When I first started branching out and meeting people in the Edmonton food community, one of the very first events I went to was Eat Alberta. I had an amazing time in all my hands on sessions and have definitely used some of the skills I learned over the past year. This year, I am going to be attending Eat Alberta again, but as a volunteer – I am very excited to be contributing to the event in a more tangible way.

P.S. Please come and say hi (I hope to continue meeting lots of new people this year too!).

Last Year’s Eat Alberta Goodies

This year Eat Alberta is taking place on Saturday, April 20 at the awesome NAIT kitchens again. This year’s theme is “Discover Your Roots” and features fourteen presenters and fifteen sessions. Seven of these sessions are new to Eat Alberta, so previous attendees definitely have the opportunity to try out some different things.

The keynote speaker will be Jeff Senger, co-owner for Sangudo Custom Meats and he will be focusing on his transition from consumer to self-sustaining producer and how participants can liberate themselves, one backyard hen at a time.

After the keynote, participants will be able to take part in 4 sessions throughout the day. A change from last year is the introduction of different “Tracks” – last year was first come first serve for selecting sessions and it did leave later registrants with almost no hands on opportunities – the “tracks” allow for more equitable distribution with at least two hands on sessions for everyone, plus a guided tasting and information session. I am going to say that while everyone will get a hands on session, I do foresee some “tracks” being more popular than others (bacon making anyone?), so I would encourage you to register early if you’re interested in specific sessions.

The day ends with a series of “Lightning Talks” – a series of two-minute presentations that will arm participants with information on where and how to continue their exploration with local food and a wine tasting.

Tickets go on sale Tuesday, March 12 (today!) at 10AM. Tickets cost $135 and includes everything I’ve mentioned above plus a delicious breakfast and lunch. Tickets are available at YEG Live.

So What Would Argenplath Pay?

At $135 for the entire conference, this does work out to about $35 per session not including the keynote, meals and wine tasting. I feel that is pretty reasonable for the opportunity to learn from some great people (urban farming is on top of my list of cool sessions) and getting your hands into making bacon (please share with me!), cheese, perogies, pies etc. The opportunity to meet like-minded people is pretty priceless – the amount of sharing during the wine tasting at the end of the day is really awesome. I hope to see y’all there!