Feast Food+Film is the Victoria Film Festival‘s love letter to all things culinary and it will be spotlighting the best treats that the Capital Region can offer. This event runs June 13-15, 2019 and the movies featured has Ed endorsing the search for Shangri-La with Himalayan Gold Rush. There’s a reason: variations of this fungus is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Does it work? Ed says some of it does, if you can stomach the taste. A lot of manufactured medications work the same way as those harvested in the wilds. The only difference is in purity and concentration, and the belief that it does the body good than the gross out factor of, say, consuming bugs.

The film line-up features five documentaries and one feature film that explores the flavours, stories, and people behind a particular cuisine. The line-up and menus include:

• Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy (documentary): Diana Kennedy, “The Mick Jagger of Mexican Cooking” and two-time James Beard award winner. The world’s foremost culinary expert on Mexican cooking is a petite, 94-year old, British-born woman–but this isn’t the most eccentric thing about her. Recently screened at HotDocs and winner of the Special Jury Award for excellence in storytelling at the SXSW Film Festival. Serving a West Coast ceviche from Cook Culture featuring BC white fish.

• Chef’s Diaries: Scotland (documentary): Star restaurateurs and brothers Joan, Josep, and Jordi Roca are hungry for culinary inspiration. They leave behind their restaurant, El Celler de Can Roca—twice named world’s best restaurant and a holder of three Michelin stars — for a gastronomic journey through Scotland in the hope of uncovering the secrets behind a long-overlooked cuisine. Serving bites from locally operated Toque Catering and cocktails from Sheringham Distillery. 

• Gin: The Movie (documentary): Dry, herbaceous, and currently in style, gin continues to defy assumptions that it’s just a base for fancy, flavourful cocktails. The greatest gin enthusiasts in the UK share secrets behind the famous spirit, proving there’s more to the juniper-based elixir than its relation to the martini. You’ll never look at another gin and tonic the same way again. Serving samples from various Vancouver Island distilleries hosted by The Strathcona Liquor Store.

• Brewmaster (documentary): Beer geeks rejoice! Raise your glass to this effervescent look at the modern world’s romance with craft beer. Follow the stories of two American men set on making their dreams a reality in the flourishing business of beer. One is a New York lawyer who moonlights as a homebrewer, and the other is a professional beer educator who is striving for the title of Master Cicerone. Serving samples from local craft breweries Hoyne Brewing Co., Spinnakers, and Vancouver Island Brewing. 

• Himalayan Gold Rush (documentary): Follow the money and the path to prosperity in this documentary recounting the annual mad dash through the Himalayas for a mysterious half-plant half-insect that is said to have magical properties. The search and harvest of Nepal’s Yarsagumbu is a gold rush story for the new millennia. Screened at The Mint. Serving and demoing traditional hand-rolled momo and a cup of Chiya (chai).

• Back to Burgundy (feature film): An intoxicating story of three siblings’ passages into running the family’s centuries-old winery in France. Comment pouvez-vous résister? Audiences may recognize France’s own Pio Marmai, formerly in Trouble with You, winner of the Victoria Film Festival audience favourite award 2019. Serving Italian cheeses hosted by Flavia, La Tana Italian Bakery‘s in-house Master Cheese Taster and cheese connoisseur.