It was a charge she made after he spoke to a group of culinary professionals with a bag of groceries at his side. One by one, he took out the groceries and told the story from field to plate. “It wasn’t a very pretty picture,” he says.

While he got a standing ovation, Childs, the next speaker up, wasn’t amused. Ableman says she believed nothing should interrupt the pleasure of the table. By getting people to think about the food system, he squelched that pleasure.

Clearly, he and Childs weren’t on the same side. “My job was to ring the bell and blow the horn and ask chefs to be more responsible about how they sourced food,” he says.

Ableman and his wife, Jeanne-Marie Herman, farm 120 acres on Salt Spring Island, B.C. It’s hardly a typical Canadian farm. Their mixed organic farm includes grains, hay, fruit, vegetables and livestock. They sell at farmers markets and through a CSA subscription program.

Even so, more mainstream farmers are coming to grips with the fact that for a growing swath of Canadian consumers, Ableman is a respected farm voice.

Connecting food with social issues

While his farm is rural, Ableman is well known for his work in urban agriculture. Just across the water in Vancouver, he co-founded and directs Sole Food Street Farm.

Ableman talks about the farm and about his new book, Farm the City: A Toolkit for Setting Up a Successful Urban Farm. The book is based on his experience creating employment through urban agriculture for individuals managing poverty and addiction.

“We started (Sole Food Street Farm) about 13 years ago with two primary goals,” he says. One goal was to provide meaningful employment and training to individuals from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood with very high rates of intravenous drug use, mental illness and poverty. The second goal was to create a credible model of urban agriculture, an economic enterprise growing commercial quantities of food.

Ableman corrects anyone who uses the word “garden” instead of “farm.” “These are very much farms; we’re producing 25 tons of food annually on just under four acres of pavement,” he explains. On the flip side, he feels that there is a lot of inappropriate use of the word “agriculture” in an urban context. “A lot of my farmer friends roll their eyes when they hear the word ‘agriculture’ being used to describe a front lawn or back yard,” he says.

He writes more about this on his blog, where he says, “Calling a garden with a few boxes of vegetables ‘agricultural’ is like referring to yourself as a ‘mechanic’ because you change your own oil or an ‘actor’ because you once performed in the school play. It is important for farmers that the world begin to understand that agriculture requires a very sophisticated and complex set of skills to do well.”

While he’s quick to point out the distinction between garden and farm, it turns out that many of the ideas in his urban farm toolkit could apply to other agricultural businesses.

On problem solving

Ableman sees agriculture as a tradition of trial and error. Talking about Sole Food Street Farm, he says, “We have made a lot of mistakes,” but adds that it’s the pathway of anyone in agriculture.

For example, in an urban setting, paving and contaminated soil can necessitate container-growing systems. So at Sole Food Street Farm they created wooden growing boxes. Ableman describes their first attempt as an expensive mistake, noting, “The loss was quite significant.” So they tried again.

The current plastic growing boxes are moveable, have forklift tabs, and interconnectible drainage holes to capture and recycle runoff. There are holes on the top to install hoops for row covers, and the boxes are stackable and nestable. Ableman says they’re pretty much indestructible. But getting it right took failure.

They created an orchard using the containers. “When we first planted this orchard everyone thought we were crazy,” says Ableman. It worked, but it took a creative approach to solve the challenge. He explains that they used standard rootstock on the fruit trees instead of dwarfing rootstock. While it seems counterintuitive, the trees need the added vigour to cope with the stress of growing in the boxes. They now grow cherry, quince, apple, pear, as well as fig, persimmon and lemon — crops people said they could not grow.

On marketing

In the book, Ableman says, “People come to farmers markets and food outlets for more than just food.” But what exactly does that mean?

“We’re living in a time and in a society where only two per cent of the population is growing the nourishment for the remaining 98 per cent,” he says. This means that most eaters are disconnected from how their food comes to them — and also from the lives and experiences of those growing the food.

