Flavourful Saskatoon, January 18, 2021


“It may be that you yourself are not luminous, but you are a conductor of light” – Arthur Conan Coyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles 
Local News 
CHEP’s annual Empty Bowls Fundraiser has gone takeaway and virtual! Each participant will receive a pottery bowl, locally prepared soup, artisan bread, and dessert to eat while enjoying an online program. Ticket price is $100 for a meal for two persons. A $50 tax receipt will be issued with each ticket purchase. 

Both Dad’s Organic Grocery and Safeway are selling locally grown organic flour from One Organic Farm in Waldron, SK. At 40,000 acres, it’s the largest organic farm in Canada. One dollar from every product they sell goes to Charity: Water to support sustainable water projects. 

The Night Oven Bakery has an ever-shifting spectrum of macaron flavours. This month it’s citrus time with Grapefruit Crème Brûlée, Orange Rosemary, Lemon Meringue, Key Lime Pie, and Pear Crumble. 

Sunday night is lasagna night at Hearth Restaurant – eat in or take out. Every week it’s a different flavour. 

I’ve Been Shopping 
Yikes! I’ve become an online shopper during Covid, but I’m still buying from Canadian companies (and not a single purchase from Amazon). 

I’m always running out of tea. I usually buy from Camellia Sinensis in Montreal, but I’ve recently tried teas from Westholme Tea Company and decided to try a few more of their offerings. Westholme Tea is situated on Vancouver Island and is the first and only commercial organic tea grower in Canada. They import teas from other countries, but I’m looking forward to trying some of their BC-grown teas (both black and herbal). 

I made a spicy orange chili stir fry for lunch today with dried orange peel, a sea salt and kelp blend, and smoked chili flakes from Gathering Place Trading on Cortes Island. This is a family business selling organic, fair trade products sourced directly from farmers (including Saskatchewan’s own Marc Loiselle). Be sure to order the dried pineapple – yum! 


Food for Thought 
“Ever wondered how avocados became ubiquitous? Two decades of preparatory work by the London PR agency Richmond & Towers helped.” However, it was baristas who made Oatly cool. If you’ve ever wondered how food trends happen, this article will answer some of your questions – and give you an idea of what trends you may want to follow in 2021.

“Some of the most significant stories today are about food. But you won’t find them in the food section, where journalism has been supplanted by fantasy. . . . Food writers have always walked the dangerous lines between journalism, art, and their role as handmaiden to advertising. But we have not wobbled quite so regularly in nearly a half century as we do today.” This article was published in 2003; it is no less relevant today when food writers are still profiling male celebrity chefs, Michelin star restaurants, and working in hand in hand with PR firms and multinational companies. 

Reading Time 
Food Tank is recommending 24 books about food for winter reading. I think it could be risky for me to read Dreaming in Spice: A Sinfully Vegetarian Odyssey by Hari Pulapaka as my cupboards are already overflowing with spices, but I’m definitely interested. I’d also like to read From Farms to Incubators: Women Innovators Revolutionizing How Our Food is Grown by Amy Wu and Take Back the Tray: Revolutionizing Food in Hospitals, Schools and Other Institutions by Joshna Muharaj. Or you can read Canadian with Finding our Niche: A Restorative Human Ecology by Philip Loring. 

Thank you, Shelley, for all your flavourful recommendations this week!

If you enjoyed this issue of Flavourful Saskatoon, please share it. Thank you!

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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