Jackie Kai Ellis, Baker, Author, Creative Designer

Jackie Kai Ellis comes from a extensive and successful background as a designer, specializing in branding, at her own design firm. After devoting ten years to this field, she uprooted her life, entirely, on a mission to experience as many of her life goals as possible, and even accomplishing her dream of studying pastry in the heart of France. Returning from her adventures abroad, Ellis opened her own bakery, Beaucoup Bakery, in Vancouver, where she was able to continue her passion of baking and bringing a little piece of Paris back home. This career chameleon is just getting started, however she eagerly anticipates her next transformation.

What is your upcoming book about?

It’s basically a food memoir, a collection of short stories, inspired by MFK Fisher. They’re autobiographical stories, all woven together, with food. They’re mostly about what makes food so important to me, childhood things, as well as, my experiences going from design to travelling to Paris and studying pastry and then coming back and opening Beaucoup. It’ll be pretty intimate.

What else are you working on right now?

One of my other projects is a tour company that I’ve started called, The Paris Tours (www.theparistours.com). I get to inspire people to live their fullest and to take a moment out of their lives to just enjoy pastry. I’ve started travelling quite a bit and doing more travel writing, as well. In the beginning, people were asking me to write about myself and my story and then, eventually, editors would read that and realize that I really had something. That really snow-balled and now I write for a bunch of different publications, across Canada and a little bit in the States as well, mostly, about food, travel and a bit of lifestyle in general, such as fashion and adventure.

Throughout your work, you’ve gained much of your success from your overall mastery of multimedia resources. What importance does having a versatile understanding and ability to use media have, in our current industry?

It’s funny, because I never set out to make it a goal to be a “multimedia” personality, brand, or anything, but I think it’s just very intrinsic to who I am. I’ve been a brand person since the day I was born, but I’m also a very naturally creative and curious person and I never like doing the same thing twice. When someone asks me what I want to do next, I’m just going to try something else, whatever fancies me; I just think to myself, I might as well try. I think that’s how I ended up pursuing all of these different things that I’m very passionate about. What’s interesting is, what creates the thread that binds them all together. That’s where the brand comes in and, for me, it’s really just me, who I am, and what I love. There isn't a disconnect or any in-congruency between all of these things, because it’s all stuff that I’m truly passionate about. I think this approach can help members of the food industry because it’s what helps us to connect. If we look at our industry, internally, between chefs, as well as how we connect with consumers, the connection comes from people being able to see someone like me, who used to be a consumer, become apart of that interior of the food industry. I can create this bridge between the two spectrums, which helps the industry become more relatable and of interest to consumers. People become more motivated to involve themselves, and I think it’s been sort of a nice way to open up the industry, so that people don’t feel like there are so many barriers.

It’s quite remarkable how willing you are to dive head-first into practically anything, across such a wide spectrum of fields. This versatility is certainly no easy skill, and is not one that goes unrecognized in your work.

You were recently named, Emerging Culinary Artist of the Year, how does receiving a title like this feel?

I was so honoured to be given that nomination and to know that the culinary artist of the year, Eric Patmen, (owner of Edible Canada in Vancouver), who made the nomination, would even think of me that way. I’ve been cooking a lot for the past decade, but it’s still really new to me, so to be identified as a culinary artist is still so strange to me. In the beginning, I’d always tell my staff to not call me chef, because I’m not a chef and I know what it takes to become a chef.  In France, for example -- I would be considered an apprentice. Now, I’ve just come to accept whatever titles people give me because, otherwise, it gets super complicated and confusing for people and for myself, as well. I guess, I get a bit embarrassed or even shy about it.

What do you see yourself doing next?

I think I see another turn in my career. This book is going to be such a baring of my story that in becoming so vulnerable to the world, it’s going to be really difficult, but will also bring things to a point where it actually makes more sense for me to give other people the inspiration to do the same. I want to inspire people to honour the state that they’re in and to be less judgemental of themselves, and of others. My dream is to have this book really affect people and I communicate all of these ideas through food, because it’s the universal language.  

Even in your own career, food has been, in some ways, the common thread throughout it all.

