Flavourful Saskatoon, July 13, 2020


Local News 
Dad’s Organic Market is now selling products from Victoria, BC’s The Very Good Butchers. I enjoy their products whenever I’m in Victoria and am glad they’re now available in Saskatoon.

The next time you’re at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market on Koyl Avenue, be sure to head for the rear of the hall near the exit. Tasty Habits sells rich, flavourful, addictive chocolate! I highly recommend the milk chocolate with nuts, but you can also choose dark chocolate and various other flavours. The chocolate bars are made by Rania Khiralla, a participant in the Saskatoon Open Door Society’s Women’s Business Hub, a program to help entrepreneurial immigrant women get their businesses off the ground.

I also recommend the individual cheesecakes from Donna's Delectable Mini-Cheesecakes, also at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market. The Black Forest cheesecake is a personal favorite. Gluten-free versions are also available.


Enjoy a picnic in the Bessborough Gardens every Friday and Saturday from noon to 8 pm by taking advantage of the patio restaurant, food trucks, and beer garden.

Ideas worth Imitating 
What a great idea! Edmonton’s Campio Brewing is holding an online auction to win a chance to be a brewer for a day. All proceeds will go to the Edmonton Food Bank. [courtesy of Only Here for the Food]

Cooking
When there is a limited choice of local green vegetables, I will sometimes add cucumber to a vegetable stew, little knowing that the cucumber “actually originates in India, where (and in nearby Sri Lanka) it is popularly found cooked, and in a curry in which it retains both its shape and refreshing properties.” Try it out for yourself in a Sri Lankan cucumber cashew curry.

Healthy Eating 
Eat more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains and you’re less likely to develop type 2 diabetes according to two studies recently published in The British Medical Journal.

Friday night pizza from The Night Oven Bakery

Food for Thought
I love clever, funny wine labels, but it infuriates me when wine bottles have stupid labels or labels that cater to a very limited audience. Since when is wine made for women wearing a little black dress or for skinny girls? Rachel, J’Adore Le Plonk, goes into this in greater detail: “When a wine is referred to as feminine it is defined by what it is lacking: young, low in alcohol, zero tannins, light in colour, a delicate aroma. Easy to swallow. Not taxing on the palate. Thinly floral, with little to say for itself. Whereas masculine wines are always more: bold alcohol levels, full bodied, well structured tannins, layers of aged savoury complexity. Serious wines with their aromas of tobacco and game. Strong, no space for vulnerability.” She goes on to say, “It's important in wine tasting that we stress there is no wrong way to do it. Tasting is subjective; we all have different experiences, our tastebuds differ, no catalogue of sensory descriptors is alike. It's vital we encourage, not alienate. . . . We are never defining by gender, we are limiting by it.”

Three perspectives on wrestling with eating disorders during Covid gave me pause for thought. A valuable reminder of the challenges people face and how the pandemic has exacerbated them.

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. 

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