About Me
I’m a former participant in the same food world most everyone else is at the moment. In high school my lunch was most often microwaved pizza pops. Then travel got me obsessed with what the French call ‘cuisine du terroir’ – quite literally cuisine that speaks of place and also time. It was a beautiful concept. And it was tasty. I kept returning home perplexed with what our ‘cuisine du terroir’ was here. If we had one, I wasn’t plugged into it in any meaningful way, and certainly couldn’t describe it to an innocent bystander. So I set out to see if I could change that, even if only a little.
The only way I figured I could change the food culture I spent my life in was to simply do it, at home, one small step at a time. So I started doing stuff, and documenting on this website. I started gardening. Took up hunting big game. Built a root cellar. Started butchering pigs, beef, moose, elk, deer, antelope. Started foraging. I built a wood oven. Started smoking meats. Built a fruit crusher & press. Fermented some cider. Okay, lots of cider. Introduced myself to some farmers. Stepped into the world of charcuterie. Got involved in the food community. I kept stepping forward in all of these areas, slowly changing how we ate, and how we lived. If I didn’t know how to take a step, the internet and library were always there to show me the way.
Along that path, and I’m still on that same journey, I ended up here. Right here, and right now. And that’s how I eat.
I produce videos about my adventures with food, take photos, and write stuff. I currently serve on the boards of the Alberta Farmers’ Market Association and Slow Food Edmonton, am a contributing writer for the Alberta Conservation Association‘s ‘Conservation Magazine‘, a contributor to the FarmOn Farm Masters program, a neighborhood captain for Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton, and lend a hand as a ‘local food expert’ for the NAIT culinary program. This website has won ‘Best Seasonal/Local’ in the Canadian Food Blog Awards, and one of my videos won ‘The Perennial Plate’ video competition. I’ve been featured in the Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, CBC.ca, CBC radio, Vue Weekly, CTV, CTV2 Alberta Primetime, and other local, national, and international media. I do some public speaking here and there if folks twist my arm hard enough.
Feel free to email me kevin@kevinkossowan.com, chat me up on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or wherever else we might meet online.
