Future of feasting

Manitoba Wilderness Committee hosts Climate Fall Supper and panel

Jane Roussak (Green Action Centre), Eric Reder and Alex Deneka (Wilderness Committee)

Photo by Keeley Braunstein-Black

On Nov. 22, the Wilderness Committee hosts its annual Climate Fall Supper. The theme will be “The Future of Feasting.” Preceded by a series of workshops, the dinner will be accompanied by a panel discussion featuring sustainable climate experts and practitioners.

Eric Reder, the committee’s wilderness and water campaigner says “The Climate Fall Supper is about bringing community together, so that they are sharing food, passing the salt and having conversations with the people next to them ... that want to work on this.”

The dinner will be ethically sourced and prepared by Diversity Foods. “We are going to talk about what’s on your plate. How did it get there? Why were the decisions made (to put it there)?” Reder says.

Eight pre-dinner workshops will be led by a number of local groups, including Farm Fresh Food Hub, Green Action Centre, Manitoba Master Gardener Association and  panelist Brenda Tjaden.

Tjaden is the founder and CEO of Sustainable Grain, a market development firm working in regenerative agriculture. Tjaden will lead a workshop with Lydia Carpenter, who runs a multi-species grazing operation in southern Manitoba, on permaculture and restorative agriculture.

Tjaden says restorative agriculture is intended “to restore healthy grasslands and large animal grazing anywhere that it is possible ... getting all the animals back on the land is how you (can) replace synthetic fertilizer” and regenerate soil sustainably.

The panel on agribusiness will be held shortly after the meal.

“We really need to have a conversation about what it means to support rural agricultural producers in the future that they need in a climate compromised world.” Reder says.

“These are phenomenally difficult times for rural Manitobans. And what we need to do in Manitoba is build the community that will support those people during that hardship.

“For some farmers, this will be the second summer in a row of an almost absolute failure. (We must start) acknowledging that we are in it really bad, and it is not going to get better. We’re going to have decades like this until we act.”

Event tickets come in a range of prices, with a regular ticket at $75. There are tickets available at $20, making the Climate Fall Supper more accessible, which is a concern for the Wilderness Committee.

“Injustice won’t build the support that’s needed for us to survive this, and that means holding everybody up together. So all of the pieces of accessibility and inclusion are part of the society that is going to survive,” Reder says.

The Future of Feasting: Climate Fall Supper will be held at Red River College at 5 p.m. on Nov. 22. Tickets for the dinner can be purchased on Eventbrite at prices ranging between $20 and $100.

Published in Volume 74, Number 11 of The Uniter (November 21, 2019)

Related Reads