Get a taste of the JUNO Awards
By Vawn Himmelsbach
The JUNOS are coming to Saskatoon for a week of festivities that celebrate Canada’s top musical talent. And while music will take centre stage, so too will a culinary program that reflects the city’s burgeoning culinary scene— where the stars are local farmers, ranchers and producers.
Tourism Saskatoon has teamed up with the JUNO Awards to shine a spotlight on those local stars through its JUNO Culinary Experience. After all, Saskatoon was declared Canada’s hottest culinary destination in 2019 by Forbes and one of the top 52 places to go in 2018 by The New York Times.
The JUNO Culinary Experience will treat guests to a uniquely Saskatchewan evening at this year’s JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards Presented by Music Canada —from locally inspired cuisine to Saskatoon’s favourite pours—thanks to funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada, through the Canada Experiences Fund. The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) will also be offering a vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free meal options at this year’s event.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to not only showcase to the music industry an unforgettable meal, but also highlight the entire city of Saskatoon as a food destination,” says Katy Venneri, Director of Events at the JUNO Awards. “We’re thrilled to be working alongside the city’s top culinary talent, including Chef Dale Mackay and Chef Eliot Lang, to deliver an exceptional culinary experience during the event.”
Chef Dale Mackay, season-one winner of Top Chef Canada, is curating a menu for the event alongside Executive Chef Eliot Lang of WTC Saskatoon at Prairieland Park. “We’re doing our best to create a menu that showcases Saskatoon, but we also want to give a different light into the Prairies,” says Mackay.
As Canada’s breadbasket, Saskatchewan is known for producing wheat, but the province has also evolved as a producer of lentils and heritage grains, alongside its pork and poultry industries. But Mackay also points to the province’s lesser-known gems. “We have the best wild mushrooms,” he says. “Even asparagus and artichokes, people don’t realize they grow here, so we’re trying to cultivate that.”
For the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards Presented by Music Canada, Mackay will skip stereotypical Prairie foods like Saskatoon berries and perogies, and focus instead on local, seasonal ingredients, like cold storage root vegetables. Apples sourced from Crossmount Cider Company, for example, will be incorporated into Mackay’s dessert: panna cotta with apple jelly and crisp rosemary.
Indeed, dishes being served will incorporate ingredients related to Saskatchewan, and JUNO TV will profile some of the city’s top chefs, including Chef Mackay, Executive Chef Jenni Lassard of Wanuskewin Heritage Park and Executive Chef Christie Peters of Primal and The Hollows restaurants.
Chef Lassard, for example, creates meals celebrating Saskatchewan’s Indigenous cuisine with foraged and local ingredients. At Primal, Chef Peters creates time-honoured Italian food using Saskatchewan heritage grains and whole animal butchery, and at The Hollows—located in the historic Golden Dragon building—she incorporates wild-harvested mushrooms, flowers, sap and roots along with meat, poultry and eggs from small farmers.
“We’ve taken leaps and strides in agriculture with new species of plants and food products,” says Todd Brandt, President and CEO of Tourism Saskatoon. “And with an assemblage of top-rated chefs, the creativity here is phenomenal—i gain pounds because of it.”
But even those who aren’t nominated for a JUNO can eat like an award winner. Many of the festivities will take place in venues across Downtown, Broadway and Riversdale, where top-rated restaurants, cafés, breweries and distilleries can be found.
Visitors and locals alike, for example, can experience Mackay’s Top Chef-worthy cuisine at his restaurant, Ayden Kitchen and Bar, which offers a seasonal menu of globally inspired comfort food made with local ingredients.
Other options that showcase Saskatoon’s local talent include Black Fox Farm & Distillery, with a farm-to-distillery approach—90 per cent of the ingredients in its spirits are grown right on the farm. Odla is another; its farm, called Farm One Forty, provides in-season produce, free-range meat and honey from its apiary to its Broadway restaurant and market.
But offerings in the culinary guide are available throughout the year— not just during the JUNOS. “Our goals with the JUNO Culinary Experience are to bring a national and international spotlight to Saskatoon’s culinary scene,” says Venneri, “and casting Saskatchewan in a new light to new audiences.”