Rene Redzepi's Ants on a Shrimp

Denmarks' Rene Redzepi is considered to be one of the most influential Michelin Star Chef's in the world.  His Denmark restaurant NOMA was chosen as one of the 50 best Restaurants in the WORLD.  If you aren't a jet setting rich gourmand then you might not know who he is but a lot of people around the world do and they flock to eat things like his "Ants on a Shrimp". Ut is also the name of a new Documentary that is being screened at this year's Hot Docs Film Festival.  

Eatable Films is bringing this intense look into the inner workings of creating a NOMA restaurant in Japan after closing down his Denmark restaurant temporarily.  This film isn't for the Kraft dinner or takeout pizza  crowd.  It's for people who take their food seriously and want to know where it comes from and who's making it.  

Redzepi gained his reputation from foraging for his ingredients near his restaurant in Denmark and then transforming them using modern techniques while still keeping it simple and clean.  The film focuses on Redzepi and his team of Chef's who look to Japan's native foraged ingredients to create a new menu that has Japanese roots while using his technical spin. You can see the toll it takes on the lives of Redzepi's team as they put their whole life into the new Noma restaurant  It's focus is laser sharp.  Look at this photo of Ants on a Shrimp.  Placed there one by one and making sure that the shrimp are alive when presented to guests.  Are you a food risk taker or a food conservative?  

Redzepi is the ultimate risk taker who is always looking for the unknown to become known.  

ANTS ON A SHRIMP

Eatable Films dinner to celebrate Canadian premiere of Ants on a Shrimp.

Featuring ‘The Canadian Landscape in five courses’by Chef Justin Cournoyer of Actinolite.

On May 1, 2016, in celebration of Hot Docs’ Canadian premiere of Ants on a Shrimp, the hottest food documentary of 2016, Eatable Films, Toronto’s first food film festival, curates an exclusive dinner featuring one of Canada’s most celebrated restaurants, Actinolite. Inspired by the seasonality of the Canadian landscape, Chef Justin Cournoyer will present the essence of our Canadian spring. 

THE IMMERSIVE DINING EXPERIENCE: Enter the world of culinary creation inspired by the Canadian landscape. In celebration of the film Ants on a Shrimp, Chef Justin Cournoyer of Actinolite will tell the story of seasonality and the Canadian landscape. This unique 5 course dinner will include; wild foraged ingredients, locally grown vegetables, meats, fish and grains. The dinner is a combination of highs and lows, expected and unexpected, familiar and unfamiliar. The exclusive experience, limited to 160 guests, includes film tickets and dinner with wine/alcohol pairings, served steps from the Isabel Bader Theatre screening, in the hundred-year old, neo-gothic Burwash Hall. The film’s director, Maurice Dekkers, will be in attendance. Eatable Films invites you to Eat. Drink. Think.

DETAILS:

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Screening at 6:45pm Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles Street W., Toronto

Dinner at 8:45pm at Burwash Hall, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 73 Queens Park Crescent E., Toronto

Featuring Chef Justin Cournoyer, Actinolite

With special guests, including Maurice Dekkers, Ants on a Shrimp

Tickets $190pp, including screening, dinner and wine/alcohol pairings

Tickets now available at http://www.hotdocs.ca/p/ants-on-a-shrimp

THE CHEF:

Chef Justin Cournoyer is an advocate for the culture of food - the inherent wisdom of our ancestors in following the land to cook with what you have around you at the moment, within our Canadian Seasons. One of the most important connections is to the source of the food itself. Actinolite Restaurant works directly with farmers, fisheries, mills and vintners to pull together the best they have to offer and craft the journey of the meal. When you turn yourself over to the journey, the sum is so much more than the parts. Cournoyer’s meals are beautifully choreographed to be memorable and to make you want to come back and be taken by the hand once more. 

THE FILM: ANTS ON A SHRIMP | 88 MINUTES | 2016 | NETHERLANDS 

In January 2015, the food world holds its breath while renowned chef Rene Redzepi temporarily closes Noma, considered the world’s best restaurant, and transports his entire team from Copenhagen to Tokyo for a five-week pop-up. Known for translating the essence of Denmark's unique flavours into one-of-a-kind dishes, now neither Redzepi nor his staff know anything of the local food resources. With Redzepi’s international reputation hanging in the balance, filmmaker Maurice Dekkers delivers a once-in-a-lifetime behind-the-scenes peek inside the intense pressure, determined artistry and impossible challenge of life inside a kitchen of unparalleled ambition.

ABOUT HOT DOCS: Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, will present its 23rd annual edition from April 28–May 8, 2016. An outstanding selection of 232 documentaries from Canada and around the world will be presented to Toronto audiences and international delegates. Hot Docs will also mount a full roster of conference sessions and market events and services for documentary practitioners, including the renowned Hot Docs Forum, Hot Docs Deal Maker and The Doc Shop. In partnership with Blue Ice Group, Hot Docs operates the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, a century-old landmark located in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood.

ABOUT EATABLE: An innovative and immersive experience, Eatable Films is the first film food festival in Toronto. Its mandate is to provide audiences with a new way to get excited about food. Eatable satiates the hungry viewer and inspires the food-obsessed mind.

Website and Social Media:

Hot Docs

www.hotdocs.ca

Eatable Films

www.eatablefilms.com

Actinolite Restaurant

www.actinoliterestaurant.com

*photos provided by Eatable Films

Green Living Show highlights

The Green Living Show is back again at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and I checked it out on Friday afternoon.  Here are some of the highlights of the show and a few things I picked up.  I wasn't planning on doing any shopping,  just lot's of sampling and seeing what's new.

