Food Day Canada (to be held this year on Saturday, July 30th) is a chance for all Canadians to join “one massive celebration of our farmers and fishers; our chefs and researchers.” Food Day Canada is meant to be a celebration of our nation’s food.

You know the stuff:

Food Day Canada began in 2003 as a protest of sorts: The day marked the World’s Longest Barbeque, “as a massive, Canada-wide response to the sanction of Canadian beef exports by our largest trading partner and the dramatic hardship it imposed on our agricultural community.” It is now an annual August event “when we share Canada’s rich culinary heritage, our delicious northern bounty, and the best managed food system on the planet.”

Food Day Canada encourages people to celebrate Canadian food in their own way, “Paddle to a distant shore to light a campfire and barbecue some fish; sweep off the deck for a neighbourhood supper … and use only Canadian ingredients! And never, ever be afraid to haul out your soapbox to tell retailers to provide more Canadian ingredients, with hopefully less packaging!”

Every province also has organisations like The Restaurant Association of NL administering some events as part of Food Day Canada.

RANL’s Local Canada Food Day Celebration

Starting at 7 pm, at the Sheraton Hotel, seven visiting chefs from across Canada will join our own culinary talent to prepare local food tastings, served up with Canadian wines. Fergus O’Byrne and Jim Payne will play the soundtrack for the evening. It’ll set you back $69.

Those visiting chefs will be Ned Bell (Vancouver),  John Higgins (Toronto),  Ann Yarymowich (Toronto), Chris Jess (Guelph),  Ross Monroe (PEI), Judd Simpson (Ottawa) and Zane Caplansky (Toronto).

To buy tickets, click here:

Here’s a clip from last year:

Special “Chopped Canada Dinner” from 4 Local Chefs/Participants on Wednesday July 27th 

The Food Network runs a great TV show in which 4 chefs are paired against each other, and a clock, to prepare 3 courses worth of meals for a panel of judges. The catch is they find out 3-5 ingredients they MUST use, mere seconds before being given a limited amount of time to prepare the dish. Four local chefs have been on the show — two won (Mark McCrowe & Roger Andrews)

Chopped Canada’s judges Chefs John Higgins and Anne Yarymowich will be in town to host this special event with local chefs Roary MacPherson, Roger Andrews, Mark McCrowe, and Tony Velinov, who will prepare a multi-course dinner at 7pm at Oppidan, in the Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland. This dinner is $125 + taxes and grats per person.

Ticket info here.