What went down at Terroir’s invite-only rural retreat

This week marked the 10th anniversary of the Terroir Symposium—where people who work in the food industry gather to speak and learn about innovative issues and trends in hospitality. More than 700 chefs, experts, business leaders and writers took over every nook and cranny of the AGO for Monday’s conference. In addition to the immersive art installations and packed workshops, Feast On (a provincial program that supports chefs and restaurants serving locally sourced food and drink) and the Durham Region hosted a retreat at Ocala Orchards Farm Winery, where chefs from all over Ontario cooked up a multi-course lunch for a crowd of hungry Terroir delegates. Here, some snapshots of the day’s events.

(From left to right) Aaron Paas (Etsy), Nathan Guggenheimer (Ayden Kitchen and Bar, and Little Grouse on the Prairie, Saskatoon) and Lia Rinaldo (Devour! The Food Film Festival)—took shelter from the rain at Port Perry’s Old Flame Brewing Co.

Food and Wine’s best new chef, Edouardo Jordan of Seattle’s Salare Restaurant, sampled some of Old Flame’s beer, too.

The grounds of Ocala Orchards Farm Winery.

Albert Ponzo (Le Sélect) partnered with Ryan Crawford (Backhouse, Niagara-on-the-lake) to make ember-roasted Beau Soleil oysters with boudin noir pressé and ramp hollandaise.

Crawford also provided his house-made bread, and paired it with local cheese and Stirling butter.

Owen Steinberg (left, Harvest Kitchen) and Peter Shambrook (centre, Detour Café, Dundas) grilled walleye pike.

Here’s the (almost) finished product.

Langdon Hall chef Jason Bangerter worked with Nick Benninger (Nick and Nat’s Taco Farm, Waterloo) to prepare a bevy of roasted vegetables.

Bangerter and Benninger’s platter of root veggies.

More of their veggies (and the pike).

Travis Barron (Northwinds Brewhouse, Collingwood) and Shaun Edmonstone (Bruce Wine Bar, Thornbury) roasted lamb.

It was carved up and served on foccaccia with ramp purée.

And all of the leftover lamb offal went into this stew.

Connie DeSousa of Calgary’s Charcut and Charbar digs into her lunch.

Can’t have a birthday without cake. Parkdale’s Yummy Stuff made this two-tiered (one white, one carrot), polka-dotted number.

The gang’s all here.