The S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition brings together students from 73 culinary institutions across Canada and the United States  The Canadian Regionals will have students competing from The George Brown Chef’s School (Toronto), The International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Vancouver, École hôtelière de la Capitale (Québec City), Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (Montréal).

The winner of the Canadian Regionals will join the other 9 regional winners in Napa, California on March 9th to compete to compete to be named the San Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef, up to $22,000 in prizes and a career-changing apprenticeship with a master chef.

Joining Alexa on the Judging Panel will be:

• Chef Jonas, Lee Restaurant, Toronto
• Annabelle Waugh, Food Director, Canadian Living Magazine
• Emily Richards, Food Columnist, Metro Newspapers

Read more details here

• Alexa Clark @alexaclark: Founder of CheapEats, Secret Pickle and HoHoTO.
• Erica Ehm, @YummyMummyClub CEO of Yummy Mummy Club
• Matt Hartley @thehartley Editor, FP Tech Desk at National Post
• Zach Bussey @zachbussey Social media consultant, blogger and web radio personality

The panel was facilitated by Hill & Knowlton associate and digital media strategist Eden Spodek @EdenSpodek.

The discussion centered on how to best engage with these influencers and, a point of much debate, whether they should be paid to share information on behalf of brands and got enough attention through the hashtag #HKBlogChat on the twitter backchannel to trend in Canada.

Click to read Mary Warner’s article about our panel on Hill & Knowlton’s bandwidth

photo credit @hk_canada

Continue reading the Longo’s announcement by clicking here:  Longo’s Taste Ontario Ambassadors Announcement

Continue reading Alexa’s announcement on unsweetened.ca by clicking here:  Foodie Adventure: Longo’s Taste Ontario Ambassador!

Click to see the full illustrated profile on Broken Pencil

Alexa said: In August I was approached by Lindsay Gibb, the Editor of Broken Pencil, asking if I would consider being a guinea pig for a new feature in the magazine. Each edition, starting with the one you see on the right, they will be inviting an illustrator to create a profile of someone they think is “profile-worthy”.

Since this is The Food Issue, they thought I would be a likely candidate.  And since I’m always open to shameless self-promotion I agreed. Besides, it sounded fun.

Lindsay hooked me up with Jason Turner, the illustrator, and I’m really excited to see what he’s done with all my whacky answers to questions like “Do you cook as well?” “How is the Ottawa book coming along?” and “what is your earliest memory of eating out.”

Jason Said: Back in the summer Broken Pencil magazine approached me to do an illustrated profile for their food issue. They hooked me up with Alexa Clark, author of Cheap Eats Toronto. It was strange trying to get anything meaningful into one page, and doing it about this person I only knew through a couple of emails. But I was happy enough with how it turned out.

This frame with Jason’s permission.  Click to see the full illustrated profile on Broken Pencil

Want more details, check out one of Alexa’s other bios:
1-liner |  100 Word | Biz Bio |  Food Bio | Blogger Bio | Long Bio

A couple of months ago there was a flurry of activity looking for someone “like a Canadian Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” for casting a Food Network Canada show. At the time a number of people ask me if I knew anyone. I offered my suggestions, all the while thinking “ME, I’d be perfect!!!!” but not saying it or typing it out loud. Time passed, and the opportunity come back around. [[ Keep reading ]]

The Digital Foodie Revolution Panel: Nom3 Digital foodies are stirring the pot with a recipe for the future. New ingredients are shaking up traditional media attitudes and consumers’ access to recipes, restaurants and cooking. From food bloggers to user generated reviews and recipes, ideas about food have never been more accessible.

In January, 2011 they interviewed Alexa.

This month, our interview is with Alexa Clark of Unsweetened.ca and Cheap Eats Toronto and Ottawa.  She’s also one of the minds behind HoHoTO, a fundraiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, and a regular culinary voice on Twitter.

So, without further ado, here is our interview with food blogger and publisher Alexa Clark.

When did you start blogging about food?

I started blogging about food almost as soon as I started blogging in 2004.  In fact, one of the first posts on my personal blog was about a lunch at Dunn’s Diner in Ottawa. I started my first food-related blogs in 2004 – the CheapEats Toronto and CheapEats Ottawa blog as a companion to the Restaurant Guides.  I started writing for a more conventional food blog – www.Foodists.ca – in 2006 after meeting one of the Foodists founders on a CBC Sounds Like Canada panel on the state of street food in Canada.

Click here to keep reading on Chickenfeeds.ca

Valley Foodie Of The Month: Alexa Clark

By Craig Pinhey

This edition of Valley Foodie is a little different, as I am featuring a friend who grew up here, but now lives in Toronto, although she still visits regularly.  Alexandra Clark is the founder of CheapEats, a guide to value restaurants in the Toronto area (www.cheapeatstoronto.com/), but she’ll always be a Valley Girl.

“I grew up on the shores of the Kennebecasis,” she explains, “in Hampton with my mother, the Kingston Peninsula with my father and stepmother, and then on Mather’s Island in the middle of the river.”

Click to keep reading on Craig’s site the Frog’s Pad

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My recommendations included The Fish Store and Sandwiches — the best fish sandwich in Toronto. Not to be missed, but don’t expect fancy service or plush seating. The focus is food – fresh, flavourful, perfectly prepared. Only 4 seats when the patio is closed.

Read more on Top 5 Toronto Weekend Meals by Alexa Clark on At Home With Kim Vallee