Telling the story of local food

Bill Atwood Observer Staff

AS A CHEF AND OWNER of the Fat Sparrow Restaurant Group, Nick Benninger has always been an advocate for farm to table, as well as products made locally in Waterloo Region.

“My entire cooking career, I’ve always been sort of fiercely proud of what happens in KW. I think that comes from having spent some time in other parts of Ontario that looked at KW as, like this off the highway blip on the radar that didn’t offer much from a cultural or culinary point of view. So when I returned to this area back in the early 2000s, I just had this built-in desire to always showcase what was local. And it doesn’t hurt that so many things here are quite amazing,” Benninger said.

As part of this advocacy, Benninger recently hosted a six-part documentary series production in conjunction with Stratford-based Ballinran Entertainment and Explore Waterloo Region. Each 10-minute episode of “Farm to Fork” will show- case Benninger’s visit to a different farm in the region. Each visit included Benninger learning about the operations of the farm and seeing the creation of a meal with ingredients produced at that location.

“We’re lucky to be surrounded by such agriculture and the farmers’ market, and this history of connection to the land, whether it be through the first settlers or the Indigenous people beforehand. So when they approached me with the opportunity at Ballinran Entertainment, I couldn’t help but say yes. To be the person that gets to help tell the story in such a well-produced way, I think anyone would say yes to that,” he said.

One location that Benninger visited was the Oak Ridge Acres bison farm and store in Ayr. For store manager Jessica Gerber, supporting local farms means supporting the local economy.

“As a small family farm here, where we do raise animals, but also as a small family store who works with so many other producers, when you shop local, you buy local, everything stays local. The