Flavourful Saskatoon, November 2, 2020


“I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh. “There, there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.” (Winnie the Pooh) 

Local News 
A huge vote of thanks to all the local businesses that are acting proactively to support the health and safety of each and every one of us by requiring staff and customers to wear a mask: City Perks, Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Co-operative, Sparrow, Steep Hill Food Co-op, The Griffin Takeaway, The Night Oven Bakery, Venn Coffee Roasters, and Wanuskewin's visitor centre and restaurant. Let me know of others you’re aware of. I want to support businesses that care about health as well as dollars. It’s a caring gesture and we mustn’t be intimidated by the anti-mask bullies.

Assaf Al Hamade opened Al Rabih Brothers Market in July. To ensure that he can serve fresh produce and fresh bread, he travels to Calgary, Edmonton, and Medicine Hat every week. He wants to show other immigrants that they too can start a business, not just for their own community but for everyone living in Saskatoon. 

Steep Hill Food Co-op is expanding its weekend hours. They’re now open on Sundays from 1-4 pm and on Saturdays from 10 am-5:30 pm. 

I love the fact that The Griffin Takeaway makes such a wide range of products – you don’t have to be gluten-intolerant to enjoy them. I’m enjoying the haystacks, the raspberry brownies, the lemon curd, and their sour cherry candies. Both the curd and the candies are tart – perfect! 

My whole family enjoys shopping at markets! Here's Mum at a market in Rome in 1977.


Food for Thought 
I’m proud to be a self-proclaimed food snob. As Alicia Kennedy explains in discussing her love of chocolate, “Not only was chocolate my first love, though, it was also my introduction to how the global food system works: cheap or slave labor, industrial production that foregrounds quantity over quality, and an artificially low cost that allows consumers to believe that a product isn’t special or worthwhile, leading as well to the cultural, political, and socioeconomic understanding of growing nations as neither special nor worthwhile by association. It’s all by capitalist design. It’s also by capitalist design that by caring about ecological health, proper pay for farmers, and flavor quality that I become a snob.” 

There’s been a big increase in the number of people with food allergies, from around 3% of the world’s population in 1960 to around 7% in 2018 and the allergies involve a much wider range of products. But why? It may be because our guts aren’t encountering as many different types of microorganisms. It may be a shortage of Vitamin D because we spend so much time indoors. However, “if you are someone who already suffers with an allergy, immunotherapy – the consumption of minuscule but increasing amounts of the allergenic foods – is yielding extremely promising results.” 

I’m enjoying all things Italian in November as I explain in Buon Giorno, Novembre. I last visited Italy in 1977 with my Mum and a friend. I’ve included a couple of photos from that trip. I have a full mouth of pasta in this photo of a restaurant terrace in Rome.


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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