Wanderlust and Words

Food  “Politicians are still saying ‘my job is to make food cheaper for you’, no matter how toxic it is from a planetary or human health perspective,” said Prof Tim Benton, at Chatham House. “We must stop arguing that we have to subsidise the food system in the name of the poor and instead deal with the poor by bringing them out of poverty .”  Bread was introduced in Japan in the early 1800s, but it’s been made softer and sweeter to suit the local palate. Shokupan is a soft, fluffy white bread: “slices of varying thickness are used for fruit sandos, sandwiches filled with colorful diced fruit arranged in artful geometric patterns held together with cream.” Kashipan are “snack breads filled with various pastes and sweet creams.” Books  In a Syrian town under siege from Assad’s regime, a small group of revolutionaries found a new mission: to build a library from books rescued from the rubble. “These young Syrians cohabited with death night and day. Most of them had already...

The geese are honking on the river and I spotted some lovely patches of thick gooey mud on my walk this morning. Spring is on the way! Local Food  There are new vendors at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market – and they’re bakers! Sentient Sandwich is selling plump, mini sourdough bagels, while Old Homestead Baking is selling loaves baked in a traditional 8x8 foot wood-fired clay brick oven.  I picked up some tasty goodies at Beppi’s Gelato this past week. They offer a wide range of Italian products from pasta and sauce to jam and candies – definitely worth checking it out.  Entertainment  My sister in law and I will be going to the theatre – in her living room – in April. Sparrow Theatre Company is a new (to me at least) Saskatoon theatre company. On April 3, they’re streaming A Killer Party , a murder mystery musical. Later in April, we’ll be watching One Hour Photo , a Vancouver Asian Canadian production hosted by Persephone Theatre . Having lived in BC, I’m very awar...

“The mind is like an umbrella – it functions best when open.” – Walter Gropius   Local News    There’ll be an old-time outdoor dance at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market from 12-2 pm , Feb. 13 and 20 .  Longing for bagels and cream cheese? Check out The Bagel Shop at 200 Avenue B South (old location of Little Bird Patisserie). I’ve heard it’s owned by the group that also operates Congress Beerhouse and a few other Saskatoon restaurants. It may be winter, but Our Farm is still providing Saskatoon with fresh, organic greens. You can pick up their microgreens at Dad’s Organic Market or enjoy during a meal at Calories or Citizen Café.  I was so sorry to hear that Collective Coffee ’s last day of business will be Feb. 28, 10 years after they opened in 2011.  It’s winter, we’re in the midst of a pandemic, and there are so many hungry people in Saskatoon. I donate on a regular basis to both the Saskatoon Food Bank and Food Not Bombs Saskatoon . Here are some ot...

Welcome to February! The days are a little longer and winter is a little bit shorter. My Christmas cactus is flowering and there are buds on 5 of my amaryllis. Long live sunshine and flowers! If you’re busy perusing seed catalogues, why not consider growing spices , such as dill, fennel, or mustard?  Local News  The Forest Grove Free Food Donation Box is one family’s attempt to address hunger in Saskatoon .  I’m not dining out at the moment, but that doesn’t stop me supporting local businesses. I highly recommend the pecan pie brownies from Prairie Ink , the black bean and lime sandwich from Earth Bound Bakery & Kitchen , and the citrus cardamom buns from Sparrow .  Food Trends   The thought that goes into developing new food products is quite astonishing. Here are two articles about future food trends based on flavour and colour . People are looking for adventure, travelling the world through their taste buds and there will be an increased desire for exoti...

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come whispering ‘It will be happier’.” (Alfred Lord Tennyson)  Local News   I’m really enjoying the Swedish baked goods from Seven Tastes (virtual Saskatoon Farmers’ Market , formerly Frangipani Foods). The cardamom buns are fresh, soft, and have so much yummy cardamom flavour, while the tosca buns are topped with syrupy clusters of almond, hazelnut, and honey.  Doug Reichel Wine Marketing is offering guided wine tastings . There are two available on his website incorporating conversations with the winemakers. You can also request your own.  Angela Senenko, a sommelier at the Eighth St. Co-op liquor store, has provided a list of 8 winter-friendly beers from across Saskatchewan .  Oat milk grown, produced, and packaged in Saskatchewan will be on Co-op grocery store shelves by the summer.  Wild About Saskatoon is hosting an online conversation around  Indigenous food sovereignty and prairie cities  fr...

“The imagination is not an escape, but a return to the richness of our true selves; a return to reality.” – George Mackay Brown  Local News  Blue Plate Special: 100 Years of Saskatoon Restaurants , an online slideshow sponsored by the Saskatoon Public Library’s Local History Room, will be on Facebook and YouTube at 4 pm , Dec. 3 . I’ll try and include the link in a future issue of Flavourful .  The University of Regina Centre for Lifelong Learning is offering a 4-session virtual course exploring the major wine-producing regions of the world from Jan. 21-Feb. 11. What a fun idea! Chef de Partie is selling Christmas cookie decorating kits – as well as ready-to-eat Christmas dinners for one or many that include vegetarian options and lots of extras.  Sparrow Coffee is now offering a weekly menu plan and delivery, while City Perks is working on a winter patio and kitchen staples – plus fresh-baked pretzels on Saturdays.  A new website, onesmallstepsk.ca , “con...