That disconnect makes it important to tell stories that help to connect the dots between land, farms, farmers and the people eating the food.

“People who are buying your food want to know who is growing it, what’s their story, where did they come from, how was their week,” he says.

That week might include challenges such as weather, markets, pests. But it also includes joys and satisfactions, plus a sense of accomplishment.

Ableman notes that these stories are more than a feel-good service to eaters: They provide a return. “All these things make the food that you are offering come to life in a completely different way,” he says. And that increases loyalty and connection with shoppers.

On land ownership

“Ownership is definitely an overrated model,” says Ableman as we talk about access to land.

“From the urban perspective, ownership is impossible,” he says, unless the grower already owns land or has incredibly deep pockets. Leasing land makes far more sense. Yet he feels it’s a way of thinking that can be applied beyond urban agriculture. “I think it’s true to a certain extent as well for rural or peri-urban land.”

When it comes to leases, he says that for peri-urban and rural land, 25-year leases make sense. But the duration is vastly different on the urban front, where land values shorten that window. He says that in an urban setting, a farmer should aim for a minimum of three to five years.

When it comes to lease arrangements, Ableman encourages partnerships with landowners. Whether it be developers or private landowners, he says the lease should involve an exchange that goes beyond financial details. In the case of Sole Food Street Farm, they have facilitated property-tax benefits for owners who lease to them — and they leave sites cleaned up and in a better state than when they began. Ableman says to remember that PR benefits can be a way to give back to landowners — and that the PR of leasing to an urban farm can be valuable.

There is another important thing to remember too: having a clear mechanism to end the lease. “Landowners know they’re not going to be faced with a public relations nightmare if they ask us to leave,” he explains.

Scarcer than land

Ableman says that experiential capital is a huge challenge — perhaps more than access to land. Finding skilled farm workers in an urban setting, where people don’t grow up in a tradition of commercial growing can be challenging.

He has seen many people start farming and quit. The work is hard and the financial return not commensurate.

He encourages people interested in farming to work with a successful farmer for a couple of years to see if farming is a fit for their strengths and interests. “It accelerates your learning dramatically,” he says, adding that reading and YouTube are no substitute for hands-on experience.

Looking ahead

In Farm the City, Ableman points out the importance of hands-on learning. When I ask him to talk more about it he says, “We cannot all be sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day.” He explains that we still live in a world where people need to eat food grown by farmers, houses have to be built, plumbing needs fixing, transportation requires manufacturing. They all take people with hands-on skills.

Ableman points out that carpenters and chefs go through apprenticeships. He doesn’t see farming as being any different. “Agriculture takes a minimum of 10 years of experience to get a handle on things,” he says, adding that because farmers deal with changing and evolving biological systems, the farmer is always learning.

“We do a great disservice to our young people by putting a greater value on things like computer science or math without giving equal attention and value to real-life skills such as building and growing things.”

Ableman is articulate, thoughtful and affable. He hardly seems a terrorist. But over 20 years later, he continues to ring the bell and blow the horn about food-related issues.

The post Food in its place appeared first on Country Guide.

The Kensington Market has deep roots as a busy, exciting spot, although you have to feel for the delivery truck driver.

Good as farmers are with anything mechanical, you also have to ask, why would a producer want to make that driver’s job part of their weekly routine?

It turns out I’m not the only one looking for an answer.

The truck driver hops out and opens the back and some sheep carcasses are carried out of the truck and in through the front door of Sanagan’s Meat Locker. The Country Guide photographer, Anne, points this out to me and mentions that it might be a good photo.

I count five youngish people working the shop, which has a meat counter along one wall, a charcuterie counter along another, and shelves and coolers with specialty and prepared foods in any other free spot. We ask the clerks at the cash register where to find Peter Sanagan, and one of them goes to the back to tell him we are here.

