Flavourful Saskatoon, June 1, 2020

Local News 
Purple wheat, used by Saskatoon producers in bread and vodka, has its origins in the Ethiopian highlands.

Ingredients & Dishes 
Unity in diversity: “Ethiopian injera is sourdough, Indian dosa is sourdough, Sri Lankan hoppers are sourdough, Sudanese kisra is sourdough. Technically speaking, any fermented bread made between roughly 3,700 BC and the invention of commercial yeast in the 1800s could be considered sourdough, too.” And you don’t need to be a man – or a techie – to make great sourdough, without an instruction manual.

From an Aztec remedy for intestinal parasites to today’s home gardens – scarlet runner beans have traditionally been grown by small-scale farmers and gardeners. This has helped to maintain local seed diversity and preserve higher genetic diversity.

Food for Thought
“Small to medium scale farms are the cornerstone of local food systems. If farmers’ markets disappear, these farmers lose market access and economic stability.”

The impact of Covid-19 has not been felt equally across sectors. Banks, insurance companies, and landlords have often escaped the economic impact felt by their customers and tenants. One restaurant owner in Paris says he’d accept pangolins in his restaurant before insurers-deserters. He goes on to say, “Why have the insurance companies, these economic giants, not also sought to borrow in order to finance this exceptional charge? As the French State has done and those like me, a simple restaurateur, I did it too! Where's the solidarity?”

Quotes to Ponder 
Bryant Terry, chef, activist, cookbook author, in conversation with Alicia Kennedy:

“Any movements promoting farm-to-table and seasonal eating, I mean—they're just empty and selfish, frankly, if they don't focus on the people growing and harvesting and transporting and cooking our food. Especially when we know that globally, the people most impacted by hunger and food insecurity are the people who are producing the food that we eat.”

“I would argue in our industrialized world that's controlled by a handful of multinational corporations that are invested in you shopping at these corporate-owned supermarkets or eating at fast-food restaurants or stuffing your face really quickly so you can get back to work, I would argue that making meals from scratch, growing your own food, gathering around the table are highly political and, dare I say, radical.”

“Food apartheid [rather than food desert] kind of squarely helps people get straight to the point and understand the ways in which power and privilege play into how people can access healthy, affordable food”

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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