U of G Executive Chef Chef Vijay Nair prepares a gourmet meal with Kiran Bains, using ingredients harvested at the University, to demonstrate our local food commitment.

[Upbeat guitar music plays. Images of basil and sunflowers and other food plants. Text on screen reads: LOCAL. CANADIAN. INGREDIENTS. ZERO WASTE. #UOFG.]

[Images of the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming. U of G Executive Chef Vijay Nair stands a table with food ingredients, looking at camera, with U of G student and video host Kiran Bains.]

Kiran Bains: We recently were rated as having best food on campus in Canada, Now VJ, as our executive chef, what is it that makes us have the best campus food.

University of Guelph Executive Chef Vijay Nair: We are privileged to be at Guelph because we have access to a lot of great produce and food that are that is bountiful in the Wellington County. Our story is all about building partnerships on campus.

[Images show Nair walking through greenhouses on campus, inspecting plants.]

Nair: We work with the organic farm on campus, with the Alma Research Station, with the Bovey Greenhouse, with farmers in and around Guelph. We work at the TasteReal, we work with the apiary and students and professors and campus to better our food systems to improve life.

[Nair begins to cook some fish in a pan]

Nair: So we are starting off cooking some arctic char here.

[Music plays as video shows fish sizzling in a pan. Nair then plates the fish on top of mashed potatoes and green beans and tops it with frisee salad]

Bains: This looks beautiful and it’s all local and extremely nutritious ingredients.

Nair: Yes, this plate showcase our partnerships on campus. we have the Yukon Gold potatoes that were developed here at theUniversity we have green beans and red onions that were grown right here in campus at the organic farm the arctic char again is is from the almond search station and the frisée and the pressure
of salad again is from the organic farm.I think it’s it’s very much possible to connect food to our local communities and we are continuously trying to do that and and and in some ways improve life on campus.

[Closeup of fish dish. Music fades]