Flavourful Saskatoon, August 10, 2020


Local News 
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a riverside picnic from 12:30-2 pm, Aug. 30. Registration is required as participation is limited to 30 people.

Buy pasta, gnocchi, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and sodas – straight from Italy – at Beppi’s Gelato.

I was sorry to learn that Little Bird Pâtisserie has closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What a shame! It is so important, now more than ever, to support small local businesses. There are a thousand reasons why you should shop and eat local, but one of the best is making new friends. 

Padrón Pepper Roulette 
 I’ve been enjoying padrón peppers (quick fried until they blister) from Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens. But you have to be prepared to take a risk, because “unos pican otros no” or “some are hot, some are not.” The spicy ones are in the minority, but it certainly wakes you up to what you’re eating when you bite into one of them.

Padrón peppers come from Padrón, Galicia, in northwestern Spain. “According to legend, these peppers made their way to Spain from South America via Spanish monks in the 16th century, who began growing them inside the walls of their monastery in the village of Herbón.” They are reputed to be an aphrodisiac and are very popular in Spain where they’re often served as tapas.


Recipes & Heritage 
Eating with the Seasons, Anishinaabeg, Great Lakes Region by Derek Nicholas combines recipes, history, and language of the Anishinaabeg people found in the Great Lakes region of Canada. “I think it is important because it’s our story,” Nicholas said. “If we lose our language, we lose our spirit.” The book is available for free on the University of Minnesota website. Print copies can be ordered at blurb.com for $16.

Wine & Beer 
New Belgium’s Fat Tire beer is certified carbon neutral #drinksustainably.

French wine harvest is almost 3 weeks early this year, adding to the existing challenges of a shortage of seasonal workers, stricter sanitary measures, a shortfall in domestic sales due to COVID, and a US tariff on imported wines.

Food for Thought 
In an interview with Alicia Kennedy, Anna Sulan Masing says that for her decolonizing means shifting the focus, the narrative, by de-centering and avoiding binary narratives. For me, that means actively looking for alternate voices, which I have found in the profusion of email newsletters that have emerged as a result of the pandemic. These are fresh new voices from people from a variety of backgrounds

One of my favorites is Vittles with recent articles about Nigerian yaji, Salvadorian pupusas, and East African mandazi. The articles are written from a personal perspective, be it hunting for ingredients, starting a small business as a newcomer to the UK, or attempting to recreate a family recipe. In Digestion provides a curated list of articles from sources I had never even heard of before. Alicia Kennedy is very knowledgeable about US food and wine professionals and has introduced me to different perspectives and interests.

Some of the others aren’t as regular, but I enjoy reading Shelf Offering from a woman living in India, as well as The Cleaver and the Butterfly (Szechuan food) and J’adore le plonk (wine and astrology!) All have free subscriptions with some offering additional content for a monthly fee.

An article from Taste contains even more newsletter options. I signed up for a couple.


Thank you for reading Flavourful Saskatoon. If you enjoyed it, please share it with someone – or many someones! 

 Flavourful Saskatoon is a weekly Monday feature. I also post articles about food that is good, clean and fair; travel; and books. You may also enjoy EcoFriendly Sask profiling Saskatchewan nature/environmental initiatives and events. 

 You can follow Wanderlust and Words on Facebook, Twitter, or by email (top right corner).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flavourful Saskatoon, August 28, 2017

Image
The Next Great Food Business Public Tasting, Sept. 7 The Local Kitchen is hosting a public tasting with samples from each of the finalists in the Next Great Food Business competition. Finalists are: King’s Jerky, Kind Condiments , Smoke and Salt BBQ, Bannock Express , and Voodoo Van . Wine Tastings Guess the most expensive wine (Sept. 8), sample some Rhône wines (Sept. 22), or attend the 2017 Premier Showcase Wine Dinner (Sept. 28) sponsored by Saskatoon Co-op Wine Spirits Beer. Premier Showcase is also offering a Portugal with a Splash of California wine seminar (Sept. 29) and a Women & Whisky seminar (Sept. 30). Refresh and Renew I had a chat with Trent Loewen about his plans now that he has sold Earth Bound Bakery. He is heading east to visit chef friends in Ontario and then off to New Zealand to explore what's happening there. After 9 years with a single focus, it's time to explore new ideas. Interestingly enough, the bakery's new owner is a business
Read more