Local News  I love getting freebies! It was so much fun to find a free sample included in my online Saskatoon Farmers’ Market delivery . Thank you Mossbank Farms for the sprouts. They were excellent and I ordered more this week. I’m delighted to see more and more vendors signing up to deliver their products online. Both Grandora Gardens and Simpkins Market Garden , two of my favorite vendors, are now online as well as in-person at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market location on Koyl Avenue. Saskatoon is so fortunate to have a year-round farmers’ market!  Tasty Habits is getting ready for Christmas with boxes of chocolates as well as bars. Sign up for their email newsletter to get a free chocolate bar and a one-time only 10% discount. It’s really good to know that the cocoa beans they are using come “directly from farmers participating in the Cocoa Horizons program.” By purchasing Tasty Habit products, “you are participating in training, financial incentives and community empower...

Local News  The Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre is offering a skill development program for women entrepreneurs in the food processing sector .  I would be interested in reading Beyond the Food Court: An Anthology of Literary Cuisines , “a collection of 14 creative non-fiction essays that delve in the subtleties, diversity, and individuality of ethnic cuisines beyond the uniform, kitschy offering at a typical mall food court ” written by 14 Edmonton authors.  In the Kitchen  Sandor Katz says fermentation is a fact, not a fad. His new book, Fermentation as Metaphor , explores how fermentation applies to politics, religion, and cultural movements . Fermentation pros may want to try their hand at nukazuke, making bran-fermented vegetables : “It’s kind of like a compost recipe.”  I have purchased a lot of spices – 3 separate orders! – during the pandemic. I was relieved to know I was not alone. Jay Rayner, British restaurant critic, shares my  di...

Local News  The Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation is hosting a virtual lunch and learn on World Food Day , Oct. 16 . Speakers are Jerónimo Prujin of the Small Producers Symbol Co-op , an intercontinental network of ecological small-producer organizations, and Tom Hanlon-Wide of Camino .  Christmas fruitcakes can take months to prepare if you make them from scratch and give them time to age (and soak up a little alcohol). I’m excited to be home for Christmas this year and able to purchase one of Foodcraft by Sarah ’s fruitcakes. Sarah makes small personal fruitcakes. The traditional fruitcake contains mixed dried fruits, peel, glacé cherries, walnuts, premium butter, vanilla, walnuts, almonds, crystallized ginger, and brandy. The natural fruitcake includes dried saskatoons, cranberries, golden & Thompson raisins, dates, sour cherries, crystallized ginger, walnuts, pecans, candied orange slices, and rum. Cakes are $10 each and Sarah, who lives in Swift Curre...

Local News   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. Th...

The close relationship that develops between the person who grows or makes our food and the person who eats it is at the heart of a farmers’ market. A friend describes the relationship between consumers and farmers’ market vendors as a partnership. “We’re co-producers,” she says.  Lockdown and the Covid pandemic have made all of us more aware of how important food is. As a result, farmers’ markets have grown in popularity. Sales increased between 10 and 30% in Melbourne , Australia, despite the lack of tourists and browsers. Instead, the focus was on local people coming to do their weekly shop. Similar trends have been noticed by Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Co-operative (SFMC) farmers and producers. If we want a secure food supply, we need to support our local farmers and producers. And the best way to do that is through a farmers’ market, a self-supporting group of farmers and producers who share a similar interest in working with their hands, providing their community with food, a...

Local News Celebrate Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16 with tacos from La Taqueria Mexicana (formerly at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market) with beer at 9 Mile Legacy Brewing . Eat in or take out. Covid and Farmers’ Markets Farmers’ markets are flourishing during lockdown in Victoria, Australia : “Market data shows a sales increase of between 10 and 30% since the pandemic began. This is remarkable because now there are fewer tourists and browsers. So now it’s locals coming to the market for their weekly shop." Kate Archdeacon, Victorian Farmers' Markets Association "sees farmers’ markets as critical for the survival of small farmers, many of whom because of size and level of experience cannot meet the requirements of scale and consistency that supermarkets demand. She says farmers’ market suppliers are 'adaptable over time, sometimes one row of vegetables at a time.” Here and Elsewhere California has started authorizing home restaurants: “The newly impl...

Pictured are French tomatoes on sale at a public market in Avignon, France. European tomatoes are bred for flavour. Unfortunately, in North America, “our consumers have been conditioned to demand aesthetic perfection, perfectly shaped fruit and vegetables, without blemishes, and without considering flavor .” Local News  Amy-Jo Ehman provides an overview of Saskatchewan’s ever-evolving food cultur e in Planet S magazine. Covid & Farmers’ Markets  “Did you ever think you’d hear about a farmers’ market speakeasy? That’s what the government in Puerto Rico has forced upon local agriculture and those who wish to support it. While the supermarkets and malls are open, the weekly outdoor market in Old San Juan, where I live, has had to resort to pre-orders via email that are then picked up in a small alleyway. . . . There’s a beauty in how rapidly people came together to keep farmers and small food producers able to sell their wares, though, and it’s heartening to see how ...

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 t...