Food Revolution Day Thank You!

THANK YOU

Another year of Jamie Oliver's Annual Food Revolution Day events is now over but all of the Ambassadors and everyone involved with Food Revolution Day want to continue the momentum and keep cooking skills alive and help drive more food education in schools for the rest of the year.  

If you haven't signed Jamie Oliver's Petition it's not too late.  

Take a minute to go to change.org/JamieOliver and sign  the petition.  Signatures will be collected until October and brought to G20 leaders in November.

I want to take this time to thank all of the sponsors and people that assisted in helping me make my Food Revolution Day event a very successful one.

Photos provided by my photographer friend Alex Tsang @hypebelly

First I want to thank Alissa from Hendrix Restaurant Equipment & Supplies for organizing all of the tools needed in their amazing new test kitchen and the rest of the staff for going above and beyond what I expected was possible.

Martina, Susan, Alissa, Linda, Jenny, Lisa

I would also like to thank fellow Ambassador Susan Ng (dough making machine), Jenny Roger (mandolin master), Martina Kelly and Lisa Swainston my Food Revolution greeters or supreme welcoming committee.

I would like to thank Sobeys who provided a gift card for food supplies for the event and also provided gift cards for prizes and also aprons, measuring spoons, pens and notepads for the attendees.

I would also like to thank Richa from Good Food For Good who provided the sauce that I used to make the Spicy Carrot soup.  I used the Chiltomate or now known as the Tacos sauce.  She was also in attendance at the event to provide support and speak about her line of sauces.

Fresh City Farms also helped out with fresh vegetables for the recipes and also gave me vegetables that I used for our group photo and I donated the rest to fellow Ambassador Dorothy Pang's Cooking Challenge.  They also provided 2 Gift Certificates for 1 Fresh City Farms bag of groceries to get a couple of lucky people started with their delivery program of fresh local foods.

I also want to thank Aroma Espresso Bar who donated gift cards to some lucky attendees so they could try some of their fresh healthy foods.

Jennifer from Pluck Teas also sent over a last minute bag of AFTER EIGHT teas for guest to sample during my event.

And A.Vogel Canada who provided Sprouter kits to all of the Ambassadors across Canada.  My sprouter arrived after my event so I am going to be doing a giveaway for one of them soon.

I want to thank everyone that attended.  The feedback from everyone has been great and a few people have already made a couple of things at their homes.

And Congratulations to the Winners of the 2 Gift Baskets.  Leo(I think on left and Fabian on the right).

Thank you to everyone that contributed in some way to make this a fun event and to everyone that came to participate I hope that it was inspiring and fun and everyone comes back again next year.

Photo credit for all of the above photos by Alex Tsang.  Thank you Alex for the great pics.

Food Revolution Day at Hendrix Toronto

TODAY is the DAY for My Food Revolution!  Although the official FOOD REVOLUTION DAY  was yesterday I am doing my part by having a huge public event at Hendrix Restaurant Equipment and Supplies today.  

Yesterday was a very busy day.  It started off with going to my old high school for fellow Ambassador Susan's massive Squash it sandwich making with about 1200 kids at Northview Heights Secondary School and linked with neighbouring schools.  Then off to pick up vegetables from Fresh City Farms and over to Hendrix Equipment to get organized and then a long wait in traffic to pop over to Sobeys to pick up all of the rest of the items for my cooking demo and back home to organize and prep everything.

Today Susan and I are back in the Kitchen at Hendrix Toronto to make my own recipes.  Sorry Jamie Oliver but I didn't think bashing vegetables in a high end cooking supply shop would go down very well so I tried to adapt my veggie recipes for this event.

I will be making Flatbread or Pita, whatever you want to call it but you can call it delicious and fresh. I will also be making quick pickled onions and grilling up some vegetables and adding a herb and spice mixture for flavour.  The grilled vegetables will be packed into the fresh flatbread sandwiches for an awesome grilled sandwich.  Add a bit of feta or parmesan to kick it up and you have a vegetarian sandwich that won't have you missing the meat.  I will also make a spicy carrot soup using Good Food For Good's new Chilitomate sauce which has some Mexican inspired flavours.

Have a taste along with some fresh lemon and mint infused water or some Hot Tea from Pluck Teas.

