Sal Howell, centre, proprietor, and Matthias Fong, right, chef, at the River Cafe in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017.Jeff McIntosh
What started out as a way to rally the nation behind the cattle industry, as it suffered from the mad-cow disease scare of 2003, has now grown into a national movement to celebrate Canadian cuisine and encourage chefs, restaurateurs and home cooks to embrace homegrown ingredients.
Food Day Canada now involves 250 restaurants across the country, including dozens across Western Canada that are participating with events and special menus on Saturday.
Sal Howell, owner of Calgary's well-known River Café, has been a fervid participant of the movement since Day 1. Ms. Howell says she sees every day as Food Day Canada and her restaurant has been embracing that philosophy long before the movement began.
"Today reminds us of the bounty of Canada, its traditions, the history of agriculture, all of the different regions," Ms. Howell says.
River Café executive chef Matthias Fong has dreamed up a menu, available this weekend, that pays homage to the restaurant's surroundings. Tender Alberta trout poached with cultured butter and fresh herbs inside pasta with snap peas and a rhubarb wine is an imaginative example of Mr. Fong's regional feast. An Albertan midsummer night's dream dinner, if you will.
"There is a tremendous effort in being involved in this journey, there is no question about that. The apricots we have on our menu didn't just grow this season. There is an investment in time, purpose and intent," Ms. Howell says.
"Who else would do this work? Who else would explore the taste and diversity of Canadian ingredients, that are found and grown here, than experimental chefs and restaurants?"
Food Day Canada was founded by University of Guelph food laureate Anita Stewart, one of the most passionate advocates for Canadian cuisine for three decades.
"It has really evolved into a chef-and-restaurant event to a great degree now," Ms. Stewart says. "Those are the people that can actually make things happen."
Ms. Stewart is right. Eager home cooks always look to leading culinary professionals for inspiration in their own kitchens. "They can contract farmers to grow particular ingredients [or producers to create certain things] and that's a big deal. Then the cycle continues. … The farmers grow more and more interesting things for people like you and I who are interested and want to cook locally."
Jack Chen, the chef de cuisine at Vancouver's L'Abattoir restaurant, echoes that point and encourages people to seek out their local city markets if they're planning to cook at home.
"Through the markets, I have regular access to my most trusted suppliers and, at the same time, I meet new people that I can forge new relationships with," Mr. Chen says.
Kelowna, B.C., chef Aman Dosanj, who runs a popular pop-up dinner series through her company, the Paisley Notebook, has participated in the annual celebration for four of the past five years.
After cooking abroad for most of 2016, the chef returned to the Okanagan with global perspective, but more excited to dig deep and discover more of what Canada could offer. The result of her exploration is a Food Day Canada dinner that showcases the country's diversity. Saskatchewan-grown chickpeas, cranberries from the Yukon, camelina oil from Quebec and, of course, wine from the B.C. Interior, are a few of the many components that will come together on her menu.
"Food Day Canada plants the seed in order for [people like me] to go out and research Canadian terroir," Ms. Dosanj says. "Anita Stewart doesn't tell you what to do to participate, she just leaves it open for interpretation. So, how do you put your own spin on it and how can you engage people to help make some noise?"