Large crowd comes out for World Shore Lunch
Organizers of championship sell out of fish in less than two hours
Joseph Tunney
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The third annual World Shore Lunch Championship was a success, even if some people may have left hungry.
Christine Wenman gets ready to serve as a line of hungry customers form in front of the tent. - Joseph Tunney/NNSL photo |
Fifteen-hundred fish dishes flew off the shelves faster than the crowd's demand could be sated, leaving organizers with a shortage before the night was over.
"We had 300 pounds of fish on order," said Tracy Therrien, executive director and one of the key co-ordinators of the event. "We had that (amount) last year but we had fish left after the shore lunch, so we thought we were OK."
However for Therrien, selling out is a good sign.
The championship was the annual fundraiser for the Northern Frontier Visitor Centre. Cooks from across Yellowknife created their best culinary masterpieces using local fish, with a panel of judges and the crowd voting to determine who had the most delicious recipe.
"We're looking to make money from it," said Therrien. "And promote our great fish from the Northwest Territories."
Jason Kirby and Alaister McTurk from Luluz Market won the judge's choice award, which included a shirt, a hat and a cheque for $1,000. Their creation was a curried cauliflower puree with confit tomato petals, thyme, garlic and cucumber spaghetti.
"(It was) a lot of hard work, good to bring something different to the table for the both of us," said Kirby.
The cooks from the Namushka Lodge took home the public's choice award. They served battered fish, caesar salad and fried up seven pounds of their own bacon. With their fish, they offered a non-bake cheesecake with fresh berries and crackers with cream cheese and smoked char.
"It feels amazing," said Namushka Lodge's Tara Bromley about winning. "It's great for Namushka. We're super stoked."
While the fish was the main attraction, spectators had lots of other activities to participate in. There were fish-related crafts on display, a live auction and a beer competition between NWT Brewing Company and Yukon Brewing to see who could sell the most beer. The loser of the beer competition has to fly the winner's flag at their brewery for a year. At the end of the day, the NWT Brewing Company won.
"Our fish is local and our beer is local," said Therrien. "How much better can you get than that?"
Therrien said one day they hope the event will not just bring together cooks from Yellowknife but all of the Northwest Territories.
"We hope to continue to grow it," Therrien said. "And we hope to make it one day an international event where we do get teams from other parts of the world."