At 3pm there will be a draw for some great prizes like a Jamie Oliver cookbook, Aroma Espresso Gift Cards, Sobeys gift cards and aprons , Fresh City Farms gift certificate  and a few other great things.

None of this would be possible without the help of my great sponsor partners.  It has been a pleasure working with all of them over the past few months.  

Sobeys, Fresh City Farms, Hendrix Equipment who I spoke with on almost a daily basis, Aroma Espresso Bar, A Vogel Canada and Pluck Teas.

I was planning on a Wonky Veg Cooking Demo but all of the vegetables I picked up look perfect but you can make these recipes with perfect looking vegetables or ugly vegetables that will turn out beautiful.

If you attended my cooking demo thank you for coming and I hope you enjoyed it and get into your own kitchen and share these recipes with your friends and family.

The goal of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day is to get people back into the kitchen and to get food education into the schools so that kids and their families take control of what they eat and eat real food to tackle the growing obesity and health related diseases that are making kids of this generation live shorter lives than their parents did.

You have the power and it's in your kitchen.   Get Cooking and Sign Jamie Oliver's petition on change.org/JamieOliver so that Jamie can take it to G20 leaders and show them we need food education in our schools and that it is a very important global issue.

Food Revolution Day RECIPES-LindaMatarasso 2015

Food Revolution Day TO Event

Here's the newly designed flyer by Hendrix Toronto for my Food Revolution Day Event that I am hosting there.  Hope you can drop by and check out some great Wonky Veg food.

Please share this flyer with all your foodie friends and culinary challenged ones too.

Register on EVENTBRITE for a chance to Win Prizes at the Event,  here's the link:
http://www.eventbrite.ca/e/food-revolution-day-to-wonky-veg-cooking-demo-tickets-16377411278

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.

Good Food for Good products

I was watching the Marilyn Denis show recently when I saw Richa Gupta promote her Toronto Local sauces GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD which have no preservatives, are vegan and dairy free.  She was on the show to speak with the hosts of MasterChef Canada to get advice about increasing her business.  Since I am in Food Revolution Day event planning I was interested in seeing if her products might fit into something that I could showcase at my event so I contacted Richa and she graciously agreed to do a taste testing with some people that I organized.

I was going to organize a separate blogger tasting but I had already planned to host a TedXManhattan Viewing Party in my home for some Food Revolution Day team members and a few of my friends interested in food and health.  I thought it was a good fit as we were all interested in "Changing the way we Eat" in the world as that was TEDXManhattan's theme for the talks.

photo by Susan Ng

I also got burritos provided by Chipotle thanks to the TedX people but I thought we would do the demo before we ate the burritos.   Well the burritos arrived before Richa did so we had to start eating them because as you might know.... burritos wait for no one.  It worked out because I wanted more people to be there when Richa arrived as everyone was straggling in at various times and Richa had a big charity event the night before so she was quite tired so I told her to take her time.  My party ended up lasting all day and my last friend left at 12:30am so it ended up being an extended 12hr plus drop in party.  I  was glad that I didn't really have to cook.  I had snacks and things I had prepared earlier and just cooked up something quick around dinner time which I will post about later as that was a new product as well.

Anyway..  Richa arrived with her little buggy filled with beautifully marinated chicken skewers to cook up for us to try.  I must note that Richa is a vegetarian so this was a stretch for her as she does not know when chicken is cooked so I helped out to get it cooked to the perfect doneness.  Luckily I had a large grill pan to cook them on but boy did they make a mess on my stovetop.  Use a bbq if you can.   The chicken was coated with her Chili Tomate sauce which is spicy but not overly hot.   She also brought along a packet of a competitors sauce for comparison of what her products taste like without preservatives versus the competitors.   I have to say I am not surprised that there was a noticeable difference.  Her sauces are smooth, creamy and delicous.   The price of the sauce may seem high at about $8.99 for a bottle of it but if you have ever cooked Indian food from scratch you will understand why.  She doesn't take any shortcuts.  All the tomatoes are cooked from scratch and all the layers of spices take time to develop.  In general Indian food uses an array of spices that when layered develop an amazing depth of flavour.


While it may take her hours to make her sauces it will take you minutes to cook up a delicious meal in your home.  Add some vegetables pour over steamed rice and you have an amazing meal that will probably taste a whole lot better than your Indian Take Out.

