Outstanding in the Field, an annual series of outdoor dinners, allows participants to meet and dine with the people who have supplied the ingredients for their meal.

Credit: Andrew Morrison

ON THE PLATE: Dinner goes back to the land

I doubt that lovers of al fresco dining could conceive of an event to better satisfy their fetish than Outstanding in the Field, an annual outdoor-dinner tour that stops in over 30 North American cities this year, including two nights in the Vancouver area July 18 and 19. Billed as a “roving culinary adventure” and a “restaurant without walls,” each Outstanding event might be thought of as an original work of art designed by founder Jim Denevan, a six-foot, four-inch surfing polymath from California. Although probably best known for the fleeting but beautiful — and often massive — free-hand geometric sand drawings he renders on beaches and in deserts (see JimDenevan.com), the former model and self-taught chef’s forays into edible installation work are similarly spectacular.

Imagine a long table, set for more than 100 people and spread with white linen, silverware, and wine glasses, all of it sparkling in the summer sun. Joining you there are the winemakers, farmers, and artisan food producers responsible for every nibble and drop being consumed. Fill any existing voids with laughter, superb cooking, and pours that seem to get more generous as the sun dips and the air cools. And then notice for a moment that all becomes that almost impossible kind of perfect, when the senses are like gears turning and turning together in tandem.

Each summer, Denevan and logistics guru Katy Oursler cruise around the continent, putting on these idyllic dinners one after another, oftentimes on back-to-back nights. This year’s “season” amounts to some 54 dinners, including the two imminent local ones. The duo will roll into Pemberton for a meal on town mayor Jordan Sturdy’s gorgeous North Arm Farm this Saturday (July 18) before they make their way to Vancouver the very next day for another one at UBC Farm. (It’s the first time Outstanding in the Field has made it to the Pemberton/Whistler area, but it’s been setting the table at UBC Farm every summer since 2005.)

I last experienced Outstanding with my wife and a group of friends in 2007, and I recall it more vividly than most meals since. Guests of all stripes arrived early for a tour of the farm and to submit their plates (yup, it is requested that everyone bring their own). There, I met a pair of housewives from Coquitlam (one of whom had read about Denevan in the New York Times), a faux gangster and his scandalously young girlfriend, two well-known local sommeliers, three servers of sterling repute, two cooks, a retired farmer from the Fraser Valley (wowed and inspired by the event the year before), and a gay couple from Victoria who learned of the dinners on local television. It was warm, still, and splendid. Our cellphones were turned off, and time mattered only in that some of it needed to elapse between courses, during which time the producers and farmers responsible for the ingredients stood up in turn to share the backstory of what their particular patch of earth had provided for the meal. And then, local chefs David Hawksworth (then of West Restaurant, now of his forthcoming eponymous eatery), Dino Renaerts (then of Hotel Georgia, now of Diva at the Met), and Quang Dang (C Restaurant) would continue in their makeshift outdoor kitchen. Yes, by the way: Even the food was excellent.

When Denevan returns this weekend, two of the best chefs in the province will be ready and waiting at the two breathtaking venues, as will many psyched-up diners. The Pemberton supper will be subject to the proven talents of Araxi’s James Walt (soon to be charged with employing the winner of the new season of Gordon Ramsay’s reality cooking show, Hell’s Kitchen), while Andrea Carlson of Bishop’s will roll out the awesome at UBC Farm.

Since we Canadians are now importing over half our net supply of vegetables and almost all of our fruit, I can’t think of a better time or place to be reminded of where our food should come from, nor of two better chefs to be doing the reminding. Walt and Carlson are both well-known advocates of local food, sourcing much of their ingredients, at its peak of seasonality, from B.C. suppliers. At the Outstanding dinners, the produce comes from the host farm, while other ingredients — particularly the proteins — come from ranches and fisheries within a 100-mile radius.

Despite considerable hype, Outstanding in the Field is about far more than just a fabulous meal wrought in a stunning setting. A reporter from CBS News nailed it when she called Jim Denevan a “maker of moments.” Most moments are as fleeting as his vast sand drawings that get washed away by the incoming tides, but others are indelible, like when the fellow next to you who caught the tuna gets his glass filled by the woman who made the wine. That, I think, is the “art” of it. Perhaps I’ll see you there.

At the time of writing, a few tickets are still available for both evenings. Visit OutstandingInTheField.com to make a reservation.