Durham College celebrates fall’s bounty with fourth-annual Harvest Dinner

Guests enjoyed the seasonal meal

Oshawa, Ont. – On September 20, the grounds of Durham College’s (DC) W. Galen Weston Centre for Food (CFF) were once again filled with guests dining under the stars during the fourth-annual Harvest Dinner, as 130 community members celebrated fall’s abundance.

In keeping with the CFF’s field-to-fork philosophy, the family-style meal featured food planted on and picked from the CFF’s grounds and prepared by its students. Beginning with assorted appetizers including DC-made charcuterie and cheeses, the meal consisted of seven courses ranging from a trio of garden fresh salads, baked black beans with triple-smoked pork belly to Ontario lamb and apple goulash and roasted Ontario-beef striploin. Desserts included pavlova with raspberry pink-peppercorn marmalade and beet-velvet cake.

The event was the culmination of countless hours spent preparing in CFF’s fields, labs and classrooms. It was a true team effort that saw Horticulture – Food and Farming and Horticulture Technician students cultivate and harvest the produce used in the meal, Culinary Management and Culinary Skills students prepare the dinner and students from the Special Events Management, Hospitality – Hotel and Restaurant Operationsand Hospitality Skills programs serve guests.

“The Harvest Dinner is always an incredibly special evening,” said Kevin Baker, dean and principal, Whitby campus. “Not only does the community have a chance to come together in fellowship to enjoy the best of seasonal, local food and Ontario wines and beers, it also gives our students an opportunity to apply the skills they are learning in class in a real-world setting. Being able to see the fruits of their labour enjoyed is always one of the highlights of their year.”

For those who missed the Harvest Dinner, CFF fruits and vegetables, as well as other local ingredients will continue to be served at Bistro ’67, the college’s full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant. Fresh produce and student-prepared goods are also available at Pantry, the retail store within the CFF. For anyone looking to expand their own culinary skills, cooking classes and demonstrations are available through DC’s School of Continuing Education.

For more information, visit www.durhamcollege.ca/cff.

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About Durham College

At Durham College (DC), the student experience comes first. With campuses in Oshawa and Whitby and a learning site in Pickering, the college offers more than 13,600 full-time post-secondary and apprenticeship students access to more than 140 full-time and eight apprenticeship programs in a number of different disciplines, enabling them to develop the skills required to meet the demands of today’s job market. The college has also launched its first four-year degree program, the Honours Bachelor of Health Care Technology Management, in September 2018.

The Oshawa campus features the state-of-the art Student Services building and the Centre for Collaborative Education, a legacy project tied to DC’s 50th anniversary in 2017. The newly-opened facility brings together local, Indigenous and global communities, providing a new home for several of the college’s most innovative and ground-breaking programs.

The Whitby campus features the award-winning W. Galen Weston Centre for Food, which includes Bistro ’67, a full-service, teaching-inspired restaurant, and Pantry, a retail store featuring food prepared by students in the college’s culinary programs.

For more information, visit www.durhamcollege.ca or call 905.721.2000.

Media contact:
Meghan Ney
Communications and Marketing

meghan.ney@durhamcollege.ca