Flavourful Saskatoon, September 28, 2020
It’s easy to forget how much work goes into growing and preparing food for sale. And Covid has made things even tougher. One farmer tells me he is spending an extra day to day and a half a week preparing vegetables to sell at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market in order to comply with health authority requirements. Where does he find the extra time in what must already be a jam-packed growing season!
Trent at Scratch Provisions makes great pies with lots of imaginative flavours (e.g. harissa lentils and cauliflower; balsamic pickled beet, ricotta & sunflower seed). My family enjoyed his vegetarian Thanksgiving pies this weekend - lots of holiday spices and the tang of fresh cranberries. In fact, we enjoyed them so much, we're ordering more.
I’m really enjoying the sour leaf cabbage rolls from Kapusta & Kake at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Cooperative – rich, tangy, lots of flavour. Wally Satzewich says their borscht is the best he’s ever tasted. Their products are normally available on the virtual market and, I assume, in person.
Here and Elsewhere
There are so many local roasteries nowadays. The YEG Coffee Club buys some of the best Edmonton coffee and sends it out every month to its subscribers along with some other local goodies (chocolate, tea, biscotti). Is Saskatoon big enough to support a similar subscription service? Could it benefit people in smaller communities with limited access to locally roasted coffee?
In the Garden
“A Cincinnati man is on a mission to plant 100 orchards in the next decade as a way to help feed people in food deserts. . . . There's fruit trees. There's lawn. But there's also medicinals, berry bushes. We have echinacea, wormwood, passion flower, all other kinds of plants that serve a function inside the system, to either protect the fruit from pests and insects or cycle nutrients and keep the trees healthy and alive.”
In the Kitchen
“While the West is now touting it [jackfruit] as an ethical meat alternative, for centuries, this humble fruit has been revered by Sri Lankans, as it has repeatedly saved the island from starvation.”
Food for Thought
Food banks rely on donations, and hungry people have no choice but to take what is offered. But is that good enough? How do we ensure that what we offer is what people actually want? At the Granville Community Kitchen in London, UK, “recipients can choose boxes that reflect their cultural and dietary needs, with yams and sweet potatoes available in some boxes, and potatoes and carrots in others.” As one of the organizers explains, “People need access to culturally appropriate food, for their health and happiness.”
We’ve come a long way in appreciating the effort that goes into growing food, but do we give similar consideration to the alcohol we drink? “A cocktail made with thoughtfully produced spirits is far from the norm, but its pursuit is necessary—for agriculture, for food waste, for farmer survival, for the creation of closed-loop, local, autonomous economies.” The article also reminds us that many spirits began life as agricultural by-products. “When whiskey was starting in America, and even in Scotland too, the whole idea was that they had too much grain to carry on a cart to market, and so you had to figure out a way to distill it down and make it shelf-stable and be able to be carted around easier. Bourbon exists in America just because people had too much corn.”
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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.
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