Trent Magazine Editorial: Trent’s Splendid Feast

A preview of my editorial for the upcoming edition of Trent Magazine.

We’ll be exploring the world of Trent University “foodie” alumnus and paying tribute to Tony Storey, who will be retiring from his long-served post of Director of Alumni affairs.

Trent’s Splendid Feast

I’ll be honest with you here.

My main memories of food at Trent revolve around various pots of Kraft dinner.

Post-Commoner Kraft Dinner. Post-Piggy Kraft Dinner. And, as a Traill-ite, post-Trend Kraft Dinner.

Anyone who witnessed my eating habits back then will tell you this: those were probably my most nutritious meals of the day.

I gained plenty of nourishment during my time at Trent. I feasted gloriously on a thousand years of literature. I drank deeply from the experience of wizened academics. I gained sustenance from the community that surrounded me.

But I ate like a guy who had just left home for the very first time.

A lot has changed over the years.

I’ve moved from cheap draught to Ontario micro-brews. I prefer local wines on a Saturday night. And there hasn’t been a box of Kraft Dinner in my house for 15 years.

In fact, I’ve found a side-career creating, writing about, and teaching others about local, seasonal food. I’ve matured, I guess. Or at least my palette has.

All of which makes the bringing together of this edition that much more exciting.

Trent, you may be surprised to learn, has housed a number of truly great foodies. Among our alumni, we have world-class winemakers, restaurant owners, chefs and growers. You’ll read about a few of them here, as well as online.

If that weren’t enough, I am also excited to showcase a new academic program in Sustainable Agriculture to our alumni base. This program will help produce a new generation of sustainable growers to the world, meaning the food on our tables will be even that much better.

But, as excited as I am about the food theme of this issue, I have mixed emotions about our cover story. I am somewhat saddened to think that this will be my final chance to work with Tony Storey on Trent Magazine. Tony helped bring me back into an active role with the Alumni Association, you see. He helped lead me back to the nourishing table of community, learning, and sharing that being an alumnus represents.

Of course, through his hard work and dedication, he has done the same for hundreds, if not thousands of Trent Alumni over the years. His presence will be deeply missed, both in Peterborough and in Oshawa.

Sure, I am excited for him. Yes, I think that he is richly deserving of a good, long break and a fruitful life of retirement. And I wish him all of the best…

But it will be sad to not have my monthly meetings with him at the Old Stone, Brio Gusto, and, yes, the Pig’s Ear.

It is only fitting, then, with this being both a food and drink issue and a farewell issue to Tony, that I raise a toast to the man of the hour… Heck, the man of the past three decades.

Here’s to Tony Storey.

Cheers!