I really feel happy to support Richa as her story is so interesting.  She worked for General Mills and wasn't happy doing and after trying so called Indian Food in Canada she decided to launch her own brand of sauces from flavours that she had when she lived in Delhi, India where she is from.  You can taste the authenticity in the food.  The best part is that for every bottle of sauce sold she donates .25 cents to serve food programs in India and Africa and that's why it's called Good Food for Good.  Do some good buy some of her sauces at quality Grocery Stores like The Big Carrot and more coming soon.   She is a very lovely woman Entrepreneur with a big heart and I hope that you support her and spread the word.

My TEDxManhattan Viewing Party

CHANGING THE WAY WE EAT

This past weekend I hosted a TEDxManhattan Viewing Party at my home to watch the Livestream event from New York,  and invited some of my Food Revolution Day team and some friends that have food issues and are interested in healthy food.

Chipotle Mexican Grill who was a very generous sponsor partner for TEDxManhattan donated vouchers for food for over 100 viewing parties including mine.  Chipotle leads the Fast Casual food business as they now call it in leading the way for the future of quick service with Food with Integrity as they say.  They have pledged to serve food that is healthy for people and the environment and have started to become a leading chain in the U.S. and growing in other countries.
We were given these massive Burritos and the most amazing Tortilla chips that were all gobbled up.

I also invited Richa Gupta from Good Food for Good to join us to show us her new products that are Gluten Free, Vegan and Dairy Free and free of preservatives and artificial flavours and colors.

I will post more about this in a separate post.  I thought it would be great to show a local entrepreneur trying to make a difference in the food world.

Now as for the TEDxManhattan Speakers Talks it was difficult for me to watch them because I was hosting the viewing party and I kind of made it into an all day drop in affair by inviting friends to come by when they could. 

Unfortunately we had to watch it on my computer monitor which isn't hooked up to any external speakers so it wasn't loud enough and everyone was so engaged with talking about food to each other that they didn't pay as much attention to the speakers on the screen.  But I hope they take the time as I did this morning to go online and watch some of the videos of the speakers talks.

Here's what I picked up from a few of the speakers;

Joel Berg spoke about changing the way we deal with food insecurity by approaching the way we provide food to people that can't afford it through food banks and food stamps to providing better jobs and better food programs.  He said that "Charity is not the answer" and to "replace charity with justice".   We much "Change public policies" and equated Food Drives to the equivalence of Bucket brigades where firefighters were trying to put out fires with buckets instead of fire trucks.

Interesting quotes included "To be schooled you must be fuelled" and "To be well read you must be well fed".    His point was that we need to take action to demand the government to provide better paying jobs for people so that they don't have to rely on food banks and food drives and to provide food for kids in schools so that they can learn and create the jobs we need in the future.

Dana Cowin from Food and Wine Magazine talked about the Ugly Food Movement and wants us to look at our food in a different way and #loveuglyfood.  

Stefanie Sacks a mom who helps people eat better for their health showed a video of her family going grocery shopping and navigating the food marketing traps and turning to having her kids contribute to cooking as a family for their dinners.  She said we need to provide an "Edible Education".

DJ Cavem provided a very entertaining rap chat.  He said he was an O.G. - Original Gardener and his mission started when his grandmother died from Diabetes.  He is trying to change the way the culture in the "Hood" looks at food.  By growing them "Greens"- Kale, spinach, Chard etc.  and thinking about growing your own food and looking at it as a cool thing to do.  In his hood a lot of people didn't eat right and didn't have access to the right things but he wants to change their focus and start thinking about what they are eating.

I plan to watch the rest of the TEDxManhattan videos that I missed on Livestream online in the next few days and learn and be inspired to put that energy into the things I do for Food Revolution Day.

What the viewing party did was get a bunch of people together to talk about what we were doing for Food Revolution Day and to see how we could help each other.  Everyone sipped on fruit infused waters and my friend brought a Rainbow Wrap inspired coleslaw and I had some healthy snacking options available too.

We all had a great time and new friendships were born and I hope that it will inspire us to keep doing what we having been doing and more in the future.

