Uniting urban and rural with dinner

Farmer hosts pop-up dinner to showcase local food production

EDMONTON— When he wanted to take his wife out for a nice meal, Ian Griebel, a farmer in Castor, Alta., had to drive two and a half hours to either Edmonton or Calgary, or more than an hour to Red Deer, to make that happen. But when he realized he couldn’t make that trip all the time, he decided to bring the restaurant to her — and the rest of the rural community.

Griebel held his first pop-up dinner at his house on Redtail Farms during the first week of August.

After seeing the interest not just from the local community but a number of city folks as well, Griebel realized he was onto something that could not only bridge the gap between the rural and urban, but also show city folks where their food comes from.

With a freshly renovated house, enough space and a nice kitchen, Griebel teamed up with chefs from Chartier restaurant and Blindman Brewing, a brewery in Lacombe, Alta., and Eat Alberta, out of Edmonton, to produce the event.

The dinner was originally intended for a hundred people, but around 130 attended and more expressed interest.

“It sold out so fast,” Griebel said. “This is something people are really looking for out here,” Griebel said.

“I think there is a huge opportunity and almost necessity for urban and rural to start getting together and actually working together, because we actually need each other.”

The meat and vegetables from the majority of farms in Alberta are sold to customers in cities. Despite living in the area where all the food production is happening, Castor’s community buys groceries at their two local grocery stores, both of which get supplies from farther afield.

“We are shipping it all to the city, and then everyone here in the rural community is driving ... to buy the product,” he said.

For his hometown, Griebel wants to introduce fresh, local produce straight from the farms instead of taking it to cities first.

For that to happen, he believes getting rural and urban groups together is important.

COURTESY OF DETOUR PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Griebel hosted a dinner at Red Tail Farms and invited urban and rural residents to bridge the gap between them.