No, it's not the next Susur Lee or some other culinary prodigy - it's something even better and far more accessible.

The Tastes of Tomorrow culinary club is a student-run initiative that hosts lectures, demonstrations, tastings and field trips throughout the school year. But it's not just for students aspiring to be chefs - it's open to anyone to join ($35 for the year, or single events for $10).

An artisanal cheese tasting with Ruth Klahsen from Monforte Dairy Company, a discussion about the Slow Food movement in Toronto, a wine tasting with VQA winery Henry of Pelham, Ontario made prosciutto from Niagara Food Specialties, and foraged goodies from Forbes Wild Foods were just a few of the events I was able to take part in last year.

Last June, we all hopped on a bus and headed out to the Kawartha Lakes region to visit three organic farms: the Stoddart Family Farm, Grassroot Organics and Zehr's Farm Fresh Produce and Bakery. For lunch we made a pit stop at Eganridge Inn, where Chef Steve Moghini offered up the best of what the local foodshed had to offer.

And this year has seen more stellar events, including an evening with the Healthy Butcher (an organic butcher shop on Queen West), Howard Dubrowsky (Toronto Chef, writer and food stylist) and ShaSha Bread Company (a Toronto based organic artisan bakery).

Upcoming events to consider checking out:

Feb 11/2009:
Canadian Cheese - An evening with Chef, author, Canadian Food Ambassador and artisanal cheese expert Gurth Pretty

Feb 18/2009:
The Teas of Ceylon - A tea tasting with organic, fair trade tea merchant Ronald Francis of Oikos Teas

Mar 25/2009:
Red Rocket Coffee: Fair Trade coffee and dessert tasting

Tastes of Tomorrow events are held on Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm, room 112 at the George Brown Chef School (300 Adelaide Street East). You can RSVP for events through their Facebook group.

Photos by Lauren Wilson and christinewalker1416