Here are the presenters for Eat Alberta 2012:

Rick and Amy Barr, Farmers and Wine Producers, Barr Estate Winery: Rick and Amy Barr have worked in heart research for more than twenty years at the University of Alberta. They use their scientific training to create fruit wines of impeccable quality. Barr Estate Winery is a family business. Amy’s parents, Mike and Jeanette Cholowsky, are business partners of the winery. Together they established the fruit using raspberries grown by Jeanette’s father. Her family homesteaded in the County of Strathcona many years ago. Her father started growing raspberries on the farm and years later Jeanette was able to nurture a few of those heritage plants into thousands that are used today. The family history makes this very special to the Barrs.

Amy Beaith, Preserver, Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton: Amy Beaith got an early start to canning and preserving the harvest where she grew up in a small rural town in Ontario. The family rescued the apples from a neighbour’s farm and they preserved many veggies and fruits from their own garden to last them through the winter. Her interest in canning and preserving local foods took on a new direction in Edmonton after helping to found the group called OFRE: Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton. This past season she taught several canning demonstrations using local fruit grown in Edmonton’s backyards such as pears, apples, and cherries. She is currently working towards a certificate in Food Security from Ryerson University and is taking a Food Preservation for Urban Gardeners course through the University of Guelph.

Xina Chrapko, Farmer and Wine Producer, Birds & Bees Organic Fruit Winery and Meadery: Xina is the Warrior Winemaker and is finding ways to incorporate her previous life as a registered nurse into nurturing the soil, the orchard and the bees, and is perfecting the science and art of winemaking. She enjoys the outdoors, animals, and travel.

Jason Foster, Beer Writer: Jason Foster is an Edmonton-based beer writer and educator, certified beer judge and long-time home brewer. He is the beer columnist for CBC Radio One’s RadioActive, Vue Weekly, Planet S Magazine, Sherbrookeliquor.com and has published in a number of magazines across Canada. He also hosts beer tastings, beer and food pairings and beer workshops. He lives by the motto: “Life is too short to drink the same beer twice”. Jason is the creator of onbeer.org, a website devoted to craft beer on the Canadian Prairies.

Kathryn Joel, Chef and Owner of Get Cooking: Kathryn Joel started Get Cooking in March 2012, teaching cooking classes from her home kitchen. She teaches a wide range of International Cuisines, with a focus on using fresh and local ingredients. Kathryn is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu School in London, and her cooking style relies on using the best ingredients available in simple recipes that let those ingredients shine.

Kevin Kent, Knife Specialist, Knifewear: Kevin Kent prefers his food gutsy and demands his knives sharp. While working at St. John Restaurant in London, he discovered his passion for handmade Japanese kitchen knives. Now he spreads the gospel of Japanese steel at his super cool shop, Knifewear, converting all who enter into evangelical knife nerds. Kevin also designs knives for Japanese knife brand Masakage. When not messing about with blades, Kevin enjoys a nice cuppa in the morning and puttering around his greenhouse.

Kevin Kossowan, Local Food Advocate: Kevin is married with three young children and lives his life as Michael Pollen describes in The Omnivore’s Dilemma as the consummate way to live one’s life: providing almost all of his family’s food by his own hand through hunting and gardening. In 2010, he initiated a personal project where he produced a series of episodes featuring local farms which has unexpectedly had a serious impact in the local food and farming community. His blog, Kevin Kossowan, in his own words, “… is a bit diary, a bit soapbox, and a bit the trials and tribulations of a guy learning about his regional food.”

Blair Lebsack, Chef: Chef Blair Lebsack has developed his career through Executive Chef Positions in Calgary, Banff, Saskatoon and Edmonton. Blair’s trademark is “Untamed Canadian Cuisine.” He is inspired by exceptional local products, and has promoted this through farm dinners with RGE RD Dinners and is currently an instructor for the culinary arts program at NAIT. Blair volunteers much of his time to helping with local food initiatives and enjoys visiting farms to see the food first hand. Blair in conjunction with Travel Alberta and Edmonton Tourism went on a Media PR initiative to raise awareness of Alberta Cuisine in the LA market. This experience found Blair preparing a 4 Course Alberta Themed Dinner, in the prestigious kitchen of Spago, in Beverly Hills. Blair was also selected to showcase local cuisine for “Endless Feast”, a television program that aired on PBS in the United States.

