Show Us Your Spoons!
Small Actions of Sustainability at Savour the Chill by Downtown District BIA Board Chair Stacey Kerr
When my spouse and I first moved to the area in early 2020, one of our first event experiences in the Belleville Downtown District was Savour the Chill. I still remember standing outside in line, shivering because I’d foolishly left my coat back in our store, and gripping my spoon in anticipation of warm, hearty soupy goodness.
I was not disappointed – there are always so many excellent restaurants presenting some creative soup options for this event. Savour the Chill wasn’t my first time enjoying delicious food contests; every summer that we lived in Whitby meant deliberating the selection of sticky sweet sauces at Whitby’s Ribfest and voting for favourites on my phone while exiting the festival grounds. But as I waited on the chilly sidewalk in Belleville, I couldn’t help but smile as I looked down at the utensil in my hand.
It’s the same one I’m bringing to this year’s Savour the Chill for its traditional “Bring Your Own Spoon” element, and a relic from another previous food contest – my bamboo spoon from the Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown in Toronto. Yes indeed – another soup contest! My mouth waters just thinking about it – at least ten different types of seafood-based soups and chowders from chefs around the city, all of them made with sustainable seafood ingredients. Rounding out the offerings for event-goers, there’s always drinks from local breweries and beverage companies, and everybody at the event walks around with these gorgeous little bamboo Ocean Wise stamped spoons. I treasure the two I have from the Chowdowns I was able to attend, partly because they look really cool, but also because they remind me of the community of people they connect me to.
The Chowder Chowdown is a fundraiser event to boost the charity and highlight one of its goals of bringing awareness of the importance of sustainable seafood. But just as importantly, it also celebrates the ingenuity and dedication of a group of chefs that choose to prioritize this broader community-based worldview into their day-to-day lives and businesses, investing in a better future for all of us.
This outlook is something I am proud and excited to see growing and blooming in our Belleville Downtown District – this recognition of interconnection and working together towards a bigger goal like sustainability. It starts small – a restaurant decides to include ingredients from local farms, or chooses to switch their take-out containers to biodegradable materials instead of styrofoam or plastic.
For our visitors, it’s those that opt to bring their own bags, or in the case of Savour the Chill, remembering to bring your own spoon (and sharing any stories you might have about your spoon on social media!). Simply by choosing to shop local and support our Downtown, and by extension support your neighbours, you’re a part of a community-minded approach to life, which is also a component of sustainability.
The pandemic has put something of a laser focus on how important this type of worldview and actions are for supporting one another, and for making our communities truly resilient in the face of a world that is constantly in flux. Small actions done with care are the foundation for bigger positive change.
So when you come Downtown this weekend for Savour the Chill, raise your spoons and biodegradable cups high, sip those soups and cozy warm beverages with pride, and remember that you too are a part of a wonderful, connected community.
Savour the Chill happens this Saturday, February 26 throughout the Belleville Downtown District from noon until the soups run out. Don’t forget to vote for your favourites, and see if yours matches what the official judges decide too! It’s also the City of Belleville’s Winter Family Funfest, with activities and freebies for the kiddos, plus a number of Downtown retailers will have special promotions on too – there’s something for everyone.
Also, if you’d like to chat more about the Downtown, come meet me and Luisa, our Belleville Downtown District BIA Executive Director during Savour the Chill – we’ll be hanging out by the fireside table outside Scalliwag Toys with some marshmallows for roasting between 2pm and 4pm.
Don’t forget to bring some cash to indulge some soul-warming home-made hot chocolate from L’Auberge de France’s takeout window next door too!
