The (New) City of Light

Move over Paris....Vancouver is poised to take over.

COUNT DOWN!

Only 5 days before Agriculture and AgriFood Canada joins forces with some of Canada's top chefs in Vancouver to celebrate the extraordinary food of our nation. Great beef, the finest pork, spectacular seafood, grains from wheat, buckwheat and flax...not to mention canola oil and the best pulses on earth are all going to be framed at a special media breakfast where we're inviting the world to our table to Savour Canada! I'll be blogging and tweeting throughout the event when I'm not on stage emceeing it.

GO CANADA GO!

MAN LAND

Not that I mind the testosterone ... actually it's quite life-giving...but the Ontario Food Terminal is far more than a bunch of guys selling produce. It's the largest fresh produce distribution centre in Canada. In 2009, the team there, led by a government appointed board and managed on a day to day basis by a mere 38 people, handled 960,958 TONS of fresh fruit and veggies. The OFT's cold storage facility @ 80,00 square feet is the largest on the continent.
Glimpsing it from the QEW in Toronto's west end, it's easily identifiable as a parking lot for trucks...or so it seems. It's one of the most energy-charged, competitive places I've ever visited...where a handshake is a contract and where Ontario's growers assemble all year long to supply the restaurants and independent grocery retailers from Thunder Bay to the East Coast.
Winter's tough...the outdoor 550 stall, somewhat sheltered area, can be bitterly cold. But we, as consumers, hum the tune...'Good things grow ow ow ow, In Ontari-O' , these farmers feed us so well - from the sweetest carrots (note the new, very wise, regional designation on this image) to celeriac to cucumbers and masses upon masses of fresh flowers.

To listen to my broadcast on the OFT, head to www.cbc.ca/freshair.

Fish Foraging

With Chef Chris Aerni's herring being the hit of the Canadian Chefs Congress, I wanted to learn the story. Behind the inn he and his wife, Graziella have a sprawling kitchen garden but it's his dedication to locally landed seafood that, for me, is the biggest part of their story.

He gathers teh marshmallow-sized scallops that are cultured in Passamquoddy Bay, just down the road from the inn and the VERY freshest herring (a.k.a. sardines) .

His menu looks like a fisherman's wish list.

Begin with sake-pickled fresh herring on a warm fingerling potato-radish vinaigrette and horseradish - caper cream.... then head to the vanilla butter poached 'naked' lobster ("it's easier to eat that way..." ) with melted leek-sour cream perogies, sweet potato-lobster jus, sweet pea coulis... finish with bee balm poached peaches and a small spoon ful of peach yogurt ice cream scattered with wild New Brunswick blueberries. FABULOUS!

Eating Canada at Stadtlanders' Farm

Registration closed early...there were just too many people who wanted to go. Unlike the usual foodie gatherings, Michael and Nobuyo Stadtlander opened their free form farm to the professional food community of Canada.
It was like opening Michael's personal Roladex.

Remi and Janis Cousyn from Saskatoon...JK from Toronto/PEC ... Pierre LePage from the NWT who I later saw at Gordon Bailey's new place in Charlottetown. Carson Schiffhorn from Inn on the Lake in the Yukon came as did the passionate, foraging New Brunwicker Chris Aerni of Rossmount Inn. His herring was THE hit of the entire event. Vij teamed up with Charles Baker who spent a good bit of time serving his fabulous wine and'resting' .

Only at Stadtlanders would one find ribs cooked on a manure spreader...!












And it ended with a rip roaring...bonfire that leaped high, high, high into the night sky.

Chocolate as a Food Group!

In the tiny (almost a crossroads) hamlet of Marshville, down in the Niagara region, the Easter bunny has been very hard at work!  Marshville Chocolates have a local reputation for some of the best, most delicious, and traditional Easter candy.  The chocolate molds are hand filled and wrapped with the most decorative ribbons.  It's worth a detour from the celebrated Niagara wine route!  

$5000 per tray please

Just did a signing at the Cheese Boutique in Toronto  - a hidden gem of a place tucked away near the South Kingsway.   It's a repository for upscale, exotic ingredients from around the world...and the price tags are not for the faint of heart.  Run by the Pristine family who've been in 'the business' for three generations, it's a place to go to see what extraordinary possibilities exist for our own producers and processors.  While I was busy signing, Afrim Pristine arrived at the desk, smiling broadly.  His treasure?  A small wooden tray of precious black truffles...so pungent and rich in aroma that they need only be shaved onto a dish.