With
the Comox Valley’s fourth Flavour Festival approaching quickly, Chef Jonathan
Frazier and Darren Howlett have the chance to sit down with organizer and executive director of the
North Island College Foundation, Susan Auchterlonie.  This event is returning after a year long
hiatus, and we talked about all the exciting plans that will occur at this year’s
highly anticipated festival.
As always this festival
allows the Comox Valley to showcase its finest
chefs, vintners, farmers and producers in support
of education and culinary culture in our community. If you are one of the lucky
500 people that were able to get a ticket (it sold out in five minutes), you’ll
definitely have a memorable time and we look forward to seeing you there!

Today Chef Jonathan Frazier and Darren Howlett had the wonderful opportunity to sit with Vickey Brown of the Comox Valley Farmers Market, Sue Smith formerly of Beyond the Kitchen Door and Chef/President Leslie Stav of North Vancouver Island Chef's Assosciation. In a lively discussion about the direction and future of Comox Valley Farmers Markets, we discuss the growth and continued trends towards supporting (and eating) local and the connection between our local Chefs and the Market. 

As you know, we love nothing more than to shine a light on any homegrown Comox Valley foods, products, farmers and producers as we can. It’s the reason we do what we do. Tonight we have Greg Wilson and James McKerricher of The Butcher’s Block in studio. Now, we don’t throw around phrases like ‘pillar of the community’ or ‘interwoven in the history of theComox Valley’ very often – but both stand true here. At 25+ years in the Valley, it’s of a small handful of food businesses that are wholly Comox Valleyian (we’re making up words today, that’s the kind of day it is); and have the tenure. Tonight we get to the heart of ‘why?’. Why have they been successful? Why here? Why sell what they sell? Listen in to this feel-good episode and let us know what you think as we reminisce over the last 25 years of the Valley, and talk about simply great food

#100 – We did it! We hit our first major milestone with episode 100. Passing this threshold would have felt off if we had anyone other than Mr. Blayne Prowse as our guest. There would not have been an episode100 without him. There would not have been an episode 1 without him!
 
Jon, Darren and Blayne take this opportunity to reflect on the podcasts beginnings and through it’s hurdles, adjustments,refinements and victories. They also speak to where EdibleValley is heading for the next 100 episodes – format, guests, and changes. Listen in and find out some of their favorite episodes, some that may have been a little more challenging and some that changed their lives entirely.
 
Thanks for tuning in. We share this milestone with you, our cherished audience. Thank you!

The hot topic in the Comox Valley, Food Trucks? Joining Chef Jonathan Frazier and Darren Howlett tonight is none other than Hans Peter Meyer - bon vivant and man about town, to discuss Food Trucks in Courtenay. Unexpectedly, we all had a very different take on this issue! It made for some great conversation and counter-points though (and Hans makes a pretty convincing argument). Listen in and let us know where you stand on this oft debated issue! Let us know how you feel @ediblevalley and here is the  link to an online survey about the issue at www.courtenay.ca/foodtrucks open till Friday, March 11, 2016. Hard copies of the survey are also available at Courtenay City Hall, or by request at courtenay@courtenay.ca

Switching gears for this episode, we invited a few friends (Arzeena Hamir and Blayne Prowse) to discuss the issue of rising produce costs. Specifically, 'How did we get here?', and 'What can we do about it?'.  We are living in a time when our current models are starting to fail us, and new models, or outright change from the ground up is required. It was an illuminating chat with some great ideas and options, and an interesting new format for the Edible Valley. We hope to pepper in a few of these throughout the year - let us know what you think!

Role reversal; The return of old friends; and a major announcement on this episode of the Edible Valley! Our dear friend and co-creator of the show; Mr Blayne Prowse returns to the podcast, but this time he's back in the 'interviewer chair'. Who is he interviewing? Why it's us - Chef Jonathoan Frazier and Darren Howlett. Alongside us is our mutual friend and now business partner - Mrs. Sarah Walsh! That's right - Darren and Jon have bought into Sarah's Prontissima Pasta! The three partners discuss the details and the future of their endeavour in our 180 degree twist of an episode. Listen in for all of the exciting details!   

Doug
Smith of Natural Pastures was gracious enough to join us tonight to discuss
cheese! As one of the Comox Valley’s cornerstone food producers that help put
our humble, beautiful Valley on the map, Doug is one of those key talents that
took a small business idea, and turned it into a national brand! He walks us
through the process of getting started, growing to fit your market, and
establishing yourself amongst your peers. We had a great time with Doug – who is
just a wealth of information of Valley history, business planning and above
all: Cheese!

 Today we sat down with
the lovably quirky Allison MacKenzie of Dark Side Chocolates. Allison discussed how she sort of 'fell into' the business, the merits of good dark chocolate
over mass produced cheaper chocolate, and finding new flavour combinations. We
also touched upon the ups and downs of being a small business in the Comox Valley
and all that comes with it.Dark Side Chocolates
P.O. Box 1119, 
2722 Dunsmuir Avenue
Cumberland, B.C. V0R 1S0
Phone: 250-336-0126
Website: http://darksidechocolates.com
Facebook:
Dark Side Chocolates

 Today, we got to sit down with Layne and Brenda of 40 Knots Winery. We had a wonderful time discussing not just their wine making, but what lead them down the road to wine making as a career. But beyond that, we talked about their impressive community involvement - the 40 knots social calendar is downright exhausting! And as you know, we love getting a chance to speak with community minded businesses!  
Web: http://www.40knotswinery.com
 
Email:  infoat40KnotsWinery@gmail.com
Phone: (250)
941-8810
 
Address is: 40 KNOTS WINERY
2400 Anderton Road,
Comox, BC V9M 4E5
Open Thursday - Sunday, 11:30 am - 5:30
pm (and most statutory holidays) 
 

Do you ever wonder where your food comes from? What makes it so special? This week with our first studio audience we got a chance to talk to Gillian Watt from the BC association of abattoirs about BC Meats for BC Markets. We learned first of all BC does have a beef industry and a new BC beef net will allow local chefs the ability to buy BC beef. The program allows chefs to buy whole or half carcasses and have them process to there liking as well as giving a price per portion. With the North Vancouver Island Chef Association as our guests in studio we learned about the future of where our beef industry is going and how we will soon see local BC beef in many of our restaurants in our amazing province.

Brian McCormick joins us for another visit, along with his wife Lia, to explore their new enterprise, Clever Crow Herbs, Spices and Sea Salt.