Vancouver Island farmers connect with chefs at provincial meetup

A B.C. event that connects Vancouver Island farmers and food producers with chefs took place Monday.

The Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef event took place at the Church and State Winery in Central Saanich and is sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in an effort to increase food security through the Buy BC program.

Chefs got to sample everything local, farm farm-fresh produce, seaweed and sea salt to flour and fish.

The event took place on Monday, Nov. 7. (CTV News)

The goal of the event is to inspire chefs to add more local food to their menu giving local farmers and producers more financial support.

Amanda Swinimer, who harvests wild seaweed and sells it from her Dakini Tidal Wild business on Vancouver Island, was at the event and said that she wished these types of meetups were around when she started her business in 2003.

She said when she first started, she was selling exclusively to health-food stores and one raw vegan restaurant.

"Now I’m selling about three-quarters of my supply direct to chefs," said Swinimer. "Because the chefs have embraced this local, wild, sustainable food that has this really, really unique flavour to it."

"The public is now opened up to eating seaweed for the culinary discovery of it rather then just the health benefits," she said.

The event took place on Monday, Nov. 7. (CTV News)

Swinimer also voiced her support for strengthening food security in the province.

"When we see supply chains and things like this affected on a global scale it really brings to light how important it is to be connected with our food, with our water, which then connects us with the land and instills in us a sense of responsibility to look after the land," she said.

Another Every Chef Needs a Farmer, Every Farmer Needs a Chef meetup will take place in February in the Okanagan.