I suggest that you check out some of the TEDx videos and if you are inspired join us at one of our Food Revolution Day events here in Toronto or across the Globe or become a Food Revolution Day Ambassador and host your own events.  You can find out more information on the Food Revolution Day website which will be fully launched for this years events soon.

TEDXManhattan Viewing Party

2015 TEDXManhattan Viewing Party Event

I am very excited to be hosting a TEDXManhattan Viewing Party at my home in Toronto on March 7th, 2015.  The TEDX talks will be all about the state of the future of FOOD which is in line with my FOOD REVOLUTION DAY mission.  I have invited some fellow Food Revolution Day Ambassadors along with some of my food savvy friends to attend the live streaming viewing of these talks.  Thanks to the great generosity of CHIPOTLE Mexican Grill my guests will be munching on some great and healthy food catered by them and I will also have the owner of GOOD FOOD FOR GOOD come over to demo her new line of Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Preservative free sauces and spreads.  

You can get more information to either host a Viewing party or attend one by checking out their website for information. http://www.tedxmanhattan.org/viewing-parties/

Here is a run down on what the event is all about and the talk times and topics:

TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” will take place on Saturday, March 7, 2015, at the TimesCenter in New York City.  Below is the list of speakers along with their topic.  Order is subject to change.

2015 Run of Show (02/21/15)
TEDxManhattan

Registration 9:30 – 10:30. Webcast begins promptly at 10:30 (ALL TIMES EASTERN)

Session 1 – Sharing the Vision (10:30 – 12:15)

Introductions

Intro: Tom Colicchio
Speaker 1 – Danny Meyer – Fine dining and chain restaurants – the evolvement and overlap of the two

Intro – Urvashi Rangan
Speaker 2 – Anim Steel – Food justice

Intro – Paul Lightfoot
Speaker 3 – Ali Partovi – What’s the real reason organic food costs more? (Hint: It’s not because it’s more expensive to produce)

Intro – Megan Miller
Speaker 4 – Stephen Reily – How do cities build platforms to help the local food economy achieve sustainability and scale?

Film clip: The Meatrix – Re-make and re-launch of the hugely successful 2003 viral phenomenon

Intro – Wenonah Hauter
Speaker 5 – Michele Merkel – What is legal is not always right – fighting for justice in rural America

LUNCH  12:15 – 1:30  (Webcast offline/break)

Session 2 – Shaping Our World (1:30 – 3:30)

Intro – Andrew Gunther
Speaker 6 – Stefanie Sacks – How small changes in eating can make big differences

Intro – Peggy Neu
Speaker 7 – Robert Graham – Teaching doctors about the importance of food to health

Intro – Michel Nischan
Speaker 8 – Marcel Van Ooyen – Scaling up local food distribution to take it from niche to mainstream

Intro – Sunny Young
Speaker 9 – Joel Berg – The only real way to end hunger in America

Intro – Ann Cooper
Speaker 10 – Dana Cowin – The power of ugly vegetables.

Speaker 11 – TEDxManhattan Award Winner – Stephen Ritz, Green Bronx Machine. School. Kids. Community. Food. The educational community center Steve is building in a school in the Bronx.

Speaker 12 – DJ Cavem (with Alkemia Earth) – Health education through art and hip hop music

BREAK  3:30 – 4:10 (Webcast Offline)

Session 3 – Lighting the Future (4:10 – 6:00pm)

Intro: Sam Van Aken
Speaker 13 – Henry Hargreaves – How end-of-the-world doomsday preppers are thinking about their food 

Film clip: Anna Lappe – Real Food Media Project winner
Speaker 14 – Shen Tong – Investing in food businesses       

Intro –  Lance Price
Speaker 15 – Kendra Kimbirauskas – The good food movement and the explosion of factory farms in the U.S.

Film clip: Regina Bernard-Carreno and Alison Cayne
Speaker 16 – Danielle Nierenberg – Why the food system will fall apart without women farmers

Intro: Myra Goodman
Speaker 17 – Nikiko Masumoto – Farming and a vision for farmers

Change the Way You Eat

Based on Change Food’s
Guide to Good Food
www.guidetogoodfood.wordpress.com

1. Educate yourself – Unfortunately, there is no all-encompassing guide that answers all sustainable food questions, so you need to learn what you can about the food industry and decide for yourself who deserves your support. The following books are a great place to start: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Hope’s Edge by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel. For more recommendations, check out Grist’s Favorite Food Books of 2010: www.grist.org/article/2010-12-20-favorite-food-books-of-2010.

