Taste in Canada
Presented by speaker Elizabeth Baird
Elizabeth Baird shared career highlights and a history of food trends in Canada through anecdotes and past Canadian Living Magazine content.
On June 22, 2010, the Verdi Hospitality Centre in Mississauga was alive with buzz as many professional women attended the WFIM Gala Appreciation Dinner to hear career insights and highlights from the renowned Elizabeth Baird, Executive Food Editor of Canadian Living Magazine.  Members and guests took the opportunity to network with old acquaintances, and meet new friends from the industry. It was time to enjoy a little professional networking.
In addition to her many accomplishments with the magazine, Elizabeth Baird has appeared on the Canadian Living television program for the past three years. During her talk entitled Taste in Canada, Elizabeth shared her career journey, her favourite culinary expeditions, her test kitchen experience, and her journey with food in Canada. Elizabeth told us that she was a French teacher early in her career; this made me wonder if this skill added to her exceptional culinary gifts.
The meat and potatoes of her talk was enhanced by showing dozens of Canadian Living magazine covers that spanned her career of more than 20 years. Her collection showed how food trends – what’s hot and what’s not -, food presentation style, and cooking methods have evolved over the years. We learned that microwave is still a magic kitchen appliance today. Elizabeth’s presentation is available on slideshare here.
Elizabeth also shared one of her more memorable culinary expeditions, called “The Butter Tart Trail™”.
It was an invitation to explore quaint villages, scenic farmland and indulge in over a dozen varieties of the scrumptious, perfectly crisp-and-flaky butter tarts within the Township of Wellington North. She suggested we check it out at http://www.wellington-north.com/whats-on/butter-tart-trail.aspx.
She had me convinced to search for this uniquely Canadian treat located just 90 minutes away.
For all cookie lovers, Elizabeth provided us with a sneak peak on where to find great kitchen-tested recipes. The Christmas 2010 edition of Canadian Living magazine will feature 80% of the most loved recipes in the feature “all you ever wanted to know about cookies.”
As the dinner ended, I went home satisfied that I had a great time, met some new friends and reconnected with many old ones. It was a great networking night, with a three course dinner, and a charming and knowledgeable key speaker, what more could I ask for?