We ask Sanagan if he’d mind grabbing one of the sheep for a photo. The affable Sanagan puts a red coat over his cardigan, heads to the back for a sheep, and returns holding it up for a photo.

Opportunity in a shorter supply chain

When I first call Sanagan’s Meat Locker to connect with Peter Sanagan, the telephone message says, “Thank you for calling Sanagan’s Meat Locker, serving quality meats and poultry from Ontario family farms since 2009.”

“The main philosophy that we have is that we source everything from Ontario family farms,” Sanagan later tells me. Buying directly from farms gives Sanagan unique products for his customers. The buy-direct, Ontario focus goes beyond the meat, including products such as the barbecue sauces.

Having that direct link to the farm also helps Sanagan get to know the story of what he sells. He can talk about the ratio of corn an animal is fed, or the conditions it’s raised in.

“I find that there’s a real kind of tactile enjoyment with food and careers in food,” says Sanagan, talking about how he got into the food business. He has channelled that enjoyment into a unique shopping experience.

The route to Grey County

He was 17 years old when his father was transferred to Hong Kong for work. Sanagan didn’t attend school there — so, to keep busy, he started to cook. “That’s where I got interested” he explains, as he talks about exploring Hong Kong food markets.

His new-found interest in food gave him a focus when he returned to Canada. “When I came back I started knocking on doors and trying to get into restaurants,” he says. He studied to become a chef, working in Toronto, Italy — and then ended up in Grey County, a largely rural and agricultural area a couple of hours northwest of Toronto.

It was in Grey County, working as a chef, that Sanagan first bought meat directly from farmers. “When I was there I started using a lot of the local farmers to supply me with the meat and vegetables,” says Sanagan. He found quality and variety. Yet few of the producers, especially the smaller producers, were selling into the huge, hungry Toronto marketplace that was on their doorstep.

From cooking to a butcher shop

After returning to Toronto to teach courses at George Brown College, Sanagan saw a butcher shop for sale in Toronto’s Kensington Market district. He thought this could be an opportunity for him to supply Torontonians with the meats that had so impressed him when he worked in Grey County.

“I just jumped on it,” says Sanagan as he talks about opening his first butcher shop 10 years ago, just down the street from the present location.

His original store was very small, and when the current location became available, the landlord approached him to see if he would be interested. The larger store gave him space for more charcuterie and prepared foods. The shop has been in the current location for seven years.

The business has continued to grow. “We now have a second location in the east end of town,” says Sanagan. They also supply restaurants and do a lot of prepared foods. “There is a big emphasis on charcuterie,” he says, as he talks about the French-style pâtés. There are 50 employees between the two stores.

Sanagan, who is 43, says that a lot of small neighbourhood butcher shops are family run, often by people nearing retirement age. There is a youthful energy around the store.

Connecting with farms

“All of our farmers are small farmers,” he says as we tour the meat locker. It’s Monday — and there is still space to hang quite a bit more meat behind the sheep that arrived today. Sanagan says that by Friday this room will be full.

Finding suppliers is not a problem. “We’re lucky to be in a part of the world with access to so much amazing product,” says Sanagan as he talks enthusiastically about the different Ontario meats that he sells.

To find supplier-farmers, he initially went back to Grey County, to attend an agri-food symposium. He already knew a couple of key people there from his stint as a chef — and they introduced him to other farmers.

As his business and reputation grew, farmers started to contact him. Sometimes he even meets farmers here in the city; Sanagan shows me a leaflet from a beef farmer he recently met at the Restaurants Canada trade show.

The size of the farms he deals with varies. “We have a variety of farmers we work with, some smaller than others,” he says. His grass-fed beef comes from a small farm that brings him one animal a month. But he gets grain-fed beef from a few different farms. “When you need a bunch of striploins, you’re able to pull from more than one,” he explains.

Working directly with farms

Talking about the pros and cons of working directly with small farms instead of distributors, Sanagan says, “The pro is that the quality is way better.” The main challenge is consistency. “We want the same quality over and over,” he says, giving the example of marbling on beef.

