The University of Guelph – Canada’s Food University – is a proud sponsor of Food Day Canada. Celebrating Canadian farmers, producers, distributors, retailers, chefs, restaurateurs, researchers, teachers and writers, this day honors those who contribute so much to the quality of life in Canada, by enhancing the quality of the food that we eat.
The motto, Changing Lives, Improving Life says it all. The University of Guelph is ranked as one of Canada’s top comprehensive universities because of their commitment to student learning and innovative research and is dedicated to cultivating the essentials for our quality of life – water, food, environment, animal and human health, community, commerce, culture and learning. The University community also shares a profound sense of social responsibility, an obligation to address global issues and a concern for international development.
In 2003, when Food Day Canada began as The World’s Longest Barbecue™, the University embraced the concept, sending out email blasts and even attempting a web cam from one of the professorial parties. Few at that time really understood viral marketing or the power of the ‘net’. But every year thereafter, some part of the University community participated.
In 2010 the University of Guelph Innovation Awards were launched. Co-sponsored by Guelph’s business school – the College of Business and Economics (CBE), the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, and the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), these awards profile and celebrate the creativity of Canadian chefs at restaurants from across the country. Of all of the Food Day Canada Awards, these receive the most buzz within the restaurant community.
More specifically, The Good Food Innovation Award were created to honour food professionals from across the country who strive to provide innovative menu solutions based on Canadian ingredients. There are chefs and restaurants that are the virtual homesteaders of Canadian cuisine. In their evolution, they’ve traveled down different culinary pathways on extraordinary journeys that have led the way for others. They have created milestones. They are men and women who have created history.
In 2012 the University of Guelph appointed Anita Stewart its first Food Laureate, in recognition of her tremendous contributions to Canadian food.
