Dining with the Stars began as an awareness campaign undertaken by the Food Miles Committee of the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate (now SaskOrganics). The committee’s goals were simple:

• connect our producers, restaurants and consumers to each other
• raise awareness about the diverse and plentiful array of the healthy, local, and organic food found right here in Saskatchewan.

Seventeen local producers, thirteen restaurants, and an A-list of local celebrities were invited to take part in the Dining with the Stars project. The producers donated local, organic food, which the chefs artfully prepared into gourmet meals. Local restaurants played host to the events as the producers and stars were invited to indulge in fabulous meals with engaging conversations and hours of evening fun which included sampling organic beer and wine. All of the events were captured on film, and from this the intriguing mini-series known as Dining with the Stars was born.

Broadcast Debut

Only in Saskatchewan!! *Dining with the Stars*, the Television series made its debut on the cable networks of Access7 and Shaw during the week of October 23rd 2011. The much waited for finished episodes were aired for the public on October 16th in Regina at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. A Gala Launch was held in conjunction with the event where participants in the project enjoyed hors d’oeuvres provided by the Star chefs from the series. A short program highlighted the impact of the series on the participants.

The thirteen episodes take you on a journey starting with the discussion of the local celebrity in conversation with the chefs in planning each of the thirteen dinners held in 6 areas of the province to the farms of the seventeen producers of the food and then to the kitchens and dining rooms of the star chefs who prepared the gourmet local and organic meals. Twelve to thirty eager consumers feasted on some of the finest foods that Saskatchewan has to offer. Filming took place from August of 2010 through to March of 2011.

 

All thirteen episodes are available on YouTube.

Plan to be educated, tantalized by the food and encouraged by this grass roots effort to create awareness of the abundance of local and organic food choices in the province even in the dead of winter when the meals were enjoyed by all.