Food & wine writers pour into Kelowna

Photo courtesy of the Okanagan Food & Wine Writers' Workshop

Okanagan Food & Wine Writers' Workshop participants gather around Helen Kennedy of Arlo's Honey Farm in Kelowna for a farm tour in June 2012.

Kelowna, we have some cool customers in town this week. If you see them around, be sure to give them a warm welcome. The Okanagan Food & Wine Writers Workshop is taking place this week in Kelowna. This scholarly group is here to dive into professional development workshops on writing, pitching, crafting a story, coming up with angles, and how to present their work. They will do this from the focused environment of their Delta Grand Okanagan Resort digs, and then put their learnings into practice by visiting local hot spots for food and wine and using the experiences and characters they meet here as fodder for their stories, blogs, and writings.

The workshop is organized by ‘seasoned’ food writer Jennifer Cockrall-King (pardon the pun), and has become an annual occurrence in Kelowna. Cockrall-King has had her articles published in numerous publications across Canada ranging from West World Magazine to enRoute magazine and has written a book on urban agriculture called Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution.

The participants for the workshop come from all over Canada to hone their writing, including Calgary, Edmonton, Swift Current, Ottawa, Toronto, and several local writers. She has assembled an impressive cast of instructors who will join her in leading the workshop sessions of the Okanagan Food & Wine Writers Workshop.

• Amy Rosen - James Beard-nominated journalist and the acting food editor at Chatelaine magazine, columnist with the National Post, and a regular contributor to major food pages in Canada and the US. www.amyrosen.com
• Shelley Boettcher - wine columnist at the Calgary Herald. Her second wine book, Uncorked: The Definitive Guide to Alberta's Best Wines $25 and Under, was released in November 2012. www.shelleyboettcher.com
• Jennifer Schell - food and wine writer, columnist, editor of B.C. Food & Wine Trails Magazine and author of the best-selling cookbook, The Butcher, The Baker, The Wine & Cheese Maker – An Okanagan Cookbook.
• Curtis Gillespie - editor and co-founder of the multi-award winning new Canadian magazine, Eighteen Bridges. His writing has appeared in magazines worldwide, and he is the author of five books, most recently Almost There: The Family Vacation Then and Now.

A few highlights of their food and wine experiences in Kelowna will be meeting some of Kelowna’s top chefs at exclusive dinner venues, including Gold Medal Plates competitor Mark Filatow (Waterfront Wines), Stuart Klassen (Delta Grand Okanagan Executive Chef), Bernard Casavant (Manteo Resort’s Smack DAB), Jesse Croy (Summerhill Pyramid Winery’s Sunset Bistro), and Jeremy Luypen (Cabana Grille).

They will also tour the Kelowna Farmers’ and Crafters’ Market, enjoy a winery tour at Summerhill, have dinner on the Lake Lounge houseboat on Okanagan Lake, take in a canning demonstration with BC Tree Fruits and lunch with orchardists, learn food preparation and cutting techniques at Knife Wear, make bread at Okanagan Grocery Artisan Breads, learn about roasting coffee at the Bean Scene, and enjoy a spirits tasting experience at Okanagan Spirits. Distinctly Kelowna Tours will provide the group with knowledgeable guided transportation.

There is so much to see and do in Kelowna if you’re a foodie… and if your passion is to write about it, then this workshop is undoubtedly the crème de la crème in professional development. Enjoy our food and wine charms, workshop participants – we hope you’ll be back in town again soon!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.