TORONTO — Top chefs from 12 Ocean Wise-partner restaurants competed at the Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown at the Fermenting Cellar in The Distillery District in Toronto last night. This annual event, which takes place during Ocean Wise Month, brings together some of the region’s culinary heavyweights as they vie to have their chowder recipe be crowned the winner.
This year’s judging panel — which included chef Martin Kouprie, The Globe Restaurant; chef Brad Long, Café Belong; Liora Ipsum, food editor, The Daily Hive; David Ort, Post City Magazine — selected chefs Chris Torgis and Joel Gray of Thornbury’s Bruce Wine Bar as the 2016 Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown Champion. The team’s New England Corn and Smoked Whitefish Chowder, featuring fresh herbs, pickled potatoes, whitefish roe and a corn tortilla ash, also took home the People’s Choice Award.
“This event brings together the very best in Toronto’s food scene, including consumers and chef partners, united by their love and support of sustainable seafood,” says Ann-Marie Copping, Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program manager. “The food is delicious, the energy is amazing and the conversation is inspiring. Everyone that attends is there because they recognize our oceans, threatened by overfishing, need us. Events like this and partners like ours are truly helping to make a difference.”
The chowders featured an impressive array of seafood, from octopus to geoduck. A list of participating chefs and beverage partners can be found here.
