CHEFS' TABLE SOCIETY ANNOUNCES THE FIRST ANNUAL SPOT PRAWN FESTIVAL Launch date: Saturday May 5th, 12:00pm - 6:00pm Duration: The Spot Prawn Festival will run for six to eight weeks. Buying times: The estimated time of arrival of the boats is 4.30pm to 5.30pm every afternoon. Location: False Creek Fishermen' Wharf (1505 West 1st Avenue, North-West of Granville Island, between the Burrard Street Bridge and the Granville Street Bridge - http://www.falsecreek.com/p_map.htm) The Chefs' Table Society of BC has announced the First Annual Spot Prawn Festival, sponsored by Granville Island Public Market, False Creek Fishermen's Wharf and the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise program. Lasting for the duration of the season, the six to eight week Spot Prawn Festival will kick off on Saturday May 5th from 12 pm to 6 pm with a community and family-friendly event at False Creek Fishermen's Wharf. This rain or shine launch will feature a lively cooking demonstration stage hosted by Vancouver magazine's Jamie Maw and some of Vancouver's top chefs. Cooking demonstrations will also take place at Granville Island at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. Food lovers will see delicious samples, spot prawn specials at the award-winning Go Fish!, a gathering of Vancouver's chef and restaurant community, and the arrival of the season's first spot prawns as local fishermen return to the wharf with their catch. The Chefs' Table Society cooking demonstrations will take place from 1 pm to 5 pm with the following chefs preparing dishes from their own spot prawn recipes: John Bishop - Bishop's; Gord Martin - Bin 941&942 / Go Fish; David Hawksworth - West; Nico Schuermans- Chambar; Don Letendre - Elixir; Neil Wyles - Hamilton Street Grill; and Dino Renaerts - Chef Consultant. The goals of the Spot Prawn Festival are to highlight an environmentally sound and locally sourced product as a readily available and delicious alternative to Southeast Asian tiger prawns (a staggering 900,000 tonnes of which are consumed worldwide per annum, with the overwhelming majority being farmed); to help encourage the development of Vancouver's first day-boat fishery delivering high quality spot prawns directly to the local community; and to remind us that farmer's markets don't stop at the water's edge. The annual Spot Prawn Festival will provide another local, fresh, and sustainable ingredient for our restaurant chefs and home cooks to enjoy. Those who take pride in serving the bounty of British Columbia can use this annual six to eight week window of opportunity to purchase live, locally sourced and sustainable spot prawns directly from our local fishermen at False Creek Fishermen's Wharf for $12 per pound for the public ($10 for Chefs' Table members). The Chefs' Table Society encourages local chefs and restaurants to purchase spot prawns during this period, and invites the public to participate by purchasing spot prawns not just from the docks but from participating restaurants as well. Local. Sustainable. Delicious. Join us for the 1st Annual Local Spot Prawn Festival! Contacts: Tiffany Soper CTS Director of Communications 604-783-0013 tiffanysoper@shaw.ca Steve Johansen Organic Ocean 778-231-9453 steve@organicocean.com