Flavourful Saskatoon, September 3, 2012

Are you up to the challenge? A celiac bake-off, environmentally-friendly packaging and vineyards, the food bank diet


Food Basket Challenge
Renee Kohlman, aka sweetsugarbean, has accepted the Food Basket Challenge starting September 13. Good luck, Renee!

The Food Basket Challenge will be posting the contents of the food baskets the participants receive online on September 12, so you can try it out for yourself at home.

Slow Food Saskatoon, Sept. 13 
Slow Food Saskatoon is holding its first official meeting on September 13 from 6:30-8:30 pm at Mayfair Library. Find out about Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto; meet Saskatoon's delegate; compare bread made from heritage Red Fife wheat versus standard wheat. This is a fundraising event to support our delegate's travel expenses and to establish an operating fund for Slow Food Saskatoon. Everyone is welcome.

Chef Kevin Dahlsjo @ Creekside Orchard, Sept. 14-15 
Chef Kevin Dahlsjo from Two by Dahlsjo in Prince Albert will be preparing a 4-course dinner highlighting Saskatchewan mustard at Creekside Orchard (Melfort) on September 14 and 15. Tickets are $39. Call 921-6423 to reserve.

Celiac bake-off, Sept. 22
The Saskatoon chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association will be hosting a bake-off at 1 pm on September 22 at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church. The top recipes will be published in the Celiac Digest newsletter over the coming year. Members are asked to register their entry with Penny Fairbrother in advance of the event (306-997-4833, emmaj@sasktel.net).

Generation Seven: vineyard custodians 
Fine Wines Sask is now distributing Generation Seven wines in Saskatchewan. The winery prides itself on its practical, environmentally friendly practices. These include using the skins, stems and seeds left over after the grapes are pressed as fertilizer; filtering the water used to wash tanks and barrels so that it can be used to water the winery lawn and flowers; using lighter-weight glass bottles; and never using chemical herbicides.

Thinking outside the box
Slow Food producers are being invited to design innovative, sustainable packaging for their products at Salone del Gusto/Terra Madre. Ideas include braided garlic, compostable vegetable nets and boxes held together without glue.

A meal without a Mexican?
North America’s supply of fresh fruit and vegetables relies on Mexico and Mexicans. Roughly 60-70% of all fresh produce eaten in the US is grown in Mexico, and 75% of all farmworkers in the US were born in Mexico.

There’s an app for that!
Check out these food apps – everything from finding a food truck to splitting the bill, not to mention preparing a meal.

Flavourful Saskatoon is a weekly Monday feature. I also post regular profiles of culinary entrepreneurs, new restaurants and new food products.

Follow me on Twitter, like the Wanderlust Facebook page, or subscribe to Wanderlust and Words by email (top right-hand corner) to stay on top of Saskatoon’s evolving food culture.

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