Big thanks to everyone who participated in the 2nd Annual National BBQ Day in support of our local food economies!
This past Saturday thousands of Canadians participated in the 2nd Annual National BBQ Day, with over 150 BBQs held in cities and towns across the country, these BBQs are helping to support farmer’s markets, local butchers, and your local food economies.
We received tons of pictures, facebook posts and tweets from people sharing their National BBQ Day stories! All the stories and feedback were so phenomenal – but the winner of the 2 WestJet Tickets to anywhere WestJet fly is…drum roll please……Claire Matlock from Kitchener, Ontario!!!
You can find Claire’s awesome story and menu from her National BBQ Day celebration in Southampton, ON below. Big thanks to everyone who participated in National BBQ Day this year, all our volunteers who helped to organize it and to all our sponsors and supporters, Teambuy, Chateau Des Charmes, Matchbox Gardens, Rowe Farms, and our friends at Timeraiser who provided the WestJet tickets.
We hope you stay in touch throughout the year and continue to support your local food economies!
OUR 2011 NATIONAL BBQ DAY WINNER: CLAIRE MATLOCK
My name is Claire Matlock. I’m from Kitchener, Ontario, currently cottaging in Southampton on Lake Huron. I’m an avid cook, a local-food enthusiast and a busy teenager. I was delighted to have a friend tell me about your contest and I devoted a whole week of work to throw the best BBQ possible.
I scrounged, sourced, planted, picked and cooked food from all over the Saugeen shores. I have a cooking blog - http://cooking-with-claire.blogspot.com/ - where you can see all the pictures from my meal (I attached a few to this email to whet your appetite). I also attached my cooking menu from the night so you can be 
sure I sourced local ingredients. I have been on the 100-mile diet for 6 months and have another 12 to go, as part of a Duke of Edinburg’s awards challenge.
Thank you so much for giving this opportunity to everyone! I had a blast cooking for people, met new farmers, made new friends and it was a lovely addition to our week at the family cottage.
If I win the Westjet tickets, I will use them to fly to Nova Scotia to check-out Dalhousie University as a potential school for me. They have amazing international development programs and food-security courses.
P.S. The group photo of us with our hands up… we’re each counting to 10… representing the 100 miles our meal came from. 
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Claire’s Menu
Appetizers
- Bocancinni, Basil & Grilled Tomato Bites with Pesto
- Goat Cheese-Filled Cucumber Shells with Dill & Smoked Fish
Main
- Cider Braised Pork Belly with Sea Buckthorn/Cranberry Chutney
- Corn Tamales with Spicy Beef & Masa Filling with Roasted Garlic Sauce
- Honey & Ginger Glazed Carrots
- Homemade Coleslaw
- Fresh Heirloom Tomato Slices
- Creamy White-Beans
Dessert
- Fruit & Pastry Cream Tarts with Orange/Rosemary Glaze
Theme:
100-Mile Diet
Details:
- 10 guests
- At the family cottage in Southampton, ON.
- By Lake Huron
- Saturday, August 6th, 2011
A few of our favourite National BBQ Day stories!!
Grace
I am serving a fine striploin of Alberta Steak. On the side I am making a fresh lettuce salad with lettuce I grew in my own little garden. Not very big but yummy. I will be topping that off with corn on the cob. I don’t think it is local as this has been a very late year. Usually it would be Taber corn from about fifty miles from here. Top that off with a fine beverage brewed locally and we are having a wonderful BBQ. The sun is shining and it is a memorable day being spent with friends and family. Oh by the way I posted on FB and twittered just to be sure. Now if only I can win so that I can have another BBQ with a special family member that doesn’t live close by. HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!!!!!!!
Tim and Frances 
Again this year everyone who attended our BBQ brought, along with their appetites, an envelope donation to our local food bank. There’s more to thinking local than just growing the food. We raise our own beef here at Kendal Hills and all the fruits & vegetables we served were grown right here in Clarington.
