This Saturday, Innisfree Farm is delighted to invite friends old and new to enjoy a gourmet harvest feast.
The gastronomic celebration marks the end of a very successful Culinary Medicine Series of cooking classes and medicinal food workshops, held this summer at the seven-acre sustainable food and herbal healing centre just south of Courtenay.
Taught by Medicinal Herbalist and farm co-owner Chanchal Cabrera, with Innisfree Chef-in-Residence, Joseph Forest, the series explores the science and skill of eating well to be well.
In keeping with the culinary medicine theme, the October dinner will celebrate the delicious flavours and significant health benefits of fresh, local, sustainably grown food. The multi-course feast, featuring edibles from the farm, forest and ocean, will begin with a custom-designed herbal aperitif and conclude with locally roasted coffee and house-made digestive teas.
Following dinner, Chanchal will lead a discussion on the medicinal value and health benefits of the meal.
Space is limited, so pre-booking is advised. For more information and to reserve, call 250-336-8767.
As well as celebrating a bountiful harvest, this fall feast marks a new beginning. In the tradition of ‘long table’ dining — a food movement that is catalyzing a rediscovery of the pleasures of the shared table — Cabrera and her husband Thierry Vrain, a former plant scientist turned holistic farmer who is the guiding hand behind Innisfree’s farming initiatives, are collaborating on a 2013 series of intimate farmhouse dinners that will trace the seasons on the farm.
The Oc. 13 dinner will be a palette teaser that sets the stage for monthly feasts at the farm next year, following extensive renovations this winter to transform the old farm kitchen into a modern commercial teaching kitchen. As part of the vibrant and growing agri-tourism sector in the Comox Valley, Innisfree Farm will invite locals and area visitors to share a locally sourced meal of exceptional food, along with conviviality, candlelight and stimulating conversation.
A key feature of the Local Bounty Farmhouse Dinner series will be an educational post-dinner talk with an emphasis on the medicinal qualities of the meal.
For more information, visit www.chanchalcabrera.com or www.innisfree.ca.
— Innisfree Farm