It’s hard to imagine that in less than six weeks, several hundred lucky Vancouver Island residents will be experiencing the gastronomical experience of a lifetime at the award-winning Feast of Fields Vancouver Island.
With preparations well underway, the 14th annual Feast of Fields is promising to offer a spectacular variety of sumptious goodies from our island food producers, restaurants, wineries and breweries who are working together to prepare food and beverage offerings that reflect the best of our island food community. This year’s feast will be held at Marley Farm in Mt. Newton Valley in Saanichton.
“On September 18, the gates to Marley Farm will open and people will have the opportunity to spend the afternoon on a beautiful farm, sampling the best cuisine Vancouver Island has to offer,” explains Melanie Banas, the event coordinator. “Right now, we have over 55 confirmed participants, with more coming in every day, including a handful who are new to Feast of Fields this year.”
For the last fourteen years, Melanie Banas, working with a small team of staff (including media whiz and photographer Melody Wey) and a group of dedicated volunteers, has been working to raise awareness about the importance of food security while organizing the most outstanding food event of the season. She started as a volunteer and is now, fourteen years later, the humble tour de force behind the award-winning festival.
“My role as organizer includes all aspects of the event. Starting with choosing a location. Some years this can be an incredible challenge! The farm has to have just the right feel, willing owners and enough parking for potentially 400 cars,” she explains. Other duties vary from finding participants (ranging from farmers to chefs to winemakers) for the event, promoting the event, and ensuring the Feast of Fields sells out." All proceeds from the festival go to the non-profit (and amazing) Vancouver-based organization FarmFolk/CityFolk. Since 1983, FarmFolk/CityFolk has been working to promote urban food security and support numerous education projects on Vancouver Island and the lower mainland.
After growing up in Saanich and learning the importance of local food from a family committed to growing their own vegetables as well as raising and slaughtering their meat, Banas admits to a brief period of junk food-fueled rebellion. “I had to eat at McDonald's, I suppose I felt 'deprived', but eventually I came back to realizing the importance of eating locally,” she explains.
Today it would be difficult to find a more hard-working and committed local food hero who continues to work quietly behind the scenes, avoiding any fanfare or accolades for the incredibly successful and wildly popular Vancouver Island Feast of Fields' events that she organizes year after year. However, when describing what visitors to the festival can expect to experience, her enthusiasm is infectious.
“Guests can expect to spend a warm sunny mid-September afternoon strolling the rolling hills of Marley Farm, tasting and sipping locally produced food and drink,” she enthuses. “Guests should also plan to shake hands with several people who have grown, dug, picked, sautéed, boiled, cured, sliced, pressed, anticipated and cherished the food and drink that they will be savoring that afternoon.”
Fostering the connection between farmers, food producers and the public is a big part of the work that Banas focuses on. The reality of living on an island means that, at any given time, we only have enough fresh food to sustain us for several days. But the more people can connect with farmers/food producers and actively engage in growing their own food, the more sustainable and stable our food system will become.
“I think as a whole we are gradually turning around a huge freighter and beginning to realize how satisfying it is to produce our own food, instead of buying tasteless, travel-lagged vegetables from the grocery store…even if it only starts with a few carrots in the back yard,” Banas adds.
The Vancouver Island Feast of Fields is all about finding ways to reconnect with, and celebrate food, while moving away from a highly automated centralized system of food production.
“Once people have been able to shake hands or exchange conversation with any of these producers, they will have a much greater understanding of the important role they play in our community,” she explains. “Guests will realize that those who produce our healthy food and drink need to be revered.”
However, she laughingly adds that, “Guests should expect to feel quite full at the end of the afternoon and should plan to do as little as possible following the event.”
This year’s feast will be held at Marley Farm, situated on 42 acres at the East end of the Mt. Newton Valley in Saanichton. Marley Farm is planted with several acres of vines and is home to various animals including sheep, horses, geese, turkeys and pigeons.
“The event is held at a different farm every year to give exposure to different farms and show what it's like to be on a real working farm. It's important for people to come to a farm and smell, feel and hear what really goes on,” she explains. “ I think it's also part of the attraction of the event. People are constantly asking me where it will be the following year."
However, the menu is also always a big source of curiosity and speculation with foodies salivating and fantasizing about the feast weeks in advance. It is not an overstatement to say that the festival is one of the most extravagant oral spectacles few people will ever have the good fortune to enjoy.
An estimated 60-70 farmers, chefs and food producers are expected to participate with new businesses signing up daily – including a handful of exciting first-timer participants. New additions to the festival include Fruition Paletas who will help festival attendees beat the heat with their fresh fruit popsicles and ice cream bars. Victoria’s newest brewpub, Moon Under Water, will be serving samples of their seasonal ales. As well, Intrigue Wines, a small winery from the Okanagan Valley started by Gray Monk’s co‐winemaker Roger Wong in 2008, and Kelowna’s The View Winery, which first began as an apple orchard five generations ago, will also be at the event.
There are two Victoria eateries participating in Field of Fields for the first time: Choux Choux Charcuterie on Fort Street and Kulu Restaurant located in Gladstone Square in Fernwood.
As usual, the Vancouver Island Feast of Fields never fully reveals the menu until the day of the event, making it a highly anticipated component of the excitement that builds around the annual food extravaganza.
“In addition to many wonderful returning participants, you'll just have to wait to find out on those new additions,” laughs Banas. The website does include an updated list of participants as they sign up though, so be sure to visit often to see who will be attending.
If you are interested in getting involved, there is still time to apply to participate in the Vancouver Island Feast of Fields.
“I am always looking for chefs/restaurants and food producers. The establishment must emphasize and use local and seasonal products,” she explains. “Non profits are welcome, however I do discourage handing out of any paper products.”
The Vancouver Island Feast of Fields takes place on Sunday, September 18th, 2011 from 1‐5 p.m. on Marley Farm in Saanichton, located at 1831 Mount Newton X Road. Tickets are $85 for adults, $15 for children ages 7 to 12, and free for children under 6. Tickets can be purchased online or in person at Muffet and Louisa.
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Visit: Vancouver Island Feast of Fields
GreenMuze.com is a proud sponsor of the Vancouver Island Feast of Fields. We still have two sets of tickets to giveaway for the festival.
written by Dani , September 28, 2011
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written by Susan , August 16, 2011