SENSATIONAL

CULINAITThe local foodchallengeBuilding a sustainable market for Alberta’s food producers isn’t easy,but chef Blair Lebsack is cooking up a plan to make it happen.As usual on a saturday morning, Blair Lebsack(Cook ’98) is hanging out at farmers markets inand around Edmonton. But as I discover whentagging along at City Market Downtown one cool dayin June, hanging out is not a spectator sport for thischef, who joined the NAIT culinary arts departmentin January. Besides picking up some delicious lookingasparagus, cherries and granola for his own dining table,he’s nailing down details for an upcoming dinner atNature’s Green Acres, where he’ll don the white hat toroast one of the grass-fed pigs raised by Shannon andDanny Ruzicka, owners of Nature’s, a family-operatedfarm. And he’s lining up fare for Ernest’s dining room atNAIT, where he’ll be in charge of hot lunches in the fall.Lebsack’s enthusiasm for this food bubbles overas we graze 104 Street amid buskers and bustle. AtMighty Trio Organics, where bottled canola, hemp andflax oils glint tall and elegant in the sun, he enthusesabout the bright colours, nutrient value and “absolutelyphenomenal flavours” co-owner Sean Superkoskiachieves by cold pressing small batches of fine seeds.At Smoky Valley Goat Cheese, he marvels at howquickly Holly Gale’s hobby of making artisan cheese hasbecome a full-time occupation as customers demandmore. At the Gull Valley Greenhouses megastand,he raves about the Tiemstra family’s tomatoes, hisfavourites bar none.Chef Blair Lebsack atRiverbend Gardens – a large,sophisticated producerand one of several majorcontributors to Alberta’slocal food economy.54 techlifemag.ca