Food is really the one thing that is a common experience with everyone -- we all have to eat. Everyone celebrates with food, mourns with food, has some issues with food; we all deal with it and it brings out a lot of different stories in life. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a lot more speaking in the future about things like this, but what I’m really hoping for is to take it to the next level in trying to connect people with their own stories. 

Jane Rabinowicz, Program Director, Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security

Growing up in Toronto, Canada, Jane Rabinowicz began her involvement in food security at an early age, working in community gardens and soup kitchens in her local community. For the past 20 years, she’s pursued her passion for food justice on a local and international scale. Now, living in Montreal, she works with the Bauta Initiative and USC Canada, both nationally and internationally, as the Program Director.

How did you begin your professional career?

When I moved to Montreal and went to McGill, I started volunteering with Santropol Roulant, as a way to get to know the city. They deliver meals by bike, all across the city; you see neighbourhoods that you never would’ve otherwise seen, going down hallways and you never know who’s going to open the door. For a lot of people, you may be the only person that they’re going to see in that day, so that interaction is really important. After I graduated from University, I decided that I wanted to work with this organization, Santropol Roulant. I went from being a volunteer, to an intern, to volunteer co-ordinator and then became an executive director, for the last five years that I was there. I feel like that was really my first love; it’s where I grew up, professionally.

As the Program Director, can you tell us a bit about the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security at USC Canada and it’s significance in the food world?

USC Canada is an international cooperation organization, based in Canada, with fundraising, communications and administration that work with partners in eleven countries around the world on biodiversity, conservation, agro-ecology, and farmers rights. I was hired by USC Canada, four years-ago, to develop a program to do all of this work with Canadian farmers.  I have developed the program, the Bauta Initiative, and secured funding from the W.Garfield Weston Foundation to launch the seed security initiative three years-ago. A lot of people don’t think about seeds, or the only thing they think about seed is Monsanto and GMO’s. The fact is that, nine out of ten bites of food that we take per-day start with seed -- it’s the foundation of our food system. The vast majority of vegetables grown here in Canada, are grown from imported seed; there’s basically no vegetable seed that’s produced in Canada. The grains that we grow are bred for conventional farming with synthetic influence; they’re not biodiverse and they’re not bred for ecological agriculture. We’re in a context of narrowing biodiversity and we don’t believe that the current seed system is supportive of the type of food system, a resilient one, that we want to be a part of. The goal of the Bauta Initiative is to help build a better food system for Canada.

What is seed security?

Seed security is a resilient seed system. It has biodiversity; varieties of crops that are adapted to the local environment; varieties that are bred by farmers; farmers that have the right to grow, save, exchange and sell their varieties; and it’s ever evolving. You’ve got the production system, the environment, and the seed, all evolving at the same time in a continuous process and you’ve got varieties that are productive in organic farming system. Fundamentally, seed security is having enough seeds, of enough varieties, to know that we have the genetic materials that we need to draw on, as conditions of change in the field over time. This is especially important when we think about climate change. We think of biodiversity as a climate adaptation strategy.

Is this adaptation of plant species happening in ways that may be perceived as unnatural -- for example, what people might imagine when they think about “GMO’s”?

The idea of adapting seeds to changing climates is happening both naturally and unnaturally. I think that what reaches the public is this kind of romantic vision of heritage varieties and heirloom vegetables, but we’re also excited about developing new diversity. We work in partnerships with researchers and farmers to make crosses, using traditional breeding techniques, not genetic modification, to take, for example, great attributes from an old variety and the characteristics of a new variety, cross them, grow them in the farmers fields, and then the farmers select the traits that they like the most. One of our goals is to bridge the scientific expertise of researchers with the knowledge and reality of a farmer's system, to bring new diversity into the food system,  and to adapt to climate change. One of the reasons that people always talk about organic farms being not as productive as conventional farms -- which, by the way, isn't true -- is that organic farmers, for the most part, are planting seeds that are breed in conjunction with chemical inputs, so they’re not necessarily starting out with the materials that are most appropriate to their system. We’re breeding for organics, diversity, performance, flavour, nutrition -- all of these things.

What are the fundamental differences between organic plant breeding and GMO?

