Prepare to see a transformed Dig In Horticulinary Festival.
St. Albert’s fourth annual food and gardening festival slated to run April 29 to 30 at the Enjoy Centre has grown into a prime culinary destination throughout the region.
This year organizers are amping up the buzz with guest celebrity food specialists and expanded gardening workshops.
In past years the food and gardening festival operated in the autumn showcasing the region’s bountiful harvest in a variety of memorable dishes.
A longtable dinner was the highlight with assorted workshops focusing on food preparation and fall gardening.
“We’ve gone to the spring to capture more of the horticultural side of the festival. Spring allows us to tap into gardeners eager to get their hands dirty and planting,” said city economic development officer Dawn Fedorovich.
This partnership between economic development and the Enjoy Centre is particularly exciting since it marks the first time the festival has invited two TV culinary experts.
Organizers are banking the culinary personalities’ willingness to share what they think, eat and cook will be a big draw for the general public.
Renowned Toronto chef Corbin Tomaszeski, formerly of Warburg, will cook up a one-time dinner on Saturday and brunch at the Glasshouse Bistro.
Tomaszeski, who began his career at Edmonton’s Holt CafĂ©, is currently the executive chef at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto.
The multi-tasker became a nationally recognizable face after appearing on Food Network shows Dinner Party Wars, and Restaurant Makeover and Restaurant Takeover.
“He’s given us his recipes and some guidelines. The Glasshouse Bistro will source the ingredients locally and he will do some of the preparation and cooking as well as mingling with visitors,” Fedorovich said.
The second guest is registered dietitian Desiree Nielsen, based in Vancouver. A graduate of the University of Alberta, she is the author of two books Un-Junk Your Diet and Banish the Bloat.
As Gusto TV’s host of The Urban Vegetarian, she advocates for holistic practices in food preparation while focusing on digestive health, plant-centred diets and anti-inflammatory nutrition.
“She’s an urban vegetarian, a foodie at heart. She is going to show us her brand in fun, quirky ways. It will be very interesting to see the different food styles between Corbin and Desiree,” said Fedorovich noting that Nielsen will prepare a vegetarian brunch on Sunday.
Both brunches and the Saturday evening dinner will be served at Glasshouse Bistro under the supervision of the restaurant’s new executive chef Shaun McCabe.
A graduate of Vancouver’s Art Institute Culinary School, McCabe moved to St. Albert as chef de partie at Glasshouse Bistro before working as a sous chef at Privada.
While at Privada, he participated in many gold medal plate competitions before returning to Glasshouse Bistro as executive chef.
One of his most important roles is sourcing organic and locally grown food including greenhouse-grown veggies.
In addition to supervising meals, both Tomaszeski and Nielsen will lead cooking workshops throughout the weekend sharing favourite recipes and offering samples.
Various free gardening and food workshops are also offered during the two-day festival ranging from learning to grow sprouts and microgreens to planting and nurturing fruit trees.
Jim Hole’s tomato workshop covers different types of the fruit while Alex Villeneuve, winner of the 2016 TEC Venture Prize, demonstrates how to grow mushrooms.
“The Northern Hop Yard Girls, Catherine Smith and Karin Smith Fargey, are going to be talking about a variety of hops you put in beer. They’ll be showing you how to grow different hops and how they give different flavours,” said Bryan Saunders, Enjoy Centre marketing manager.
This year the Enjoy Centre has taken point on the festival and early predictions are showing positive results said Saunders.
“Already the uptake wave seems very promising. We have over 1,000 people signed up for the weekend,” he said.
Tickets for brunch are $59 per person. Dinner tickets are $129 each. Ticketing information and a complete schedule of all events is available at diginstalbert.ca.
