The local non-profit Island Chefs’ Collaborative (ICC) is hosting a fundraiser dinner to help the organization spread the idea of healthy eating, and they’re doing it with some involvement from a Camosun student and chair. Camosun second-year Hospitality Management student Cameron Nayler is in charge of marketing for the event; he says that the lessons that attendees can learn at the dinner are important for the future.
“I feel like Victoria is one of the leading cities in food health. I think it’s really important for kids to learn at a young age how to grow food and eat healthily,” says Nayler. “It’s a big problem we face—I meet a lot of people who have moved out on their own and they don’t know how to eat healthy. It’s important to be eating healthy not only for your physical well-being, but also for your mental well-being.”
Nayler just finished his co-op working at Four Seasons. He says that while it was a great experience, and that he loved working there, helping with a local event like this gives him a completely different kind of life experience. Although Nayler won’t be helping with the dinner, he says that one of the chefs who will be has a Camosun connection.
“The chef that’ll be cooking at the event is Steve Walker-Duncan,” says Nayler. “Steve is chair of the Culinary [Arts] program here at Camosun; it’ll be him and his students cooking, along with a few members of the ICC. Four Seasons was a really good experience, and I really liked what I did there, but this makes me feel like I’m really giving back to the community and that I’m really making a big difference by doing this.”
A delicious meal cooked by an instructor and his students isn’t the evening’s only selling point. Nayler says that other events, such as an auction, will be held during the dinner.
“Ticket-buyers can expect some very high-end cooking; it’s fine dining for sure,” he says. “It’s a five-course dinner with wine pairings, and we’re going to have some other things available as well during the dinner. We’re going to have a live auction; we’ve already got some stuff lined up, like Canucks tickets, jewelry, and paintings. The turnout last year was really good, and this year we’re projecting all 100 tickets to sell out.”
Harvest Dinner
6 pm Saturday, November 4
$85, The Atrium
ticketrocket.co