Victorian Order of Nurses Windsor-Essex through their community support program Ontario Student Nutrition Program, created a series of local food literacy materials for introducing students and their parents/caregivers to local Ontario produce. Each Tasty Ontario Tuesday for 8 weeks a new local item was featured.

Each week’s materials contain:

• storage and selection tips, nutrition info
• kid-friendly healthy recipes
• trivia, local farm pics, and games!

Find the 8 week set of Tasty Ontario Tuesdays materials here

On Jan 10, we hosted a workshop that connected buyers and sellers through the local food value chain. Furthermore, presentations were given in a number of areas to educate buyers and sellers on the purchasing and selling of local food. Here are the slides of all the presentations given.

As part of Sick Kids Hospital's vision of increasing locally-grown, healthy food on its menu, Executive Chef Shawn Studholme has developed 64 recipes that are locally-sourced from Ontario suppliers that meet the most stringent food safety standards, include portion size, recipe yield, cost-per-unit, and suggested selling price. 

View The Recipes

In 2015, Halton Healthcare hopped aboard Ontario's Local Food Act and put into writing a Local Food Procurement Statement to promote the use of local food in their hospitals. The statement outlines the steps and criteria in which Halton Healthcare will formulate a Local Food Procurement Strategy, and create a shareable plan and process between the hospitals and local producers to integrate suppliers into the purchasing structure of the hospitals.

Read Halton Healthcare's Local Food Procurement Statement

Additionally, Halton Healthcare had developed six nutritious recipes whose ingredients can be sourced locally.

View The Recipes.

George Brown College's Hospitality and Culinary Arts program partnered with St. Michael's Hospital to create an easy-to-use guide for kitchen staff at St. Michael's to learn how, where and when of local food purchasing and preparation. They have also included a suite of locally-sourced and nutritious recipes with a nutritional label for each to simplify a hospital dietitian's work.

Read St. Michael’s Hospital Training Manual, Recipe Book And Procurement Guide

Replicating the success with St. Michael's, George Brown then partnered with the Toronto District Schoolboard, and created a procurement guide.

Read Procurement Guide: The My Food My Way Project

Heirloom Panzanella with Corn Fritters - St. James Catholic High School

Ontario Blueberry Braised Leg of Lamb – St. James Catholic High School

Ontario Beef Tartare – St. James Catholic High School

This Pulled Pork Mac ’n’ Cheese recipe was developed by 2014 Local Food Challenge winner St. James High School in Guelph. The recipe incorporates the use of all Ontario products, including a 15-hour Collingwood whisky braised pulled pork, in a homemade hickory cherry BBQ sauce, hidden under a four cheese macaroni with local Mennonite bacon, chives, and a parmesan panko crust.

Read the recipe here.

The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers (OGVG) provide a detailed outline of why consumers should choose greenhouse tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers and how to optimize shelf life, prep tips, and culinary applications.

Read Taste The Difference Fresh & Vine Ripened Makes!