à la carte: You Are What You Eat with Brent Preston and Nick Saul

à la carte: Free food literacy events presented in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library with support from the government of Ontario.

In Person Big Ideas Science

General Admission

Free

Thursday

Sep , 2017

8:30pm

Eastern

Dominion Chalmers Church

355 Cooper Street • Ottawa

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à la carte: You Are What You Eat with Brent Preston and Nick Saul

Brent Preston uses brilliant storytelling and brutal honesty to describe what it takes to create both a viable organic farm and a more meaningful life for himself and his family. The New Farm is the kind of book that will inspire people to make positive change.

Arianna Huffington

Join us for a conversation on our relationship with the food on our plate. From access and affordability to family farming, we examine the food chain and the barriers we can overcome in ensuring that our food is nutritious and sustainable.

Told with humour and heart in Brent Preston’s unflinchingly honest voice, The New Farm is the story of one family’s transition from die-hard urbanites to bona fide farmers and passionate advocates for a more just and sustainable food system. It’s the story of how a couple of young professionals learned not just how to grow food, but how to succeed at the business of farming. And it’s the story of how a small, sustainable, organic farm ended up providing not just a livelihood, but a happy, meaningful and fulfilling way of life.

Nick Saul is co-founder and President and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada, a national organization that builds and supports vibrant, food-focused community centres in low-income neighbourhoods. These centres are based on the idea that good food is a powerful force for greater health, equity and social change. His bestselling book, The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement, written with his wife, Andrea Curtis, was nominated for the Toronto Book Award and won several other awards.

Free savoury snacks will be provided by Operation Come Home

Glengarry blue cheese, thyme and caramelized shallot tartlets
Platter of local charcuterie and artisanal cheeses with mustard, fruits and flatbreads
Asian spiced meatballs with sticky chili glaze (warm)
Moroccan spiced sweetcorn, silken tofu, and fall vegetable fritters with hummus
Les Bergeries des Sables feta, kale and leek crostini

This free event is presented in partnership with the Ottawa Public Library’s food literacy project, à la carte. For more information on “à la carte”, please visit the OPL’s food literacy webpage.

The Authors

Brent Preston

Brent Preston worked as a human rights investigator, aid worker, election observer and journalist on four continents before finding his true calling as a farmer. In 2003 he and his wife, Gillian Flies, abandoned successful careers in Toronto, packed up their two young children, and moved to a run-down farm outside Creemore, Ontario. Since then, they have built The New Farm into a thriving business and a leading light in the good food movement, providing organic vegetables to some of the best restaurants in Canada. Preston speaks often on food and farming issues, and writes for the Huffington Post.

Nick Saul

Nick Saul is co-founder and President and CEO of Community Food Centres Canada, a national organization that builds and supports vibrant, food-focused community centres in low-income neighbourhoods. These centres are based on the idea that good food is a powerful force for greater health, equity and social change. Nick is a recipient of the prestigious Jane Jacobs Prize, as well as the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and has an honorary doctorate from Ryerson University. A long-time community organizer, Nick speaks regularly on issues of justice, food and civic engagement. Born in Tanzania and raised in Canada, Nick studied at University of Toronto and Warwick University in the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar. His bestselling book, The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement, written with his wife, Andrea Curtis, was nominated for the Toronto Book Award and won several other awards. It is published in Canada, the US and U.K. Nick lives in Toronto and is the proud father of two boys.