Harvest Feast! September 24
What an amazing time we had at the Harvest Feast!!
This summer as we brainstormed for September's potluck & workshop we thought, 'let's celebrate the harvest season like we did for last year's pizza party, but take it a step further!' So we devised a crazy promotion storm through posters, media outlets & social media and invited as many people as we could to bring local seasonal ingredients and make an entire meal together. Go big or go home!
More than 60 people from the community joined us for this crazy fun night - check out the photos here. We set up 4 food stations - soup, salad bar, flatbread, and dessert - and encouraged people to grab ingredients, head to one of the stations and make some food. The result was tons of collaboration amidst the organized chaos - exactly what we wanted to happen! It was so great to see people rolling up their sleeves and playing with different flavour combos with their newfound friends and neighbours.
Some interesting flavours came out of this experimentation: hummus & herb flatbread, persimmon & blueberry salad, not to mention our frozen banana dessert with tons of fruit toppings & chocolate sauce that happened later in the evening!
Eventually we all sat down for dinner, and after we introduced what we do at The Food Connection, we invited people to stand up and make announcements about upcoming community events. Turns out that there is so much good happening all around us! Even better, while we were waiting for dessert I saw so many people approaching each other to get more information or make new connections for future collaboration. The perfect example of why The Food Connection exists in the first place!
Around this time we also started giving away prizes from awesome local food & community organizations. Almost a quarter of the crowd walked away with a sweet prize, ranging from honey, jam, sauerkraut, to a whole pie & healthy greens powder!
A big thank you to: Vancouver Farmers Market, Homesteader's Emporium, Aphrodite's Pie Shop, The World in a Garden, Geniune Health, Rooted Nutrition, East Van Jam, Sondi Bruner Consulting, Seed & Straw, and Matchstick Coffee! Phew.
Lastly, a massive thank you and hug to everyone that was involved and went above and beyond to make it all happen - to the organizers, volunteers, and all of our wonderful new neighbours and friends!
Here's what one of our feasters Crystal had to say about the event: "I met such lovely, awesome, amazing people last night at Harvest Feast. AND I learned a few new things about food. Way to go for creating such a great event and community! Both me and another guest were like, 'Wow! The Food Connection has only been around for a year or two? Amazing!'"
The question is, how do we top ourselves next year?? We can't wait to see what's in store!
If you came to the Harvest Feast, we want to know what flavour combinations you really enjoyed so other people can try them at home! Post your suggestions below :)