2. Shop sustainable – Where do you get your food? If you answered farmer’s market, CSA or food co-op, you are already concerned with sustainability. Wherever you shop, choose local, organic and/or sustainable items over their industrial, non-local counterparts. When buying meat and dairy, look for free-range, pasture-raised, and antibiotic free. Seek out items with less packaging or skip the packaging altogether by buying bulk items with your own bags. To find sustainable farms, restaurants and markets near you, visit Eat Well Guide or Local Harvest.

3. Ask questions – One of the greatest benefits of buying your food straight from the farmer is talking directly with the person who grew the food. We ask our farmers all sorts of questions, from ‘what’s the most delicious way to cook this lamb chop’ to ‘what’s integrated pest management’ and ‘do you use any synthetic fertilizers’? If your local grocery doesn’t carry local or organic foods, ask the manager about it! You’d be surprised at the buying power you plus a few friends possess. Check out Huffington Post’s Seven Great Questions to Ask Your Farmer or visit Sustainable Table’s Question Guide.

4. Eat Less Meat – Eating lots of meat is not only bad for you, it’s bad for the environment. Eating less meat can reduce your chances of developing chronic conditions like some types of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Meat, especially from industrial feedlots, is hugely energy intensive, requiring thousands of gallons of water and approximately 40 fossil-fuel calories for every edible calorie. When you do want to eat meat, make sure you support farms that raise and slaughter their animals in a humane and sustainable way. For recipes and resources for going meatless, visitMeatless Monday.

5. Eat seasonal – No matter the season, our supermarkets are filled with a vast array of produce from all around the world. But just because you can find a stalk of asparagus in January doesn’t mean you should eat it! Eating seasonally means buying produce that’s grown locally and eating it right away. Local food has a lesser environmental impact, is fresher, and is produced by your community. That means eating seasonally is healthier for you, your community and the environment! To find a Farmer’s Market near you, visit Local Harvest. To find a CSA in NYC, visit Just Food’s CSA finder.  You can also find Farmer’s Markets and CSAs at the Eat Well Guide.

6. Grow your own – There’s no better way to know your farmer than to be your farmer! Growing your own food guarantees the most healthful, freshest, and satisfying produce you can get your hands on. From a few herbs or sprouts in your kitchen window, to a full veggie patch at your local community garden, growing your own food is the coolest way to go green. For NYC dwellers, find a garden through Green Thumb. If you have high hopes and a tiny apartment, check outWindowfarms!

7. Cook – Eating out poses many challenges to the sustainable eater. How and where does the restaurant get its ingredients? How much food do they throw away? What’s their water consumption? The only guaranteed way to know your food is prepared sustainable is to see the meal start to finish; from buying (or growing?!) the ingredients, through the peeling, chopping, roasting, sautéing, and plating, clear to the last delicious bite. For culinary inspiration, visit Chef Michel Nischan’s recipe page.

8. Drink Local – Approximately 33% of the 2.4 million tons of PET plastic discarded every year is from water bottles—that means 800,000 tons of plastic water bottles will sit in a landfill for thousands of years before decomposing. Bottled water is no safer than tap water; in fact most bottled water is tap water! Trash the bottle and drink your local tap instead. To uncover more facts, watch the story of bottled water at Food & Water Watch. If you need a water refill, visit TapItwater.com to locate a spout, or download their app!

9. Get Involved – Change happens because dedicated people like you support it. Decide on the issues that matter most to you and start or join the campaigns that protect them. Visit non-profits that are fighting for good, clean food like the Environmental Working Group and Slow Food USA to get started.

10. Enjoy! Eating can and should be the simplest joy we all have. Sharing a meal brings people together in a way that little else does. Knowing that the food you eat is grown with care for the environment, farmers, animals, and your own health will only add to your joyful food experience. For tips on creating a loving food environment, check out Laurie David’s new book “The Family Dinner.”

ORGANIZATIONS
A simple way to help change the way you eat is to support local and nonprofit sustainable groups around the country. Below are affiliated with, and recommended by, our speakers and sponsors.