When I first got there I decided to start at the Food End of the show of course and walked by my friend Richa's booth for Good food for Good but she wasn't at the booth so I walked through the aisle and stumbled on one of the stages and who was on stage doing a presentation but the energetic and funny nutritionist Julie Daniluk.  I always learn something new every time I listen to her speak so I plunked myself down in the front row so I wouldn't disturb anyone since she was midway in her talk.  Julie was speaking about hugging and the power of touch and walked over to me and said hi and used me as the example to connect to someone.  I think she knew I would be a safe bet to get her message across but it was nice that she used the moment as the perfect time to say hi.  She had talks scattered throughout the weekend.  As I write this it's the last day of the show. I wanted to write this post earlier to get the info out but didn't have a chance to.   I hope a couple of you get a chance to stop by before it ends or plan to go next year.
The show did seem a little different this year. It was very quiet on the friday and it seemed like there were less food companies this year.

But returning again with a huge booth were my other friends at Organic Garage.  They have the best booth at the show since they have a whole bunch of their vendors set up sampling.  I liked a couple of the samples so much that I bought them.  I picked up Organic Garlic Coconut Oil which they sampled on popcorn.  It was amazing and I think it would be amazing for bread dipping or garlic bread or in dressings.  No more garlic hands from peeling garlic.  I also picked up Organic chocolate covered almonds because they were just so good.

I wandered around by myself for a while then a couple of my friends joined me after they finished work.  We saw Chef Rodney Bowers and my friend got excited and got a selfie with him.  He was in the ticketed food section.  We didn't end up getting anything there and just tried a lot of the samples around the show.

This year they were giving out Powerbars and free entrance to attendees that brought in e-waste.  You know if everyone at the show brought in e-waste or walked away with an eco power bar that would make a huge difference in energy and also in landfill waste.  Great initiative.

Besides all the food products including food using insects as the protein ingredient, there was also beauty products.  I stopped to check out one booth and was impressed by the creator who said she created it for her own use.   I was struck by the packaging.  I saw Mature to Dry Hotty Balm.  When do you ever see that stand out on a beauty product?  They always cater to young skin even though everyone wants anti ageing which is usually what it says.  But I liked the idea of a balm for your face because my skin has started to lose it's youthful glow. Yeah I know I lost it a long time ago but let's see if this can bring some of it back.  It made my skin feel soft without being sticky or smelly.  It's made with beeswax and jojoba oil and shea butter and host of other natural ingredients. I like that it's a balm so that I can carry it around in my bag without worrying about a mess.

This show is all about Eco in any area of life.  There were sections for kids with a sandbox even.


There was a row of wood home decor products, jewellery, clothing, cars, bikes, healthcare products, suppliments and beauty products and even things like a lightbulb that lasts for 40 years.  So while everything might not interest everyone, there is something that will help everyone that attends.
My friend picked up hot/cool silicone packs for himself and his mom.

If you are interested in finding products to swap that help the environment instead of harm it then this is a good place to check it out.  And even if you don't want to buy products it's a great place to listen to people like Julie Daniluk and other health and business experts speak about interesting topics.

Go Green.... save the planet and check out the Green Living Show.

Green Living Show celebrates 10 years

The Green Living Show
returns to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from 
April 15-17, 2016 for it's 10th year.  

I think I may have attended at least half of those 10 years of shows.  

You don't have to be a super Ecoholic to go to the show but if you want to see a lightbulb that will last 30 years or you like to grow herbs and forget about them for 2 weeks then this is the show for you.

The show is packed full of good for you and the planet foods such as honey, and various snacks from granola to kale chips as expected to local restaurants who are leading the way in local, organic and good for sustainability products.  

The show is divided into different areas from wines and the large food section to home products, to beauty and fashion products, health products, vehicles of all sorts, and an area for the kids.  

It really is a show for everyone that is looking for things for the future.

I got a chance to attend the Media Preview this week at the Merchants of Green Coffee and sampled some of the foods and check out some of the products that will be at the show.

I can now say that I have tried crickets and mealworms because of one of the vendors doing a taste test to guess from 3 plates of pasta which was made with crickets, mealworms or beef.  I guess the beef but I can honestly say that the one with the mealworms had the most robust flavour.

Beet cheesecake

Smores poptart

Duck Riette

squash and apple soup

Cauliflower au gratin

Grits and chickpeas

You can check out these cool things at the show too.  This little e-bike and a personal washing machine.  There will be a humungous Flag that you can sign too.

There are lots of samples and interactive things to try at the show and it's a great place to bring kids to learn about doing things that are good for the environment and educating them why they should consider what they do in their futures.  It can be a little thing like eating mealworm spaghetti sauce to reduce the methane gas that cows produce and the amount of water needed to grow cattle.  To supporting companies that produce products that don't end up in landfills because we will run out of room to put all this garbage if we keep up on the level of consumerism that we are experiencing now.

You can even get into the Show for Free if you bring Electronic waste that they will collect to be recycled.   You can also possibly walk away with an eco power bar too.

For more information check the Green Living Show Website: http://www.greenlivingshow.ca/ 

Here is some ticket info:

FREE 3-Day Entry

• When you bring in e-waste for recycling
• For all WWF CN Tower climbers
• When you show your GO Transit ticket valid for the day of admission
• Show your PRESTO Card
• Show your Live Green Card

Adult Admission                  $15.00

Seniors (65+)                      $10.00

Students with photo ID       $10.00

Children under 12               Free with an Adult present

School Group Rate             $8.00 pp (10+)

Box office special               Friday evening $10 after 4 p.m.

Re-Admission                    Buy 1 adult, student or senior ticket and return to the show free all weekend.

 *disclaimer:  I attended the media preview and was given samples to try but the opinions in this blog are my own.