Table Talks are an informal culinary salon hosted by The Depanneur. Every month we invite a local food personality to talk about something that interests them while Dep founder Len Senater cooks dinner.

Food touches almost every aspect of our lives, from the personal and historical to the economic and political, with enormous impacts on our environment, health and well being. It has the capacity to be a powerful lever for systems change, and people like Sarah Heynen of the Canadian Centre for Food & Ecology are exploring ways to leverage this in a positive, joyful way. 

Sarah is the inaugural Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Food & Ecology (CCFE). Having grown up in Alberta with melting glaciers on the horizon and oil pumps in the foreground, her life-long pursuit has been dedicated to the balance between human and natural systems. 

I met Sarah in 2024 as she was mapping out the Canadian good food ecosystem, and she quickly became and invaluable mentor and supporter of the Depanneur. In time, this evolved into a rewarding collaboration: The Dep is now co-located in the CCFE Solutions Salon at The Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), and I could not be prouder to call this our home.

Tonight she will share how her accumulated learnings are being applied through the CCFE, an organization that started from a life-changing salad and is now delivering taste-driven programs, rooted in joy, to connect eaters wth their local regenerative food economy.

Dinner by Len Senater

Tonight's menu tries to touch on/embody ideas of bioregionality, seasonality (in Canada in Feb!), low waste/sustainable/regenerative ingredients, low-impact/footprint/plant-based diet, and showcasing forward-thinking local producers.

Carrot Ginger soup + Spent Goods croutons (optional; contains gluten)

Living lettuce + roasted beets salad
with toasted seeds & dried fruit, local honey & mustard vinaigrette. 

Crispy Maizal polenta with Kendal Hills Farms mushroom ragu 

Honey's Evergreen Forest ice cream (plant-based, cashew base)
+ Robinson’s Buckwheat Financier crumble (optional; contains butter & eggs)

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Len Senater is the founder and proprietor of The Depanneur, who happily cooks for his friends and neighbours. @TheDepanneur