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Speaking engagements
"Nobody can do everything, but we all can do something"
 Producer/Director Nick Versteeg is not just busy producing programs on our culinary world, he is also taking his presentation on the road.
His 1 - 1½ hour speaking engagement will take you from his home country, the Netherlands, where he was a pastry chef to Vancouver Island where he lives today together with his wife Elly. After moving to Canada he changed his career and became a film documentary maker specializing in culinary events. He is now involvement in the issues of small farming on Vancouver Island. The title he often uses for his speaking engagement is "From baker to film maker to activist farmer."
It's a personal life story with a strong message. We have to get involved in creating a healthier environment with the emphasis on food. What's in our food? Where does it come from? Do we read the labels? He has made presentations all over North America, including Johnson and Wales Culinary School in Rhode Island, where he spoke to 1000 students.
TO BOOK A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT, contact nick at dvcuisine dot com or call 250-746-4510.
Some comments of his audience:
Thank you very much. It was an awesome presentation. The Documentary Island on the Edge was definitely a "food for thought" moment, literally!
Patti Ferguson
Community Health Amstrong , BC
We hope that your message has triggered our community to really contemplate the value of a healthy local food system. Thanks, again, for your good work.
Best regards,
Eliza Buck
Agricultural Resources Committee Coordinator
Friday Harbor, WA
Just watched the movie a second time with my children and wanted to let you know that of the 4 copies VIRL owns, there are 60 requests!!!!! How very very exciting!
Many many thanks and congratulations on a very successful film!
Nicole Gardner Librarian
Shirley, BC
Nick Versteeg captured everyone's undivided attention. Nick took us on a tour of his life from days in his Grandfather's pastry shop in Holland to an award winning career producing documentaries. Using short clips of his work, we saw a career evolve from the underwater Legacy of Truk Lagoon, to several international chefs' competitions. The message Nick is most interested in conveying is that "Nobody can do everything but everyone can do something". He made us all a little more conscious that we do have the ability to make a difference in our own and other's lives. Small changes can and will result in substantial improvement in food security and sustainability.
Bev Knapton.
Cowichan Valley NC Club
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Book recommendation: "Knives at Dawn"
 Today, Knives at Dawn is released on bookshelves everywhere. It's the story of the 2009 Bocuse d'Or cooking competition as author Andrew Friedman follows around Team USA from its inception in 2008 to its training process in Yountville, CA to the "Culinary Olympics" climax in France earlier this year. The cast of primary characters is full of familiar faces: Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller as the movement's new leaders.Team USA itself: chef Timothy Hollingsworth and commis Adina Guest, both of the French Laundry. The book is an absolute must-read for anyone remotely interested in the Bocuse d'Or competition, the ways of the French Laundry kitchen, and Daniel Boulud's childhood roots. DV Cuisine played a small role in the book itself.
For more details on the book, visit Amazon.com.
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“"Island on the Edge" documentary has reached an attendance of over 4000 people
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DV Cuisine's latest documentary, "Island on The Edge", keeps getting rave reviews from many organized town hall meetings and film festivals where this film has been shown in different parts of Vancouver Island.
"Island On the Edge" is a locally produced documentary from Nick Versteeg of DV Cuisine. The film looks at the history of food production on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands and what would happen to our food supply if we were suddenly cut off from the rest of the world. It also chronicles the efforts of several crusaders in the field of food production in the area and how people can get involved with supporting the local food movement.
Numerous requests are coming in weekly to show this timely documentary, which has now been shown to more than 3000 people in 26 different places on the island and even in the US. It shows that people are really concerned about the food they eat and interest is growing rapidly to grow or to start a vegetable garden.
For more details on the documentary click Island
on the Edge.
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"Island on the Edge" has entered the United States
The Agricultural Resources Committee and the Agricultural Guild of San Juan County in the US invited us to come to the San Juan Islands to show "Island on the Edge" on Lopez, San Juan and Orcas. It was the first time " Island on the edge" was shown to a US audience and it was very clear that we have a lot in common with these islands when it comes to food sustainability. Nick Versteeg talked passionately to his audience about the challenges that we face here and listened to the concerns in the discussions that followed the showing of the documentary on three different nights. See comment below:
On behalf of the ARC and the AG Guild of San Juan County, I want to thank you for your generous gift of time to speak to people on Lopez, San Juan and Orcas Islands. "Island on the Edge" is a meaningful film that helps people in our region consider the state of our food systems. Let us hope we can get more people working toward a sustainable food system. Thank you for your vision, hard work, talent and optimism.