There are so many different types of plant breeding. There’s always that one extreme, where you’re in a lab and you’re distributing the seeds to farmers, as part of a package which also includes all of these chemicals. We have a participatory plant breeding program, in partnership with the University of Manitoba, Agriculture Canada, and ninety farmers across the country. The idea is to breed under the conditions that the crop will eventually be grown in, so we’re making the crosses, and they’re grown on organic farms where they’ll be selected for performance on organic farms. So, from the get go, there’s this idea of selecting in the environment in which the crop will eventually be grown.

And this whole process sort of demands the existence of regionally-based breeding.

Exactly, the whole notion of local adaptation is extremely important, especially, when we consider marginal growing environments such as, Cape Breton or Northern Manitoba, for example. Most farmers and producers want to eat the best, but if you’re a seed grower, you know to save the best and eat the rest. For years and years, if you keep selecting in your field the produce that ripens the latest, for example, over time, you’re going to change the genetics of those seeds as they co-evolve with that place and you will eventually end up with a whole field of produce that will ripen later because of the selection. We have partners in Honduras who have been doing this with beans. They had periods of the year where the food supply, in storage, would run out a few weeks before the new harvest was ready -- they called these the hunger periods -- but, through selection, they’ve shortened the hunger period by about three weeks, now.  Local adaptation is extremely powerful and important to maintaining food security.

In which ways can and should people show their support for seed security?

Starting with the awareness that most of the food we eat starts with a seed -- just making that connection is important. In order to save diversity, we have to eat diversity. The more that people are aware of the importance of seed, take an interest, and talk about it, the more awareness can build and support can grow for those of us who are really engaged in this work all-day, everyday. Eventually, we need to start supporting efforts to shift policy in a direction of being more supportive of biodiversity conservation, farmers’ rights and ecological agriculture, and I think that we may start to see more campaigns along those lines. Making a donation to organizations, such as USC Canada or others who are involved in supporting seed security, also makes a big difference.

Since starting your work in seed security, you’ve managed to remain heavily involved in your community-based work, in Montreal. For what reasons have you retained your commitment to your local work and what role does it play in your life?

I think you do what you’re passionate about, and all of the things that I do are based on relationships. For example, the Silver Dollar Foundation was something that I co-founded with a friend who I met while I was running Santropol Roulant. We launched this foundation to support organizations in investing in their space, as a means to further their mission and their work with their members. It’s like my baby; I love it and it’s all just emerged out of personal relationships. I guess I’m also just not good at giving stuff up, though! You can’t just keep on accumulating, of course, because then you’ll drive yourself crazy, but I do think you need to be anchored.

And, at the end of the day, do you feel like there’s a common thread between your work in both social and food justice?

Yeah, like I was saying earlier, what I do is a vocation, but at the same time, it’s so random that I choose to work in food, it could've been anything, really. I’ve worked on women’s rights, and Centraide is not focused on food either; that’s why I don’t think I’d describe myself as a food activist or something. It’s just that, part of life is the choices that you make proactively and part of it is what happens to you. I look at other organizations doing incredible things and I think that when you reduce any of this work down to it’s essence, it’s about love. You can relate this to anything.

What are you looking forward to sharing at this year’s Terroir Symposium?

I want to get people thinking about seed in a different way. I don’t think that people have had much exposure to these kinds of ideas, but I think that it makes sense to bring them now, because there is already such a growing amount of support for local food and for ecological agriculture. There’s a certain readiness and it’s time for seed. We can work with the breeders and the producers, but it won’t go anywhere if no-one eats what being bred, what’s being grown. That’s why we need to be opening the dialogue with chefs and consumers. We’re breeding oats, potatoes, maize and wheat and, because it can take between 7-10 years to develop a new variety, we’re only going to have enough material out of our breeding program to do our first real taste tests, this year. You can talk about this stuff but, ultimately, we need to taste it to develop a connection. It’s only now that we’re ready to share these new varieties, and I’m excited to start these conversations. 

Anissa Helou, Chef, Food Writer, Journalist, Broadcaster & Consultant

Anissa focuses on the cuisines and culinary heritage of the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa. Born and raised between Beirut, Lebanon, and Mashta el-Helou, Syria, she knows the Mediterranean as only a well-traveled native can.

How did you get started on this career path?

