When Lilas Bielopotocky was asked to create a dinner in the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus cafeteria using only local food, she panicked.
“I was scared, the staff was scared. Our food came in the back door. All of a sudden, we had to do the thinking again.”
That was a year ago.
Now the head of kitchen at the Camrose college would never return to the old ways.
While it was tough to find local vegetables, meat, flour and other goods the first year, Bielopotocky now has a long list of local contacts willing to supply the cafeteria with good food ingredients for their monthly local food dinners.
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It hasn’t been easy.
Bielopotocky and some of the cooks have gone out and dug beets from the garden and toured farms, Hutterite colonies and nearby packing plants to build contacts and look for advice and local food.
“It’s exciting in the cafeteria. Our local food days are amazing. There’s more talk in the kitchen. It’s so nice to do something different.
“We have put faces on producers. It takes time, but it’s wonderful,” she told a local food conference at the university.
