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GRAZE TORONTO SERVES A FIRST-CLASS FOOD FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE SEPTEMBER 22 - 24, 2023

TORONTO, GRAZE TORONTO announced its festival dates and initial lineup of participating chefs. Presented by Food Network Canada, GRAZE will take place Friday, September 22 to Sunday, September 24, 2023 at Corus Quay and Sugar Beach. Hosted by television personality Noah Cappe, GRAZE will feature some of the biggest names in the Canadian food scene alongside best-in-class food and drink offerings. Festival-goers will be able to take in the brilliance of these celebrated chefs through immersive culinary experiences complimented by a wide array of activations, live music, local art, and more.

Providing the ultimate experience for lovers of extraordinary cuisine, attendees can take part in chef-led tastings, food demos, cooking classes and interactive exhibits. With pop-ups from some of the city's most celebrated restaurants, patrons can indulge in the latest gastronomical greatness. With Lake Ontario as its backdrop, GRAZE will also offer an exceptional array of engaging experiences and premium entertainment.

Dynamic television personality Noah Cappe will act as host, leading the festivities as he keeps audiences entertained with his signature humour and charm. Cappe is a familiar face to Canadians, most recently seen as the host of Food Network Canada's Carnival Eats, Wall of Chefs and Wall of Bakers.

GRAZE Toronto's 2023 initial lineup of esteemed chefs includes:

Afrim Pristine, Maître Fromager – Canada's premier cheese expert, owner of the Cheese Boutique, cookbook author and host of Food Network Canada's Cheese: A Love Story

Andrea Nicholson – Owner of Butchie's (Whitby, Ont.), judge on Food Network Canada's Fire Masters and Top Chef Canada alumni
Christine Cushing – Esteemed chef, cookbook author and award-winning television host. Longstanding Food Network Canada personality most recently seen as a judge on Wall of Bakers and Wall of Chefs.

Dale MacKay – Saskatoon-based chef and co-owner of Ayden Kitchen and Bar, Little Grouse on the Prairie, Sticks and Stones, Avenue Restaurant, and Dojo Ramen (Saskatoon, Sask.). Most recently seen as a judge on Food Network Canada's Wall of Chefs and Fire Masters, and guest judge on Top Chef Canada, Season 10.

Lynn Crawford – Acclaimed chef, cookbook author and owner of The Hearth (Mississauga, Ont.). Longstanding Food Network Canada personality, most recently seen as a judge on Junior Chef Showdown, Wall of Chefs, and Wall of Bakers.

Mark McEwan – Celebrated Canadian chef, cookbook author and owner of The McEwan Group which includes Bymark, Fabbrica, and McEwan Fine Foods (Toronto, Ont.), Diwan (North York, Ont.), and Fabbrica (Thorbury, Ont.). Longstanding Food Network Canada personality most recently seen as a judge on Top Chef Canada and Wall of Chefs.

Massimo Capra – Renowned chef, cookbook author and owner of Boccone (Mississauga, Ont.), Capra's Kitchen (Clarkson, Ont.), and lends his name to Massimo's Italian (Niagara Falls, Ont.). Longstanding Food Network Canada personality most recently seen as a judge on Wall of Chefs.

Nuit Regular – Eminent Toronto-based chef, cookbook author and restaurateur; executive chef and co-owner of PAI, Kiin, By Chef Nuit, and Sukhothai and executive chef of Selva. Judge on Food Network Canada's Wall of Chefs.

Roger Mooking – Trinidadian-born, Canadian-raised multi-faceted talent, celebrated chef, restaurateur (Twist by Roger Mooking – Mississauga, Ont.), television host, author, and award-winning recording artist. Longstanding Food Network Canada and Cooking Channel personality, most recently seen as a judge on Wall of Chefs and host of Man Fire Food. 

Steve Hodge  – Chocolatier and owner of Temper Chocolate & Pastry (Vancouver, Ont.), judge on Food Network Canada's Great Chocolate Showdown and Wall of Bakers, and host of Project Bakeover  

Suzanne Barr – Respected chef, author and Food Network Canada personality most recently seen as a judge on Wall of Chefs

Tre Sanderson  – Winner of Top Chef Canada, Season 10 and one of Toronto's most in-demand chefs currently creating pop-up dining events to rave reviews
Additional participating chefs, from some of the GTA's best and most buzzed-about restaurants, will be announced at a later date.

"We're excited to unveil GRAZE Toronto's initial lineup of chefs who represent the crème de la crème of Canada's food scene," said Dervla Kelly, SVP Marketing & so.da, Corus Entertainment. "GRAZE will be a one-of-a-kind, premium food event with a high-intent audience ready to engage with the festival's offerings and sponsors. GRAZE is offering sponsors with custom activations and opportunities with the renowned chefs, all supported by the power of Corus and its marketing megaphone."

Sponsorships are available across six different levels of participation. To learn more, please contact your Corus Sales Representative or email at info@grazetoronto.ca. Additional details for the festival's ticketing, activations, partnerships, and more will be shared at a later date.

GRAZE Toronto is developed by a talented team of event, festival and media experts, presented by Food Network Canada and produced by Corus in partnership with Eatertainment Events & Catering. Judy Merry, an industry veteran with over 20 years of experience planning and executing some of North America's most successful festivals and tradeshows, serves as Executive Producer of GRAZE.

Source : Newswire.ca

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Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators