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THE YEAR IN REVIEW NUTRITION NOTES Le : Debra demonstrates cooking with pulses at the Calgary Stampede. Right: APG Director Ryan Kubinec quizzes students about pulses at Calgary's Aggie Days in April. The momentum from Interna onal Year of Pulses (IYP) con nued into 2017 with many opportuni es to share Alberta's pulse story. Ac vi es with teachers, die ans, students, chefs and consumers along with the development of new resources made for a busy and produc ve year! Pulse food demonstra ons were a popular request for professional development for teachers and Foods classes in high schools and health centres. Elementary school students also had a chance to learn about pulses through Aggie Days in Calgary, Amazing Ag in Edmonton and City Slickers in Stony Plain. Sharing the "Growing Pulses" lesson plan developed for IYP along with some dry peas for plan ng at the Li le Green Thumbs teacher educa on day was a new way to connect with teachers though the Agriculture in the Classroom program. Chefs con nue to be key consumer influencers, so connec ng with them and including pulses in chef events remained a priority in 2017. Events like Prairie on a Plate, Christmas in November, Northern Lands Fes val, Indulgence and Mee ng in the Middle to Celebrate Canada Ag Day provided opportuni es to talk to chefs and provide Alberta pulses for the menus. Our partnerships with Taste Alberta and the Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance provided many occasions to meet and work with key Alberta chefs, and will provide more opportuni es as these partnerships con nue in 2018. Connec ng with post-secondary students occurred with Mission: Impulseible (MI). In its 10th and final year, the Alberta compe on took place March 2017 with one team from Portage College and two teams from the University of Alberta (U of A). The winning product, Lentola Bar - Curry in a Hurry from U of A placed third at the virtual na onal compe on! With the end of MI, a new program, the Chef to Chef Pulse Workshop was developed with Chef Chris ne Farkas to connect with Culinary Arts students in Alberta. Three workshops were held in November; two at Lethbridge College and one at the Northern Ins tute of Technology (NAIT) reaching 55 students. The 2018 goal is to hold the workshop at Portage College and the Southern Alberta Ins tute of Technology (SAIT) and then review the effec veness of this format for sharing pulse informa on. Consumer outreach took place in many areas in 2018. Events like Global Pulse Day, Stampede Kitchen Theatre along with events like Mee ng in the Middle, Northern Lands Fes val, Indulgence and Christmas in November showcased pulses in a variety of recipes for consumers to enjoy. Another key outreach was through the Diabetes Expos in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Drumheller, Red Deer and the Indigenous Gathering on Diabetes in Edmonton where people with diabetes heard about the posi ve impact that pulses can have on diabetes. Sponsoring and a ending events like the Food Ma ers conference provide a key avenue to share pulse informa on and resources with over 300 die ans from all over Alberta. Consumers, health professionals and educators con nue to use APG developed resources and they can now order directly through the website! The Cooking with Pulses recipe booklet released in January 2017 and the Baking with Pulses recipe booklet released in April 2017 proved so popular that more have been ordered! Other print resources include 20 Things To Do With A Can Of Pulses, Guide to Cooking Pulses, recipe cards for schools and brochures for Primary Care Networks and Diabetes Health Networks. The Classroom Support Program and the Community Cooking Class Program are available for teachers and health professionals who are providing pulse educa on in their classrooms or workshops. The year 2017 was a successful one for promo ng Alberta pulses in many key areas in the province and 2018 is already star ng to fill up with requests for pulse demonstra ons and sponsorships. I look forward to con nuing to build on our successes and searching for new opportuni es to talk about pulses! Have you got a ques on about pulse nutri on? I would love to hear from you! You can contact me at debramc@ pulse.ab.ca or (780) 986-9398 ext.6. P U L S E C R O P N E W S W I N T E R 2 0 1 8 | 3 7

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