April 30, 2015  

 

A new City of Toronto initiative called The Local Dish invites residents to share their favourite local food recipes and help to build Toronto's largest collection of recipes online. The collection, called The Local Dish, will be hosted on Pinterest, a social media platform that makes it easy to share recipes and photos. 

 

The goal is to encourage residents to choose local food more often, and to educate people about the abundance of fresh and delicious food that's grown in Ontario. 

 

"The Local Dish is a fun and engaging way for people to share recipes and help to grow the local food movement in Toronto," said Councillor Michelle Berardinetti (Ward 35 Scarborough Southwest), Chair of the Parks and Environment Committee. "In addition to being fresh, nutritious and close to home, local food supports local jobs and local farmers, and reduces the greenhouse gas emissions associated with food travel. It's a win for the city on many levels."

 

Each month, The Local Dish will select an "all-star" veggie or fruit – one that is abundantly available in Ontario at that time – and invite residents to share their favourite recipes that feature the ingredient in a prominent way. Residents who submit recipes will be eligible for monthly prizes.

  

The all-star for the month of May is asparagus.

  

The Local Dish will engage some of Toronto's top restaurants and their chefs who are passionate champions of local food. Chef Fabio Bondi of Local Kitchen & Wine Bar is the first to support the collection by contributing his favourite asparagus recipe and donating a $100 gift certificate as a prize.

 

The Local Dish is the latest addition to Live Green Toronto's suite of programs. More information is available at http://www.livegreentoronto.ca. Program partners include Feast ON, Foodland Ontario, 680 News, CP24 and the Toronto Star.

 

This news release is also available on the City's website: http://bit.ly/1QOIDwr

 

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

 

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Media contact: Valerie Cassells, Strategic Communications, 416-392-8306, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.