It was kind of a coincidence. I used to be in the art world and wanted to write a book about collecting, as I had accumulated a huge collection with relatively little money. I was concentrating in fields that were considered unfashionable and I wanted to write about other collectors that were doing, or that had done, something similar. My newly acquired agent invited me to meet a friend of hers, who was Lebanese, and they started talking about cookbooks. As I listened, I realized there wasn't a Lebanese cookbook that was user-friendly for a Western audience or for people who don’t know anything about Lebanese food. It was the Civil War and I was thinking about all the young people who didn't have the opportunities that I had, to see what was going on in other countries. For those people, a cookbook that represented a foreign culture would be very useful. So, in spite of not knowing anything about cookbooks, I threw the idea out there and my agent mentioned she had a publisher who was looking for somebody to write a Lebanese cookbook. I told her immediately that she had found her person.

It was a kind of rash decision, but she knew everybody in the food world and quickly introduced me. Along with a few mentors I had a boyfriend who was absolutely obsessed with cooking and cookbooks, he had a huge collection, which was very helpful. I originally predicted that it would take me three months to write, but I got seriously into it and it ended up taking about three years.

What is the value in sharing Lebanese food culture with a Western audience?

It’s always interesting to introduce an audience to a culinary tradition that it’s unfamiliar with. It’s rewarding because then, if they love it, you’re sharing a love for the same food. It’s also rewarding to see how proud Lebanese people are to have their cuisine better and more widely-known by the rest of the world. These recipes will become adapted over time, and that’s how new food develops.

Have the flavours and dishes of Lebanese cuisine been well-received by audiences?

It certainly took time. When I first released my Lebanese cookbook, just over twenty years-ago, we tried to convince a very elegant food store to stock Freekeh* and they were completely uninterested. Now it’s the latest “in” ingredient. Basically, what happens with cookbooks is that they expose readers to a cuisine, then it’s up to a chef to adopt the ingredients and adapt the recipes to make them trendy. Everybody then latches on and wants to use these new ingredients and cook the same recipes, although they’re quite different.

*Freekeh is a cereal grain that’s been, for centuries, a staple of Middle Eastern diets.

Have you found that your background in art and design has served as an advantage to what you do now?

I’m always very conscious of the aesthetic of the food, whether it’s in the preparation, the presentation or the cooking. There’s a certain aesthetic to eating, like art; everything is beautiful and everything is sophisticated. My approach to food is more elegant than that of a typical Lebanese grandmother; although, I have to say that both my mother and grandmother are very sophisticated in the kitchen as well! Lebanese cuisine is not quite as aesthetically pleasing as Japanese cuisine, it lacks that emphasis on appearance, but it still holds value to presentation.

Throughout your career you’ve received many accolades and awards for your work in a variety of fields, one of the most impressive of these being your distinction, in 2013, as being one of the 100 most powerful Arab women in the world - what does this title mean to you?

It was flattering, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really mean much. One day you’re on a list like that and the next you’re not. I’m happy to be recognized for my work, it speaks for what I’m doing much better. The meaningful part of what I do is my research and recording of food traditions and cultural practices that are, in some cases, at risk of disappearing. Many of them need to be recorded for the next generation who may otherwise not have the opportunity to get to know them as I have. When I started writing about food, there was little about food history, it wasn't considered a serious field of research. Today, this has changed, which is great because food is such a major part of culture.

Why has food history gained such an increased amount of interest today?

People realized how important it is. It’s such an important part of all of our lives, as a part of social-exchange and our general history. Everybody eats, and the exchange of food between people is so much more than just that. It represents tradition, hospitality, culture, how we relate to one another and how we receive each other. It’s crucial to understand the culture of a certain people. It’s also a wonderful way to become introduced to a culture.

While I was working in art and travelling, it was a glamourous world but I didn't get to know people as well, and certainly not so easily as I get to know them now. When I used to go to Syria, I could stop any lady in the street and talk to her about certain dishes and she would be totally happy to talk to me. That experience is almost across the board in all countries around the world. You start talking about food and everybody wants to join in.

What projects are you currently working on?  

I’m working on a new book that should be finished by the end of the year. I’m also building my house in Sicily, where I’m hoping to have my teaching kitchen.  I want people to come here to learn my cuisine; from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Sicilian with Arab influences.

What are you looking forward to sharing at this year’s Terroir 10?

