Don’t miss the bus: A nomadic restaurant touches down in Toronto

Perhaps the most ambitious anti-restaurant yet, Californian chef Jim Denevan’s travelling foodie troupe—dubbed Outstanding in the Field—puts a new twist on the 100-mile diet. The group tramps the countryside, bringing their table to farms near and far in—wait for it—a massive red bus from 1953. The idea is to honour local roots by partaking of their bounty “between soil and sky.” This summer, the into-the-wild-style project will make its inaugural pilgrimage to Toronto’s great outdoors at Dingo Farms.

Now in its 10th year, the vagabond brigade grew out of the concept of modest farmer’s dinners. Denevan has an impressive 54 meals planned for 2009, with stops in Vancouver, Kansas City and Sante Fe. Diners can expect something that approximates the locavore version of Woodstock: a motley crowd, a linen-topped communal table and, of course, an all-local menu. Taking the stage for Toronto’s production, Mark Cutrara—Cowbell’s slow-food chef—will serve five courses on August 11.

We admit to being curious about this. Even with all the paranoia about where food comes from, we didn’t think that where the restaurant comes from would ever be an issue.