Young Taiwanese Merchants Association of Toronto
Our group, Young Taiwanese Merchants Association of Toronto(YTMAT) was part of Taiwan BBQ at Ashbridge’s Bay Park today. There were 8 different Taiwanese associations came out together to enjoy nice weather, beach volleyball, group competitions, and great food.
Barb
The 90% humidity or the threat of thunderstorms didn’t stop 19 locavore volunteers at Albion Hills Community Farm (Caledon, Ontario) from spending the evening on Aug 6 enjoying a delicious local BBQ featuring local grown foods.
The table cloth (region of peel eat local maps) and centrepieces (sunflowers, amaranth and zucchini) all added to the flavour of the evening! The menu (see image 0045) included all vegetables grown at the Albion Hills Community Farm as well as from local producers (wine, beer, bread, coffee).
A tour of the fields followed the feast. Conversations included the importance of food security; real food; education about eating near, now and natural. It was 100% vegetarian meal – keeping the carbon footprint of the meal as small as possible!
Richelle 
We threw our very own 1st Annual Favourite Summer Things Backyard BBQ Party! We invited our friends over and bought lots of fun silly things. We had a water balloon fight, hula hoops, skipping rope, a jumbo kids pool, watermelon, bubbles and a whole assortment of local produce and meats. We cooked up yummy burgers that were from a local butcher, corn that was bought from the side of the road and all of the fixings.
All in all it was a terrific day of fun in the sun! We even put up a tree swing for the kids! You will see from the pictures that the water balloons were a great hit!
Candi
This was our first time participating in National BBQ Day! To kick off national bbq day, we went to the Brickworks Farmer’s Market to get some fresh local veggies. We purchased new potatoes, zucchini, green and purple peppers and onions. We also found a vendor from a Beef and Pork farm; from them we purchased 2 steaks, which easily could have fed 4 people. Attached are the pictures of the veggies in the various stages before eating – cleaning, cooking and ready to serve. Great food and good company!
Stephen
In Stouffville there is a Farmers Market and they sell goods from Ontario which is a “venue for farmers to sell their locally Ontario grown, with 100 miles or approximately 160 km radius produce, in season and for the community to buy fresh produce and interact with the people who grow the food they eat.” We make a point of buying our produce in town and love the locally grown food that Ontario has to offer.
The prices are reasonable and we like the fact that we are supporting local farmers! There is also lots of fresh produce to choose from!
Our salad had the largest radishes I have ever seen and the fruit we bought was just as yummy! The tasty shish kabobs made with fresh veggies and the meat (pemeal bacon) was also bought at the Stouffville Market
Natasha 
It was my 36th birthday on Saturday. We hosted friends for a BBQ and all food (and bevies) consumed were local. We shopped at the local butcher’s (the Friendly Butcher on the Danforth), and The Brickworks farmer’s market. The beers we drank were from local craft breweries and the wine we drank was from regional wineries. The food was delicious!!!
We also collected spare change from folks attending and will be donating the money collected to famine relief in East Africa.
Rachel
First and Foremost we would like to say that we feel everyday should be National BBQ day!
There is no better way to enjoy a meal!
When our family heard it there was finally 1 day to celebrate we planned the best meal possible to be cooked solely on the bbq and purchased or picked all locally.
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Rachel’s Menu
Corn on the Cob – from Chilliwack
Steak – Farmers Market in the WestEnd
Chicken skewers – Farmers Market in the WestEnd
Potatoes and Onions with cheese in a potato tin foil pack – Farmers Market in the WestEnd
Cherries – Farmers Market in the WestEnd
Fresh English Peas – From the roof top Garden
Fresh Carrots – From the roof top Garden
Fresh tomatoes – From the roof top Garden.
It was perfect as we had already planned one for before the fireworks in the WestEnd of Vancouver from our balcony. Now we had completed the local food part and were all ready to go.
Due to all the excitement we completely forgot about taking a picture until half way through.
Making people put down there forks from eating the feast got me this reaction but this is how we feel about being interrupted while eating our delicious BBQ dinner!
THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO MAKE NATIONAL BBQ DAY 2011 A HUGE SUCCESS!!!
