Author Dan Clapson (C) celebrates the release of his new cookbook Prairie with executive chef of Hotel Arts Group Scott Redekopp (L) and chef owner of Jin Bar Jinhee Lee, at Jin Bar in Calgary, October 11, 2023.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
I don’t remember the exact moment I started truly appreciating the Prairies and all the region has to offer, but it was likely sometime in my late 20s. Growing up in a smaller city such as Saskatoon, it’s natural to want to leave to explore bigger, “better” options in your youth. So, I did.
I moved to Calgary at the age of 22 and haven’t left since. But I travelled abundantly (still do) and drove home often (still do).
It was those long drives across the Prairies – in all seasons and at all times of day – that led me to become enamoured with the landscape. The big blue sky, or star-filled blackness if you’ve hit the highway early or late. The bright yellow canola fields in summer or the cool, icy whites in the dead of winter … I could go on.
A neverending horizon is something non-Prairie folks may not quite get, but celebrated San-Francisco-based visual artist Leah Rosenberg (who hails from Saskatoon) likened it in an interview I did with her years ago to the perpetual sky on the ocean.
I began spending more time in Edmonton and Winnipeg, and falling in love with those food scenes, too.
Did you know Winnipeg’s Low Life Barrel House is the only natural winery in the Prairies? The city also boasts the largest Indigenous food scene in the country, as well as a world-famous winter pop-up restaurant (RAW: almond by deer + almond), proving that – even on the coldest nights of the year – there’s something to get excited about.
I’ve long sung the praises of Saskatoon businesses like Black Fox Farm and Distillery, Stumbletown Distilling and Hearth Restaurant at the Remai Modern, with their captivating approach to contemporary Prairie food and drink. Over at Primal restaurant, they make pasta with locally-stone-ground flour made from heritage Saskatchewan grain thanks to the Night Oven.
Pretty cool, if you ask me.
Author Dan Clapson celebrates the release of his new cookbook Prairie at Jin Bar in Calgary, October 11, 2023.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
Edmonton eateries such as Biera and Bundok continue to be overlooked on national restaurant lists. And the city’s Strathcona Spirits makes some of the most interesting liquors in the province.
Head to Calgary for many reasons, but make a point of popping into JINBAR for a taste of Korean-style pizza. I assure you it’s one of the only places in the country where you can get it. And the longstanding River Cafe has maintained its spot as one of the province’s top eateries for 30-plus years – an amazing feat.
I don’t need to wax poetic about Calgary’s food scene, but it has become a stand-out. It even rivals Vancouver’s these days.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why I love the region where I was born and raised. And where I continue to work, uplift and celebrate.
It’s this love that led me to launch my annual event series in 2017, the Prairie Grid Dinner, which sees chefs come together from across the region to create a collaborative feast. Similarly impassioned culinary minds such as Emily Butcher (Nola), Elia Herrera (Milpa), barkeep extraordinaire Kelly Klebaum (Hearth), Adam Donnelly (Petit Socco) and Winnipeg-born Michael Robins, now at Sune Restaurant in London, are just a few of the people that helped make the series successful.
This love of the Prairies also led me to write my debut cookbook, Prairie (was there any other title?) with my Edmonton-based co-author Twyla Campbell, which was released at the end of summer last year.
A true labour of love that took nearly two and a half years from start to finish, this seasonally-organized cookbook channels everything I love about this agriculturally-rich region. The creation was collaborative, and the end result is a mixture of recipes by me, Twyla and other notable Prairie chefs.
Manager Seunghee Hur mixes a cocktail at JINBAR in Calgary, on March 18, 2021.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
South-Korea-born Jinhee Lee of JINBAR is one of them.
“I find that chefs in the Prairies have a special way of putting their own twist on classic comfort dishes, it makes collaboration a delight,” she says. “Whenever I fuse together Korean techniques with Alberta ingredients, I feel like I am creating something that is ‘Prairie’ to me.”
Hotel Arts Group executive chef Scott Redekopp was one of four chefs that travelled across the Prairies with me in 2019 completing four Prairie Grid Dinner events in just 10 days. A whirlwind to say the least, but one that deepened his love of his home province of Saskatchewan and the Prairies as a whole.
“Professionally it marked a high point in my career, providing the unique opportunity to collaborate with talented chefs,” says Mr. Redekopp. “Having the chance to innovate and showcase the diversity of the Prairies is what attracted me, but what changed me was the lifelong friendships made while travelling with fellow chefs. Together we navigated challenges, celebrated successes and shared an unwavering love for the Prairies.”
I’ve taken many paths in my life, but I’d like to think they’ve always been the collaborative and creative ones. When it comes to my writing, and in particular my cookbook Prairie, it has made all the difference.