Flavourful Saskatoon, August 21, 2017

Image
Prairie Harvest Café I was sad to learn that Prairie Harvest Café has closed its doors. It’s been one of my favorite Saskatoon restaurants since day one, and I really appreciated the fact that the chefs focused on cooking with local ingredients, many supplied by the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. All the best of luck in your new adventures. We’ll miss you. Hug a Farmer This has been a tough summer for many farmers. Prairie Sun Orchard lost their entire cherry crop to insects. Drop by their stand at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, tell them you care, and have an ice cream. My favorite is the chocolate cherry fudge, but Clare Pearson, the principal ice cream maker, says her new favorite is the salted caramel. Peppers If you’re like me, you assume that all small, skinny peppers are super hot and avoid them like the plague. But that’s a big mistake. Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens is offering two long, skinny peppers – one can be hot, but the other isn’t. Padron chile pepper
Read more

Spelt and Millet: Ancient Grains for Today's Healthy Diet

Image
When I was growing up, whole wheat flour and rice were exotic options. Now we have a whole range of intriguing choices – buckwheat, spelt, millet, kamut – the list goes on and on. My problem is that I don’t know very much about some of these grains, so I arranged a phone call with Nicole Davis, the Owner/Manager of Daybreak Mill near Estevan. Daybreak Mill grows and processes approximately 18 different kinds of flour, whole and de-hulled grains, flakes, cereals, and legumes. They are 100% organic. “We want people to have access to healthy, wholesome food,” Nicole explains. Two of Daybreak’s products – spelt and millet – have been nourishing people around the world for over 9,000 years. Spelt Spelt was cultivated by ancient civilizations in Europe and the Middle East for thousands of years. It grows well in poor soil and doesn’t require fertilizer. It’s resistant to frost and the thick husk protects the grain from insects. However, spelt requires more processing than wheat as
Read more

The Golden Towns of Beaujolais

Image
Heading north out of Lyon, you pass through a long tunnel and exit into a lush green countryside leaving the city far behind. You then turn and head up the hill onto winding roads between a patchwork of vineyards. Many of the vines are really old with short, thick, twisted trunks and a thin stem of green leaves and buds. These are the Gamay vines of Beaujolais, interspersed with a few fields of greener, leafier Chardonnay vines. South Beaujolais, just 45 minutes northwest of Lyon, encompasses 25 medieval villages of orangey-gold stone (limestone and iron) that is surprisingly vibrant (I had been expecting something lighter, similar to the Cotswolds in England). Some of the villages still have the remains of 14th century castles. Oingt is classed as one of the most beautiful villages of France and it really is lovely. You can take a walk around the town on the former ramparts and the church is austere and beautiful. I was on a half-day tour , which combined stopping to
Read more

The Future of the Saskatoon Farmers' Market - Let's Move Forward, Not Backward

Image
The City of Saskatoon has big, bold dreams for the future of the old electrical building (current home of the Saskatoon Farmers' Market Co-operative). That’s fantastic, but I believe their plans are fatally flawed. Here’s why. Party or Buy Food? The City wants more “animation” at the market site. First of all, I’m not sure what that means. Secondly, I go to the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market to buy locally grown food. I don’t go there to be entertained. If your primary goal is to bring lots of people to the site, turn it into a Tim Horton’s or a discount fashion outlet. If your goal is to support local food production and food security, then a farmers’ market is your best option. It’s true that Granville Island Public Market is animated 6 days a week. (In fact, it’s so busy there are traffic jams and locals have turned the site over to the tourists.) But Saskatoon isn’t Vancouver. We don’t have the population, the idyllic location, or easy access to tropical Asian fruits. Inste
Read more