to break a Guinness World Record to get schools around the Globe participating in making a Rainbow Wrap.  http://www.foodrevolutionday.com/rainbow-salad-wrap/
and he wants to get more people to spread the word and join in and attend an event or become an Ambassador or participate in some way in your area.

This overall mission is to "Get kids excited about food" so they will be inspired to learn all about it and learn how to cook and having cooking skills that will set them up for life.

This is my 3rd year participating as I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

The first year I held a dinner party at my home where I made a mostly vegetable dinner with very vegetable Lasagna, a huge mixed vegetable salad and meringues and strawberries for dessert.   Everyone loved the food and I was told by a few people that the lasagna was the best one they ever had.

Last year I wanted to expand it to be open to the public so I hosted a Mexican Fiesta at Aphrodite Cooks on Weston Rd.  It was a small group of people but we all had our hands on deck and created some great tacos/tostadas and non alcoholic margaritas and guacamole etc.   I set up a photo wall so we could all have a little fun with Sombrero's and props.

This year I am going to be teaching an Italian Cooking from Scratch Workshop on May 12th at The Depanneur on College Street in downtown Toronto.  I will teach adults and kids how to make a simple but delicious meal of handmade gnocchi, fresh tomato sauce, grilled asparagus side dish and a delicious cherry amaretto parfait for dessert.   Harper Collins Canada has generously donated some Jamie Oliver cookbooks as prizes and Sobeys has also generously provided the event with assistance and have donated some special kids packs to set up kids for future cooking skills.  Bernardin canning have provided Mason jars for guests to be able to take home a jar filled with some fresh tomato sauce and the dessert they create for themselves.

You can take part and join the Revolution by attending an event like mine or seeing how else you can Join in on the Food Revolution Website:  www.foodrevolutionday.com

It is my hope that I can teach someone that has never cooked before how easy it can be too cook a meal using simple ingredients that even kids can understand and manage in the hope that they will be inspired to learn the value of cooking and sharing food and eating healthy food.   Many kids don't know what they are eating or where it comes from.  Hopefully they will be inspired to find out more and try new things and change their future health.

My Food Revolution Dinner Party

me tossing the salad

Whoever said that throwing a great dinner party while trying to cook from scratch was easy hasn't done it right.  I spent about 3 days shopping, prepping and cooking food to get ready for my Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Day Dinner Party.  Although I only had about 6 guests I tried to make as much of a variety of vegetables as I could prepare and tried to keep with a spring Italian feel mostly.  Inspired by the Jamie Oliver pasta and sauces I received from Shalit Foods, I made a vegetarian Lasagna that I tried to think of as a combination of a pesto sauce/tomato sauce/cheese sauce kind of lasagna with the Pesto being kale, spinach and basil combined with a little bit of garlic.  The tomato sauce was Jamie Oliver's tomato chili sauce and additional San Marzano diced tomatoes and a beefsteak tomato.  The cheese sauce was buffalo mozzerella, parmesan, and the italian grated cheese blend and some ricotta.   To boost the veggie content I added caramelized onions and roasted red peppers.   My guests went nuts over the lasagna and I even got a comment that it was the best vegetarian lasagna that they ever had.  The also said it was as good as a traditional meat lasagna.  This is what it looked like.

vegetarian lasagna

I also made a bunch of salads, pickled cucumbers, coleslaw that I made with homemade mayonnaise that I made with Jamie Oliver's Olive Oil, a mixed vegetable garden salad also using the Jamie Oliver Olive Oil for the salad dressing. I roasted beets and just added a bit of vinegar and also roasted some cauliflower.  I made a bean dip, hummus and I had some shrimps with cocktail sauce in case anyone felt like they were missing out on the traditional proteins. 

Dill cucumbers

Shrimp with cocktail sauce

coleslaw

The point of the whole dinner was to return to the way we used to eat, with family and friends eating around a table and eating simple but tasty foods.  My food isn't fancy or complicated but it has pure flavour. I cook from my childhood influences of eating my mother's european cooking style and the influence of my italian neighbours home cooking.  With a little greek thrown in from my dad's side.  I grew up on a street where there were Italian, portuguese, jewish and canadian families and as a kid my mom would take me to a cultural event every year called Carivan where I would try foods from cultures around the world.  Food is the only thing in the world that is universal and can be shared with people from any culture, race, nationality, economic background and class.  A poor woman can make a peasant meal that a King would relish.  

The Food Revolution Day event was to inspire people to share food, educate people on how to cook healthy good food and to enjoy food as a group again.  We need to get away from our drive through lifestyles for the health of the World in the future.  The more we know who and where are food comes from the better.  If you know the farmer that provided the food you are eating by his first name you are generally more likely to respect that same food and appreciate the work that it took to produce it.  You would prepare the meal with the thought of not wasting it and getting the maximum flavour out of it instead of just having a throw away meal.

I hope that I inspired my guest to think about their food more and maybe they will make some of the things I made and pass it on to other people so that it creates a chain reaction around the world.  Each one, teach one.

We were lucky enough to have a beautiful spring day to celebrate the day and we were able to eat our meal Al Fresco on my balcony.  I think that the ambiance of the environment always contributes to having a better food experience and we were lucky to have the weather contribute to a successful dinner party.

Meringue with Strawberries in Balsalmic/Brandy syrup

For dessert I made a meringue disc and piled organic strawberries that were soaked in balsamic vinegar and brandy syrup.

You can have your cake with friends and eat it too if you just do it the right way. Eating healthy is not a sacrifice it's a pleasure once you know how to cook things to bring out their natural flavours.