Patty Milligan, Beekeeper: For twelve years Patty Milligan has kept bees on a small-scale near Bon Accord. As her alter-ego, Lola Canola, she’s sold directly to thousands of happy, honey-loving customers at farmers’ markets throughout Edmonton. Patty loves teaching and talking about honey and bees – whether in cooking classes, honey tastings, kindergartens, conferences, farm tours, poetry readings, or cocktail parties. Her freelance beekeeping is winding down now, while her free-range writing is revving up. She lives in the country with her son, a St. Bernard, a canary, two cats, six hens and 200,000 bees.

Connie Nelson, Baker, Mirabelle Macarons: Connie is the founder of Mirabelle Macarons, a home-based macaron catering business. A lover of all things macaron, her true passion is in developing and honing new macaron flavors by using a variety of ingredients in a creative way. Her macaron booth can be found at the City Market once a month.

Martin Osis, Forager, Alberta Mycological Society: Martin Osis is an amateur mycologist who is one of the founding members of the Alberta Mycological Society. Since that time, he has been a major contributor to the Society, holding various positions throughout the years, including President, Program Director and Foray Coordinator. He is also a member of the Pacific Northwest Key Council and is the Canadian trustee at the North American Mycological Association.

Owen Petersen, Baker, Prairie Mill Bread Co.: Owen Petersen was raised on a 21 acre farm just outside of Sundre, Alberta. Straight out of high school he moved to the city where he got a tattoo and a facial piercing, then began work at a small bakery. Eleven years later he still has his piercing and tattoo but now lives in a different city, baking in his own bakery and is happily married to the girl next door.

Alan Roote, Chef: Born and raised in a small village on Lake Huron in Southern Ontario, Allan Roote’s formative Culinary training student took place at Toronto’s Humber College where he was well instructed in the basics of classical cuisine. He has extensive experience, working at hotels and restaurants in Ontario, Alberta, BC, New York, and New Zealand. Now with a growing young family in tow, Chef Roote was enticed to return to Alberta to work at the now Fairmont Hotel Macdonald. His tenure with the Hotel Macdonald saw Chef Roote extensively involved with “hands on” instruction with aspiring apprentice cooks. For the past ten years Allan continues to develop a leadership role and has been a positive influence to aspiring students.

Danny and Shannon Ruzicka, Farmers, Nature’s Green Acres: Danny and Shannon Ruzicka own and operate Nature’s Green Acres which is a small, family farm where chickens, pigs and cattle are raised outside, on grass, without hormones or antibiotics. While raising healthy food and improving the health of the land, Ruzickas are blessed with the opportunity to instil these same values into their three children, Madalynne, Joshua, and Molly as they lend a hand where they are able. They are continuously striving to learn more about food, animals, the land, and the intricate web that directly impacts our health.

Jeff Senger, Farmer and Butcher, Sangudo Custom Meat Packers: After incorporation in May 2010, SODC (Sangudo Opportunity Development Co-operative) purchased Sangudo Custom Meat Packers and leased it to two passionate entrepreneurs, Jeff Senger and Kevin Meier. They transformed the facility and now provide a keystone service in the agricultural community. Sangudo Custom Meat Packers has since quintupled its volume of business and is one of only two plants in Alberta certified to process organic beef. Fourteen people now have jobs, where there were just two in the former business.

Nigel Webber, Chef Instructor, NAIT: Edmontonian Nigel Webber has built an impressive track record as an international award-winning chef. Nigel began his culinary apprenticeship under Austrian-trained chef Erwin Blumert and graduated from the NAIT apprentice-cooking program with top honours. Since then, he has amassed an award-winning resumé of experiences, which he brings to his position as a chef instructor at NAIT.

Elaine Wilson, Personal Chef, Allium Foodworks: Elaine’s perspective on food and cooking is to keep it real, creating delicious food using local products and a wide range of fresh ingredients. Elaine has long been one of the local food community’s strongest supporters. Her motto is, “who says you can’t play with your food!” and students and clients agree. From cooking classes to dinner parties and ready-to-eat meals, Elaine brings a sense of fun, humour and passion for great food.