- Eliza Buck, San Juan Island -
"Island on the Edge" has now been shown 26 times to more than 4000 people in town hall meetings in the Pacific North West.
The DVD is available on our website or check your local library. See below one of the e-mails that DV Cuisine received from one of those libraries.
After attending the screening of Island on the Edge in Sooke in May, I emailed you and suggested a copy of the documentary be placed in the Vancouver Island Regional Library system. I just watched the movie a second time with my children and wanted to let you know that of the 4 copies VIRL owns, there are 60 requests!!!!! So it's just wonderful that the film is in there... it's reaching "the other 90%"!!!! How very exciting!
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The Laughing Geese
Our hobby farm "The Laughing Geese" is a little paradise in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, Canada. The geese are laughing a lot because they have a very happy and healthy life where they can swim in a large pond surrounded by beautiful gardens.
At "The Laughing Geese" we grow a variety of organic vegetables and fruits. We even have a brick outside oven where artisan breads are baked. The gardens are used for educating our visitors and guest chefs who have the opportunity to cook with local and seasonal produce directly from the garden.
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The Laughing Geese at the Local market
 After a very successful summer at the local market, we would like to thank all our customers who faithfully came every Saturday to buy our delicious European pastries and our warm artisan breads, that were freshly baked in our brick oven. You all have made our Saturdays fun and rewarding. We will be back next year with even more tasty breads and pastries.
 Through DV Cuisine short films will be created about gardening, composting, growing from seed to product, building a greenhouse and many more related topics.
We welcome any suggestions or questions, so please contact us at nick at dvcuisine dot com or call 250-746-4510.
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Chefs of All Ages
We like to invite young chefs to The Laughing Geese. "Chef Aiden" from Edmonton, 2 ½ years old, visited us at The Laughing Geese as he has already a keen interest in local produce. Before he eats this delicious strawberry he is thoroughly inspecting the texture of this organic strawberry. But then he could not stop eating them...
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Visit by Culinary Team Canada
We are hosting chefs from all over the world but never did we have an entire Canadian Culinary team spent two days preparing for the World Culinary Olympics in Erfurt Germany at our hobby farm in Glenora. Not only were they here to cook but also to reflect and prepare for the task ahead, so we saw some beautiful and tasty dishes created in our country kitchen.
Watch the video clip and see manager JC Felicella enjoying the fresh produce.
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The World Culinary Olympics "Perfection"
This DVD is now available by contacting
nick at dvcuisine dot com.
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Pastry in Europe 2009
DV Cuisine congratulates the European PIE team
with the launch of
“Pastry in Europe”
Europe is the place where pâtisserie was born. For
many centuries, sweet delicacies in all European countries
have played a major role in the development of this art. Never
before has there been an extensive publication available around
the world on what’s happening in the European pâtisserie
world, but Pastry in Europe has changed that. In January 2009 the first English-language book of "Pastry in Europe" came on the market , which will show traditional and modern European developments in pâtisserie.
Pastry in Europe 2009 will take you to the French
countryside and to the old cities of London, Bruges and Barcelona;
it will explore Belgian chocolate techniques and how famous
star chefs spoil their customers. The latest techniques and
preparations are all explained in great detail. Each year,
more than 250 pages will give you a complete picture of pâtisserie
and desserts in Europe.
For more information please go to www.PastryinEurope.com
If you are interested in ordering our award-winning
World Pastry Cup DVD, please see our DVD section.
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Update on our latest documentary
Global Chef Challenge in Dubai
with extra feature, "The Hans Buskens
Junior Challenge"
Nick Versteeg, producer/director, traveled to
Dubai with his cameraman, Steve Sara, to film the Global Chef
Challenge in Dubai, in which seven regions of the world participated:
America, Norway, The Netherlands, Cyprus, Singapore, Australia,
and South Africa.
This particular competition is a new WACS (World Association
of Chefs Societies) 2008 initiative. It was inaugurated in
Dubai during the 2008 congress. Seven senior finalists - each
of whom triumphed as the best chef of their geographical region
(through a world-wide series of competitions) - was eligible
to join a culinary battle and compete for the title Global
Chef 2008. The winner, Toine Smulders of The Netherlands,
won this prestigious competition and can truthfully boast
holding a verifiable worldclass culinary title.
This DVD is now available by contacting
nick at dvcuisine dot com.
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