Hungry for Tart Food Writing? This Event's For You

Vancouver is fertile ground for the New Food Writing. So let's hear from people tilling that garden. That's the premise of the next (and final) Food and Beers discussion at the Museum of Vancouver this coming Wednesday, Dec. 8.

What's the New Food Writing? Well, if The Joy of Cooking represents a first wave of basic primers and recipes, and the second was championed by the likes of Alice Waters of Chez Panisse focusing on fresh ingredients and culturally authentic cuisine, then the third wave is writing that links food with politics, economics, nutrition and the environment. Books like The 100-Mile Diet, conceived right here in Vancouver by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith. Readers are hungry to connect what's on their plate to how it got there.

"Before, food wasn't thought of as either the cause or the solution to some of the world's problems," says Smith. "Now food writing is political like never before -- think Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma).

"On the flip side," says Smith, the New Food Writing "is getting very personal -- think Julie & Julia or Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

"Both approaches can galvanize and engage people to remember that food is life."

And that has opened the doors to a wider range of backgrounds and intentions for writers about food.

You'll sample some of that diversity on Wednesday's superb panel, moderated by yours truly. Speaking:

Timothy Taylor, author of the acclaimed bestselling novel Stanley Park, about the struggles of a young chef. He writes for the Globe, the Walrus and EnRoute Magazine, where his annual essay series often reflects on food culture. He has a new novel coming in March 2011: The Blue Light Project.

Barbara-Jo McIntosh, owner of Vancouver's Books to Cooks bookstore and a passionate supporter of the culinary arts. The former restaurateur is author of the bestselling Tin Fish Gourmet and served on the prestigious James Beard Awards cookbook selection committee for six years. Come with your Christmas shopping list: Barbara-Jo will be setting up a mini bookstore for the event, bringing a special selection of food books for purchase.

Andrew Morrison, founder of the online Scout magazine, bible of the Vancouver restaurant scene. He contributes to Westender, Western Living Magazine, Vancouver Magazine, and VM's annual Eating & Drinking Guide.

Colleen Kimmett, a journalist with a new kind of beat: local sustainable food issues. Her reporting for Tyee Solution Society's current Growing the Local Bounty series took her through Ontario's greenbelt and the Fraser Valley to find out what works to strengthen local food economies.

As the night unfolds, other special guests -- including Karri Schuerman of Chambar and blogger Melody Fury -- will read morsels of their favourite food writing, and audience members will be invited to join in on the conversation. Where is food writing headed? Help us draw up that menu of possibilities.

"What interests us," says MacKinnon of himself and his co-author Smith, "is the same question that has interested writers forever: How should we live? But while in the past writers might have tried to find answers in different ideologies or spiritual pursuits, today it's grounded in ordinary acts of life -- a kind of lived philosophy. There are a lot of reasons for that, but one of the most important is the sense that so many people have that we're living in a perpetual environmental crisis."

MacKinnon and Smith shared their top local food ideas at the previous Food and Beers event at the MOV, a rollicking success last month. Previous Food and Beers nights included a 100-Mile Iron Chef challenge with culinary aces dueling over hot grills to craft masterpieces from sumptuous local ingredients, and a blue ribbon panel of local food distributors, processors and preparers discussing how to get more local sustainable food onto store shelves and restaurant plates.

As the conversation continues this Wednesday, you are invited to join in and socialize over some good food and drink afterwards. Tickets are $15, which includes nibbles and entry into the Homegrown exhibit as well.

The Food and Beers series is part of the The Museum of Vancouver fall exhibit, Home Grown: Local Sustainable Food, co-presented by FarmFolk/CityFolk. The Museum of Vancouver's Food and Beers events are sponsored by the Tides Canada Foundation.

For more information about tickets and the Museum of Vancouver, click here.