Share the Health Monforte Hootenanny this Sunday
Posted: September 27, 2013
Categories: News from Sustain Members
by Ross Curtner
Knowledge Exchange Coordinator, Community Food Centres Canada
This Sunday, Sept. 29, Monforte Dairy will host Hootenanny at the Dairy, the fifth and final event in the 2013 Share the Health series. The Hootenanny will bring together farmers, chefs and artists to celebrate local food and raise funds to buy healthy food for use in meals and kitchens at Stratford’s The Local Community Food Centre.
The lineup in Stratford is impressive, including flavours ranging from Loco Fields’ fresh-from-the-farm organic veg, Ethiopian delicacies, Perth County pork tacos, succulent roasted goat, and much more. In true Hootenanny fashion, there’ll be amazing entertainment, and no shortage of foot stomping too. Food and beverages at the Hoot (as it’s known in some circles) will be provided by Chateau des Charmes, Creemore Springs, Kiju Juice, The Local Community Food Centre Chefs, Neal Brothers Foods, Stratford Multicultural Association, The Wicked Pickle, andYorkshire Valley Farms. I think that Carl Heinrich, Top Chef Canada champ and Share the Health supporter, said it best: you can’t have a good meal without great ingredients and you can’t have great ingredients without great people growing them.
The Share the Health initiative was created by Community Food Centres Canada to try to bridge the market divide between local farms growing high-quality, sustainably produced food and lower-income communities where CFCs are located. The program seeks to achieve multiple benefits by supporting CFCs to purchase good food from farms in the area, addressing issues of hunger and health at CFCs like The Local, while strengthening local food economies and benefiting the environment by purchasing from farms employing sustainable growing practices.
So often, we see environmental, economic and equity issues as separate. The Hootenanny at Monforte and the Share the Health initiative speak to the opposite, underlining that these issues are intertwined and require solutions that connect the dots and build bridges. We often think addressing these complex issues will require a compromise, but my experience at the series’ first event, Concert at The New Farm, was the opposite. It was because the event brought everyone together — champions, farmers, chefs and performers — and connected the dots between what we eat, where it comes from, and the people who believe that everyone should have access to that food, that the event was so unforgettable. I’m sure the Hoot will be exactly that too!
Hootenanny at Monforte Dairy for The Local Community Food Centre
Monforte Dairy, 49 Griffith Road, Stratford ON
Sunday, Sept. 29, 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Entry: $10/person. Free for Monforte Dairy members and children under 10. Buy tickets online at
www.thelocalcfc.org, in person at The Local (612 Erie St, Stratford) or at the Dairy on the day of the event. Food
and beverage tickets: $5/each, available for purchase at the event.
RSVP on Monforte Dairy’s Facebook page
Twitter: @MonforteDairy | @TheLocalCFC | @aplaceforfood | #sharethehealth