The Seaweed Lady / Deconstructing Dinner in our Schools V

The Seaweed Lady
In mid-February, Deconstructing Dinner visited southern Vancouver Island, and in particular the community of Sooke, which is home to an active and well-connected food community. One of those foodies is Diane Bernard who is more commonly known as "The Seaweed Lady". Diane is the founder of Outer Coast Seaweeds - a producer of seaweed-based skin care products, but Diane is also active in using and supplying seaweeds for culinary use.

Deconstructing Dinner in Our Schools V

Edward Milne Community School
Also located in Sooke is a unique culinary arts program offered at Edward Milne Community School - the area's local high-school. While the culinary program itself is unique among Canadian high schools, also exciting is the program's very own vegetable and herb garden and fruit trees that the students are also engaged with throughout their classes.

Campus Action on Food - Dalhousie University
Through the work of CKDU's Asaf Rashid, we examine a series of recent demonstrations staged at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The demonstrations are organized by Campus Action on Food who have been seeking to raise awareness of the exclusive foodservice contracts, which, similar to many institutions, often restrict students to purchasing food from only one foodservice company.

Guests

Diane Bernard, owner, Outer Coast Seaweeds (Sooke, BC) - Diane Bernard has harvested wild seaweeds for the past 12 years. Her passion for seaweeds has landed her with the title of Seaweed Lady and she operates Outer Coast Seaweeds - a business whose primary focus is the Seaflora brand of seaweed-based skin-care products. Diane is also an avid culinary user of seaweeds and also supplies chefs throughout British Columbia with freshly harvested varieties. Diane has a commercial license to harvest seaweeds along the southwestern coast of Vancouver Island between the communities of Sooke and Port Renfrew.

Pia Carroll & Marion French, culinary arts instructors, Edward Milne Community School (Sooke, BC) - Pia has worked at Edward Milne Community School for 14 years and Marion for 2. Both are passionate about empowering students with the knowledge/skills to work in commercial kitchens and ensure students are well aware of where the food comes from and how it's grown.