I’d like to share my research in food history, talking about the Middle East in terms of what was - as in cases such as Syria - and what still is, and how culinary traditions in this region have and continue to develop. I want to inspire people to learn more about my part of the world. 

Francois Chartier, Flavour Match Maker

I’ve been a sommelier for 30 years, I’ve always tried to understand cooking and cuisine because you cannot be a sommelier if you don’t know how to cook. When I took my sommelier course in 1999, we didn't learn about cooking or cuisine, it was just about matching wine and food. I then travelled the world to discover food - from street food to high-end - to meet and work with chefs, to learn cuisine and to improve my work as a sommelier. Near the end of the 90’s, I discovered that the aromatic compounds of food and wine were more important than the acidity, bitterness, sweetness and taste - everything that the world of gastronomy had been founded upon and communicated through, between chefs, winemakers and sommeliers. I started turning to science to try to understand, for example, why black olive went so well with Syrah wine; mint with Sauvignon Blanc; and ginger with Gewurztraminer. When you put certain ingredients together, that share the same aromatic components, you create an aromatic synergia and like harmonies in music, the sounds are amplified. Since then I published Taste Buds and Molecules in 2009 and I’ve continued to work with scientists in Montreal, Barcelona and Bordeaux.

So, who am I? I’m a sommelier, a cook, a writer, a researcher and a scientist but most of all I am a Creator d’Harmonie - I’m a matchmaker.

What is aromatic science and what purpose can it serve to members of the culinary community?

Aroma is everything. When you have a cold in the morning, you wake up and can’t taste anything. Without smell, we can’t appreciate food and we can’t determine the quality because it’s missing its most important component: the aroma.

When I worked with Ferran Adria, creating over 60 dishes together, we never once spoke about matching wine and food. After explaining my theory, he understood that I could help him discover a new feel for creativity. I don’t combine flavours because I want to be creative, but because they belong together. We are able to magnify foods that share the same aromatic compounds, through combination. I work on the scientific side of food and wine, asking the question - what are the dominant molecules in ingredients? The research I do, trying to discover the dominant aromatic molecules in every ingredient, is very complicated, but the results of this research show that it’s actually very easy for everyone to apply.

I just finished my 26th book L’Essentiel de Chartier; essentially volume two of Taste Buds and Molecules. There’ve been five books in between but they were all inspired by Taste Bubs and Molecules. This one is the real masterpiece; it’s my combined research of the last six years with each page dedicated to one ingredient, listing other ingredients that share the same aromatic compounds as well as ideas for recipes showing how these ingredients can be paired together. I always have millions of ideas for potential recipes in my head.

L’Essentiel de Chartier was just recently awarded in the category of “Best Cookbook in the World - Innovation Category” for Canada at this year’s Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in Paris. How do you feel about your new work being presented with such a recognition of excellence?

I was both happy and surprised because on receiving the award I realized they understood that, beyond sommellerie and my personal professional experience, how fabulous this theory is for creating excellent food. Sometimes, I feel I have the title ‘sommelier’ written across my forehead when I think I’m more than that - not better, just much more. My work is so diverse, and I’m somewhere else now than where I once was.

What in particular do you think is so innovating about this book?

Innovating is a big word. In my case, innovating is to take advantage of science, and to understand my own work. At the end of the 90’s I felt very stuck, which led me to take a break in the early 2000’s, to take a step back and put myself in a danger zone, to be more free and to have time to do some reflection on where I had come from and who I was. I was very challenged by molecular gastronomy - and when I say this I’m not talking about restaurants but instead about the scientists who went into food to understand and discover the answers to why certain cooking practices exist. For example, why do we wait five minutes after taking a roast out of the oven before cutting into it? The answer seems so simple to us, but there’s always a scientific reason. Chefs then take advantage of those discoveries of science and utilize them to develop new ways of cooking and serving food. As a sommelier this was challenging, the changing techniques of preparing the same ingredients was actually altering and expanding their flavour and aroma characteristics. I had to learn to completely change my way of thinking around matching wine and food. This was the beginning, my goal at that time was a bit heavy - to redefine the matching of wine and food for the 21st century. That was the original long title of my work, but I realized who I was and what was most important to me: aromatic components. I needed to understand them, that was innovation in my work and my way of thinking. I’ve been innovative because I need it, not because I’m better than anyone else; I’m just a curious man.

