News & Events

6th Annual EAT! Vancouver

BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, BC, Canada – May 23, 24 & 25, 2008. Read more

6th Annual Qualicum Wine Festival

March 8, 2008. Hors d'oeuvres and wine, are all inclusive in the $25 ticket. For more info contact Merv Lloyd at 250 738-0140 or mervlloyd@shaw.ca.

9th Annual West Coast Women’s Show

Beban Park Recreation Centre, Nanaimo, BC, Canada – March 1-2, 2008

The 16th Annual Wellness Show

Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre, Exhibit Hall B & C. 999 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada (under the five sails) – February 1, 2 & 3, 2008. Read more.

Annual Canadian Restaurant & Foodservices Association Show

BC Place Stadium, Vancouver, BC, Canada – January 27-28, 2008

Natural Pastures featured on CTV News “Taste of Home” with Tamara Taggart

Watch Tamara’s visit to our cheese plant as our master cheesemaker Paul Sutter demonstrates how we make our delicious Mozzarella di Bufala.

• Story and video
• Photo gallery

Natural Pastures first on the Island to produce a world champion cheese.

Comox Valley Echo – Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The best brie in the world is produced right here in the Comox Valley. “We start with good milk from the Valley and then we really just put a lot of effort into making a nice, beautiful cheese.” Photos and read more.

Natural Pastures earns international acclaim

Business Vancouver Island, April 2008 issue. Read more.

Natural Pastures Cheeses are World Championship Gold and Silver Medallists!

COURTENAY, BC – April 1, 2008

Natural Pastures Cheese Comox Brie recently earned the pinnacle World Championship Gold Medal, in the 27th biennial Contest (WCC). As the first World Championship cheese ever produced from Vancouver Island and first WCC gold medal Brie ever from western Canada, Natural Pastures Cheese Company’s reputation as a premier Canadian cheese producer is strengthened. Read more.

Natural Pastures wins Ten New National Awards!

COURTENAY, BC – December 14, 2007

Expert judges recently conferred ten new national awards to Natural Pastures Cheeses from the Comox Valley, including a coveted win at the British Empire Cheese Competition hosted by the Central Ontario Cheesemaker Association. Natural Pastures Mozzarella di Bufala is the third place winner of the Class 12 category, Pasta Filata Type of the 2007 British Empire competition, judged with large, leading cheese companies’ entries. This is a brand new mozzarella for Canada, as it is the only mozzarella made from the only Canadian herd of water buffalo raised at Fairburn Farms in Duncan. Read more.

Island Fresh – Comox Valley food producers receiving national attention

Times Colonist — September 2, 2007

Local ingredients enhance chef Bishop’s visit

Comox Valley Record — August 29, 2007

See the menu from John Bishop’s Book Launch Luncheon on August 22, 2007.

la nouvelle Provence

BC Business magazine, June 2007

Cheese-maker Smith is much more positive about the Provence message. He was one of the first to raise the idea after Eric Akis, the Victoria Times-Colonist newspaper’s food columnist, described the east coast of the Island as “the new Provence.” “I’ve been to Provence,” Smith says. “We have the same pristine and pure soils, the Mediterranean climate and the coastal, salt-laden winds.” Comox also has a unique terroir, the flavour of the soil that comes through in the food, be it milk or grapes. Smith says it is the terroir that has won his cheeses numerous medals. “What we don’t have is the same relationship between the farmers and consumers,” Smith continues. “Few restaurants buy locally. Little of our produce is stocked on store shelves. Processing of our produce isn’t done locally.”

That is about to change, Read more…

Curdling till the buffalo come home

Cinda Chavich
Special to The Globe and Mail
June 13, 2007 at 7:14 AM EDT

DUNCAN, B.C. — The orb of pristine cheese in Paul Sutter's hand is soft and shiny, the picture of youth in the cheese world.

"It's very delicate at this point," says the Courtenay, B.C., cheese maker, cradling the day-old white mozzarella in his palm like an oversized poached egg.

This cheese is like any good ball of fresh Italian bocconcini, but it's the first artisan buffalo-milk mozzarella commercially made in Canada. It's moist on the inside, with the typical striated layers created by stretching the warmed mass of freshly coagulated curds. It's encased in a tight, thin skin, formed when the cheese is pulled and hand-pinched into a neat round ball. Read more…

Comox Valley Tourism’s annual Land of Plenty Award

From Comox Valley Tourism, April 4, 2006

Sponsored by the North Vancouver Island Chef’s Association

The winner of the 2005 Land of Plenty Award has done more to put the Comox Valley on the map in recent years than any of us could have ever imagined. They have won awards the world over for promoting the things that many of us take for granted — amazing air, land and water quality that produces high quality artisan food for the world to enjoy.

This company has also been active in promoting agri-investment, agri-tourism and culinary tourism initiatives in the Comox Valley. Through their actions they have encouraged others to embrace locally produced foods as a way to celebrate our community and support the local economy.

They source as many of their ingredients as possible locally and their products have been featured on cheeseboards at the House of Parliament and Rideau Hall. They represent the kind of innovation and creativity that will continue to put the Comox Valley on the culinary map.

This year’s winner of the new Land of Plenty Award is Natural Pastures Cheese Company.