1. TALKS FOOD

2. NATE BOX
Elm Cafe
Nate is the owner of Elm Café, a
small shop that focuses on
providing craft coffee and artisan
sammiches to the masses.
He believes in challenging
peoples conceptions of food and
the community it builds. After
working with major national
brands, not-for-profits, and
independent food
establishments, Nate finally felt
ready to sink his roots deeper
into Edmonton.
Tweet @elmcafe

3. CYNTHIA STRAWSON-
FAWCETT
Slow Food Edmonton
Cynthia was raised on a 4th
generation beef farm in west central
Alberta and is the current president of
Slow Food Edmonton.
Slow Food is an idea, a way of living
and a way of eating. It is a global,
grass roots association with thousands
of members around the world - and
over 100 locally - that links the
pleasure of food with a commitment to
community and the environment.
Tweet @slowfoodyeg

4. KIRSTA FRANKE
124 St Grand Market
Kirsta Franke is an earnest
entrepreneur and proud curator of
Edmonton's new 124 Grand
Market.
She has created a mid-week,
evening market, located in the
great outdoors on 124th Street and
108 Ave, an outlet that aims to be
a place among people; working,
eating and living together.
Tweet @124grandmarket

5. NICOLA & ALAN
IRVING
Irvings Farm Fresh
Nicola and Alan Irving created Irvings
Farm Fresh Ltd in 2006 after moving
from the UK in 2005, and realizing
there was a gap in the marketplace for
premium quality sausages.
The business has grown considerably
over the last few years, and now the
Irvings’ operate a pork processing
facility, located on their farm near
Camrose, producing artisanal products
from locally
grown pork, and their own home grown
Berkshire pork.
Tweet @irvingsfarmfresh

6. MARY BAILEY
The Tomato
Food, wine and travel writer Mary
Bailey is the publisher of the bi-
monthly magazine The Tomato food
& drink and website thetomato.ca.
Mary is a food and wine
correspondent for CBC Radio
One's Alberta at Noon and appears
monthly on Global Edmonton
Morning News. She is the co-author
of two best-selling books on Alberta
food, The Food Lover’s Trail Guide to
Alberta, Volumes I & II. Her work has
appeared in various publications
including Western Living and
the National Post.
Tweet @tomatofooddrink

7. AMY BEAITH &
MIKE JOHNSON
Operation Fruit Rescue
Established in 2009, Operation Fruit
Rescue Edmonton is a non-profit
organization.
Our project grew out of an interest in
locally grown food, raising awareness
about food security, and establishing
urban, local connections with our food.
Mike and Amy have started
transforming their backyard into an
edible landscape as they become
urban farmers.
Tweet @ofrefruit

8. SHARON YEO
Only Here for the Food
Sharon Yeo is a food enthusiast who has
been blogging for six years at
onlyhereforthefood.ca. In 2011, Sharon
was named one of Western Living
Magazine's "Top 40 Foodies Under 40",
recognizing the impact of her blog.
Sharon is part of the committee that
organized Eat Alberta, a food conference
that brought chefs, farmers and foodies
together in April 2011 and April 2012, and
co-founded What the Truck?!, Edmonton’s
food truck extravaganza. In February
2012, Sharon co-organized Blink, an
innovative pop-up restaurant in a
downtown pedway.
Tweet @sharonyeo

9. MACK MALE
What the Truck?!
Mack co-founded the popular What
the Truck?! series of events and has
helped to organize dozens of other
community events in Edmonton,
including ChangeCamp, Eat Alberta,
and MediaCamp. In 2009 Mack was
named one of Edmonton’s Top 40
Under 40.
What the Truck?! and Eat Alberta both
launched last year. Mack really loves
the #yegfood hashtag because it is
unique, packed full of useful
information and best of all, anyone
can contribute!
Tweet @mastermaq

10. MICHAEL WALTERS
Food Hub Advocate
Michael Walters is a local Community
Organizer, father of two and skilled
pickle-er. He has been involved in the
campaign to include a permanent
agricultural zone and local food hub
within any future urban development in
North East Edmonton.
He is the former Lead Organizer with
the Greater Edmonton Alliance, which
filled city hall three times with 500
people to support a strong local food
economy in Edmonton. Michael was
also co collaborator with Gord Visser in
organizing the Great Potato Give Away.
Tweet @organizermike

11. ARIEL del ROSARIO &
ROEL CANAFRANCA
Filistix
Ariel del Rosario and Roel
Canafranca first started Filistix 5
years ago. As globe trekkers, they
saw that street food was a huge
part of a city's culture. As one of the
earliest food carts in the city, they
felt that there was a great
opportunity to develop a street food
culture in their hometown.
They are strong supporters of local
producers and growers and stick to
using simple ingredients to make
traditional Filipino dishes along with
other menu items they love to eat.
Tweet @filistix

12. KEVIN KOSSOWAN
Food Forager
An unexpected decision to get
married in France led to Kevin
becoming obsessed with what the
French call ‘cuisine du terroir’ –
quite literally cuisine that speaks to
place and time.
For Kevin, the only way to change
the food culture was to simply do it,
at home, one small step at a time.
So he started gardening, took up
hunting big game, built a root cellar
and started foraging, and
butchering pigs, beef, moose, elk,
deer, antelope. He blogs about his
food local food adventures at
kevinkossowan.ca
Tweet @kevinkossowan