You’re very clear in your distinguishment between molecular harmony and sommellerie, and that of molecular gastronomy. What are their fundamental differences, and why are they important for us to understand?

Molecular gastronomy doesn't exist and at the same time, it’s existed since the cavemen decided to cook red meat in the fire. That was molecular gastronomy because through fire, man changed the molecular compounds and state of the meat. Today’s molecular gastronomy is more about the techniques of cooking. It’s new techniques, adapted from the old to create new food out of the same ingredients. It’s not the show, however. There’s been great confusion recently about the “show” of food - with nitrogen and bubbles it resembles a performance on your plate - but it has to be much more than that too. If there’s nothing behind the show, it will be no good. It’s easier to make a show, to distract from the food, but if you taste, you see through it.

What I call molecular harmony and sommellerie - the word molecular is revering specifically to aromatic compounds. They are linked, but the difference between the two terms is that one is addressing a technique, and the other the molecular compounds of ingredients. If I think of someone like Albert Adria, chefs have changed my brain totally. Since reading the books, I have completely changed the way I approach my work. They have influenced me along with molecular gastronomy, so I owe them a lot. It’s very important and I continue to be inspired but I am also doing something that is really my own.

Based on your theory, that each ingredient belongs together with a finite number of others, it’s really up to chefs and the manipulation of technical approaches through molecular gastronomy to create new and infinite possibilities for creating combinations of these ingredients.

Creativity and inspiration is everywhere. When I bring my information and research to a chef, they use their creativity to constantly develop new ideas. For example, working with Ferran Adria on the matching combination of parmesan cheese and coffee, we looked at what had been done before and what we could then do differently. We played with the state of the ingredients; freezing, defrosting, frying, everything. Once we know that two ingredients share the same aromatic components, that they create synergy, we use this sensibility like a musician to create.

To sit and be in the kitchen, working with the chefs, is the best time of my life. That’s where my science takes form. That’s what I’d really like to communicate at Terroir. 

Jamie Kennedy: A Terroir Veteran Returns

I remember when Arlene first talked to me about organizing Terroir. She was very excited to start this conference, dealing with issues and discussions around food, food procurement, food politics, accessibility and enjoyment - all with a focus on supporting local resources. The idea  intrigued me, so when she invited me to deliver the key-note at the first Terroir conference, I accepted.

This year, chef and local food advocate, Jamie Kennedy, returns to Terroir. It’s been 10 years since he delivered the first key-note at the opening symposium back in 2007, giving him a unique perspective from other speakers and an understanding of the events evolution. Since the humble beginnings he’s remained an advocate and honorary member of the Terroir Symposium family.

Since the early days Arlene was really onto something, gathering people from the industry in a room to discuss and debate food; there was a lot of excitement surrounding it. Many ideas were brought forward, leaving people walking away feeling charged-up with new thoughts and purpose surrounding gastronomy. Since then, as Terroir has continued to evolve, the industry has gathered equal momentum meaning the discussion keeps getting broader and more interesting. More and more people have joined the conversation and it’s become self-propelling.

Since the first Terroir conference, our integral goals have remained, in many ways, unchanged, but the conversation has been ever transforming.

At Terroir 1, conversation surrounded the importance of establishing a food identity for Canada and the region of southern Ontario; making connections with local producers and encouraging education, regarding the importance of local food procurement. The results led to furthering our food culture locally in southern Ontario. Now, there’s this feeling of a groundswell of interest in food in general that’s being recognized globally. We’ve gone beyond just thinking about the gastronomical aspects of these issues and become more conscious of establishing viable local economies in food, as well as on issues surrounding food sovereignty and sustainability.

What I want to bring to Terroir this year, is to encapsulate the progress that’s been made in the last 10 years since I first spoke. Every year since, I’ve come as a delegate to observe the conversation, but it will be a nice comparison to show what’s important in food now, versus then.

You’re recognised as a pioneer of the “farm-to-table” sustainable and local food movement in Toronto and Canada, how have you seen the state of the movement change since it’s early beginnings - is it flourishing or is it still yet to be better implemented and embraced throughout our food industry?

