Stir Wine Pairing: A public-art tour via 2021 BIKEnnale/WALKennale calls for an artful picnic
We’re following the self-guided, outdoor cultural tours with a board from the new Charcuterie Vancouver shop and a bottle of Liber Farm & Winery’s organic Merlot
Public artworks like Giants by OSGEMEOS (Gustavo and Otávio Pandolfo) are to be discovered or experienced anew via the BIKEennal/WALKennal tours. Photo via Vancouver Biennale.
Photos via Liber Farm & Winery (left) and Charcuterie Vancouver
Every week, Stir Wine Pairing suggests BC wine and food to go with a local arts event.
The event
The Vancouver Biennale’s BIKEnnale/WALKennale, presented by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver
The food
A box or board from Charcuterie Vancouver
The wine
Liber Farm & Winery’s 2016 Grand Reserve Merlot—Organic
The lowdown
Each one of BIKEnnale/WALKennale’s 42 self-guided tours starts is fully annotated with information on public art and points of cultural, historical, and architectural interest throughout Metro Vancouver.
October 11 is the last day to register, but you can participate anytime you like to the end of 2021. The routes are wheelchair accessible and suitable for all ages and abilities.
As part of BC Culture Days, the Community Arts Council of Vancouver is also presenting special BIKEnnale/WALKennale tours that start at the Roundhouse Arts & Recreation Centre, where it is hosting the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival from October 15 to 17.
The food
Sadaf Rahimi says she has been “obsessed” with pairing cheese and wine for a long time now—and the former project manager has parlayed that passion into a business.
Rahimi started Charcuterie Vancouver as an online venture in 2019; response has been so strong that she recently opened a bricks-and-mortar home in Kits (2766 West 4th Avenue).
Rahimi sources all of her ingredients—from jams and honeys to crackers and crostini—locally. Making them all look dazzling in a box or on a board is just plain fun for her.
Sadaf Rahimi of Charcuterie Vancouver.
“I love design; I absolutely love it,” Rahimi tells Stir. “Redoing doing my bathroom or office just excites me so much. It just comes so naturally to me. I think I just have an eye for things that look pretty. Basically, I just think: would someone Instagram this?
“I think it’s been successful because I never stop thinking about it—like, ever,” she says. “I’m always thinking about new ideas for it and put my whole heart into it.”
Rahimi’s work is a creative outlet, but her love for designing art share plates in fact stems from her Afghan heritage.
Her parents were in the middle of escaping Afghanistan while her mother was nine months pregnant with her. “I was born in Pakistan during the escape,” Rahimi says. “A couple months later we moved to Russia where I was raised for eight years….Vancouver was never a place we actually had planned to go to; I don’t even think my parents knew where it was back then. They had planned to just leave Afghanistan. Vancouver was just written in our destiny, I guess.
“In my culture, food is everything,” she adds. “It’s a way to bring people together, to create this little community where there’s something everyone loves and has in common. At all the events we host in our culture, food is the most important part. Afghans love hosting; they love being welcoming. You know when someone orders a big charcuterie board that there’s a gathering—I love that.”
As the Taliban continues its takeover of Afghanistan, Rahimi has been doing what she can to support refugees who are arriving in Vancouver with next to nothing. Through her company, she has raised funds for food, clothing, furniture, and other necessities, collaborating with Immigrant Services Society of Vancouver to help relocated Afghan families directly.
“My entire life I have actually never been to Afghanistan; it has been my biggest dream,” she says. “Hearing what is happening there now absolutely breaks my heart for my country and for my people. I will continue to help as much as I can. It’s truly fulfilling.”
The pairing
Liber Farm & Winery sits on the banks of the Similkameen River, the estate taking its name from a god of viticulture and wine in ancient Roman mythology. Farmer-vintner-owner Michael Dowell’s focus is on premium, environmentally sustainable wines. Aged in French oak, the 2016 Grand Reserve Merlot—Organic is voluptuous with flavours of blackberry and allspice, perfect with a grazing board in the crisp, fresh fall air. (Find it online at the winery for $34.99.)
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