Sometimes life experience makes someone the right person for the job, even if that isn’t where they ever intended to go.
Jason Found, the main organizer for the Island Chefs’ Food Fest, used to work as a farmer and a chef before stumbling into event organizing.
“I think that’s why they picked me to do it,” says Found. “I’m not an event organizer—well, I am now, I guess, but that’s not my background at all.”
Having a background in farming and the restaurant industry, in addition to working on another food event, Feast of Fields, has made Found an ideal candidate for running Food Fest. He understands the needs of the participants on every level.
“I know what the chefs are going through, I know what their timelines are like,” says Found. “The same with farms, I’ve worked with farmers and a lot of non-profits around food security. Unlike some other event organizers, I have an understanding of why we’re doing this.”
This understanding has led Found to work with the chefs for Food Fest rather than around them.
“They’re a great bunch, and they’re all volunteering and they’re all super busy people, and summer is just around the corner,” says Found. “It’s nice that they’re doing this at all; they don’t have to do this.”
For Food Fest, now in its fourth year, the chefs are collaborating with each other and cooking together. This has marked some dramatic changes to how the fest is approaching food.
“This year the whole food service changed entirely,” says Found. There will be five main tents, each focusing on something different, including a tent with lambs on a spit, a tent dedicated to roasting chickens, a seafood tent, and a vegetarian tent.
Having a vegetarian tent may seem like common sense with today’s growing public awareness about health and food, but when it comes to chefs it takes a lot to change their minds and get them away from their favourite proteins.
“In previous years there hasn’t been a lot for the vegetarians because the majority of the chefs do love their meat,” says chef Dwayne MacIsaac, Island Chefs’ collaborative president and owner of Passion Eat Foods. “There are definitely a lot more vegetarian options this year. People are just more well-informed than they were even five, six, 10 years ago.”
Part of the appeal for many attending Food Fest is the opportunity to talk with industry chefs about where their food comes from, and it’s an aspect of the event that’s encouraged.
“I think that’s why people go to the event, too,” says Found, “they want to talk to the chef about where they get their food. And that’s really the aim; it’s about having fun but having education about local food as well.”
Island Chefs’ 4th Annual Food Fest
June 12, Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse
12-4 pm, $50 adult, $25 youth, $100 family
More info