It still needs time - we had a way of thinking in the 20th century which was a strong lobby comprised of the industrial food complex and the economies around global food distribution; which unfortunately is still the norm. In Ontario, if we were to grow and support everything possible in our climate we’d still want to have our coffee, tea and citrus - all things that we hold dear. I don’t challenge the acceptance of items such as these coming into our country from across the world, even just from a cultural perspective. Using coffee as an example, if the commerce surrounding it supports local communities, wherever it’s being grown, and not being exploitive due to large corporate motives, then I’m okay with it. The same goes for wines being imported from other parts of the world, as long as they’re organic, bio-dynamic wines coming from small vineyards that support the surrounding community, that’s okay too. I favor supporting my local economy, of course, but I don’t deny that there’s some exceptions that can reasonably be made. You are choosing who you want to support through every dollar that you spend, whether it’s a dollar that goes into your local economy or one that goes into a global economy, the choice is ours. We are encouraging people to vote with their dollars, to vote to support their local economy and thereby, community, as much as possible.

Tell me a bit about your current partnership with Durham College and how this initiative is working towards your goals of supporting education and initiating change within the food industry.

My ideas surrounding food that I wish to share with a greater audience have brought me to where I am today; in a position to help others understand the importance of supporting and  sustaining local food economies, now and into the future. Again, these ideas are always tied to promoting food sovereignty and food accessibility globally, but beginning with a local focus here in Southern Ontario. Talking to students at Durham is the perfect opportunity to start planting the seeds to the next generation of food service professionals. The curriculum is comprised of subjects ranging from planting seeds, growing vegetables - right in front of their classrooms - allowing the opportunity for culinary, management and horticultural students to have this cross-fertilization happening. When cook students get to see how vegetables are grown, it imbues in them a new respect for the work involved in growing food. From my own experience, when you have that understanding it informs how you approach cooking; it helps you to produce better food. When you have that connection to where it came from and you understand how it was grown, participating in the cultivation and harvest of these crops yourself, it can be very inspiring.

You recently published your cookbook, J.K. The Jamie Kennedy Cookbook; what was the goal of this project, and how has it met your expectations?

This was the third book of my career, and it was more collaborative in nature than the others before it. This was a big point about it because as we talk about food related issues, we can't live in silos; there’s a collaborative spirit that has to exist, in order to move the agenda forward. It’s why change is happening more quickly, and why conferences like Terroir play such an important role because they present a broad cross section of what’s happening in food, in our community and in society; all in one place. The object of the book was retrospective in a way; it talks about food in the restaurant context and the creative process of making food for restaurants, whilst also addressing topics such as education, apprenticeships and my position on a political level. Instead of being limited to recipes, the book includes stories, told to address larger and more important issues around food than simply how to cook.

What current projects are you involved with?

I’m really excited about the relationship I have with Durham College. Also, since I’m no longer operating the restaurant I’ll have the opportunity to spend more time on the farm this summer. I believe that the farm will help to inform what my next steps are with my work and I’m looking forward to engaging in the community of Prince Edward County. Throughout the summer I plan to orchestrate a dinner series every Saturday night, giving the people of PEC an opportunity to come to my farm, eat local food, drink local wine and enjoy themselves.

Nicholas Röhl, Restaurateur, MOSHIMO, Brighton, UK, Creator Fish Love

I co-own a sushi Japanese restaurant in Brighton UK with my business partner Karl Jones. We were the first people to bring sushi to the UK in 1994 - the first British-owned Japanese restaurant in the UK. To that extent, we were kind of the pioneers of sushi in this country. In the late 90’s we became aware of the issue with Blue fin tuna. It happened very quickly, that one day we had bountiful supplies of the fish - it filled the conveyor belt.  Then within weeks, it was very difficult to get a hold of. We were the first restaurant in the UK to take Blue fin tuna off of our menu. One thing led to another and as things became more and more serious, we were asked to help with launching a documentary film called The End of the Line. It was the first documentary to alert people to the catastrophe that was happening in our seas. There was still a continuing struggle to get people to take note of the crisis, however, so we came up with this idea of an image of a naked woman, holding a fish against her, almost as if it were a child. I asked my friend Greta Scacchi who was very keen on helping with the campaign and jumped at the idea of doing this image. It just became a global phenomenon.

Afterwords, everyone assumed that was it, but we thought, why shouldn't it be it? It worked well once, why couldn’t it work with another person, or with a whole set of people? The idea of doing a yearly annual launch of a series of photographs came about and that takes us to now.  We are producing our 6th series of Fishlove. We’ve taken a number of series and had huge success worldwide in getting these photographs on the front covers of the newspapers and on the internet, thereby, raising awareness of the issues of the marine environment.

At what point did you realize how much momentum the project had gained?

We were all taken by surprise by the success of Greta’s image, to be honest. I’ve never seen anything like it. What was a surprise was that we were able to maintain the momentum that we gained so early on. Each time we’ve released a new series, it’s become bigger and bigger. The Jillian Anderson image was pretty big. Lizzie Jagger was phenomenal and then the Helena Bonham Carter one from last year which probably topped them all so far.

Regarding the project’s goal, to raise awareness towards unsustainable fishing practices and prevent further destruction of the earth's marine ecosystem, how successful do you think you’ve been at furthering this mission? How much farther would you like to see the project go?

That’s an interesting questions because all we’re doing really is producing photographs that end up on the front page of publications and some people have said that we’ve done nothing more than that. I don’t think that’s the case at all.

For instance, the Helena Bonham Carter image was directly credited with creating the largest marine protected area in the world. Quite contrary to what the critics say, the campaign has led to huge success on that front.

I think that what’s really important is to realize that in the modern era, how much our politicians do look at the media to influence them and to try to understand what the people care about. The very fact is - that you have the media covering a story, or a photograph and talking about deep-sea fishing.

Fish Love was invited into the Berlaymont building in Brussels and into the European Commission as an acknowledgement of the effect that we’ve had on the debate within the commission and in the political establishment of Europe as a whole. Our photographs have caused a lot of debate amongst politicians – may of whom probably wouldn't have bothered talking about fish until the photographs came out and the exhibition was released. It’s important to remember that in 2009 no one was talking about these issues. When I asked around about starting the series, other than Greta who was very knowledgeable, most people would ask me, why I would be interested in having them hold fish and what the issue was. Now of course, most people have some idea of the issue, in part, because of these photographs.

You’ve been praised for finally making campaigning around food issues “sexy” -- what does this mean to you?

What’s interesting about Fishlove is that, at its core, it’s photography, portrait photography -- it’s art and because of this, Fishlove can keep on going and thriving, as long as there continues to be interesting people willing to hold a fish.

As long as the issue needs to be addressed, it should continue. That’s also what’s different about Fish Love compared to a lot of the other campaigns out there. This is not a charity but more of a visual petition.

What are the advantages of using art as a means to drive change?  

Art appeals to the emotions, and that’s where real change happens. There’s a limit to what you can do to change people’s attitudes if you only direct their intellect to the problem.  If you engage people emotionally, then that is much more effective. One of the strange things about the photographs is still the shock that people have when they see a person clutching a fish against their skin. Maria Damanaki, the European Fisheries Minister said it perfectly: Fish Love works because it reminds us that, as human beings, we’re genetically connected with fish and that we can’t live without them, we’re one in the same. That’s the message that we’re trying to get across -- that shock of connection, which is the purpose of art: to shock.

I guess we could be mistakenly compared to something like PETA, but that’s not art -- it’s propaganda and advertising. Fish Love isn’t that at all. It’s not a simple message; in fact, there is no real message. The photographs are simply images of naked people holding fish. On their own, what do they say? It’s nothing simple, and that’s where the art comes in. There’s no single response that we’re trying to provoke.

I think having people feel for themselves is a much stronger form of communication than trying to shove any kind of message down their throats.

Yeah -- Some of the campaigners have told us that our photographs aren’t really of use to them, because we need to have the message directly inside of the image, otherwise, people are just seeing a naked person with a fish. We did consider this, but then it wouldn’t be Fish Love, a complicated and sophisticated series that really gets people thinking, for themselves.  

What I want is to tell the story of Fish Love, with references towards the criticisms that the campaign has received, and my responses to them. All in all: My experience of steering Fish Love through the choppy waters of starting what we did and all of the problems we’ve faced along the way.

This interview had been edited and condensed from its original format.