When there is a problem, for example, maybe a batch has been processed poorly, Sanagan says that good communication is important. “We have to make sure they know about those problems right off the hop and we work together to make sure we get a consistently high quality that meets our expectations.”

He says there can be other small challenges to dealing directly with smaller producers — but downplays them. There are always things like delivery challenges, weather-related delays and truck breakdowns. “Some farmers don’t like driving in this neighbourhood,” he says with a laugh.

Retail meat business

“It’s a really expensive business model to have a retail butcher shop,” says Sanagan as he talks about the industry. “You need a ton of people doing customer service.”

Of course, the rent in Toronto is also very high.

But despite the challenges of having a retail location, Sanagan says he hopes to open more locations. Talking about the second store, which is only 900 square feet, he says, “It shows the potential of having these little neighbourhood places.”

It’s important to be located somewhere near where people live, cook — and barbecue. This Kensington Market location works well. But he’s not sure whether farther downtown, amongst all of the new high-rise condominiums, would work as well because a lot of the new condos have very small kitchens and are not conducive to cooking.

On new skills

“It’s been an uphill battle for me,” says Sanagan as he talks about the transition from being a chef to running a butcher shop. He says that although he had an understanding of food and food costs, he had a big learning curve when it came to many of the other skills needed to run a business. He talks about cost controls, leadership skills and human resources. “It’s challenging to stay on top of costs and make sure that we’re making the right business decisions,” he says.

Sanagan feels that outside expertise is important. He brought in a consultant to help build the culture at the store and create a mission statement; and had another consultant help him look at financial statements, to get a better understanding of what needs to be spent, and what doesn’t. He’s currently taking courses on retail management.

Looking ahead

Sanagan is introducing e-commerce. “The delivery component has become a lot easier now,” he says as he talks about delivery options.

But Sanagan does not think that a rise in e-commerce will make retail stores obsolete.

As he talks about customers who could shop online or at grocery store, he says, “A lot of people enjoy the experience of shopping in a store like this.” He has friendly staff, unique products and a wide breadth of products.

It’s the sort of place, he says, where you can come when you aren’t sure what you want to cook. “There are so many options.” The combination of variety and service turns shopping into more than shopping — something he calls “the customer experience.” It’s something, he says, you can’t replicate online.

The post At the storefront appeared first on Country Guide.

We’re at the media preview for the RC Show. The show, put on by Restaurants Canada, is geared towards the food service and hospitality industry, and features food, food equipment, competitions and education.

The program includes topics such as a look at Canada’s changing demographics, future opportunities with cannabis in food service, the health food movement, food trends, changing consumer needs, and culinary tourism.

For this, its 75th year, the show focuses on how to diversify and thrive in a rapidly changing landscape.

The mic is turned on for some opening welcoming words and Joe Jackman takes the podium. Jackman’s work is focused on company reinvention, and he asks the crowd if they sense much change in the industry. There are nods across the room. Jackman then talks about embracing change — not as a risk — but as opportunity.

If change means opportunity, what foods and food trends might be on the horizon? Here’s how the top chefs see it:

Chef La-toya Fagon

Founder and Chef at Twist Catering

Born in Canada, chef La-toya Fagon spent six years of her childhood living with an aunt in Jamaica so that she would grow up knowing her roots. Fagon’s company, Twist Catering, is known for fusing traditional Caribbean ingredients with Mediterranean flavours. Her specialty is high-end Caribbean food.

What food did she grow up with?

“We grew up with simplicity,” says Fagon, as she talks about Caribbean food made with fresh ingredients and simple cooking techniques. “All you need really is a pot and a knife and a cutting board and you can figure out everything,” she adds. She talks about oxtail as an example of a food she grew up with, then adds, “Now oxtail is more expensive than buying a striploin.”

I ask, what’s a dish you are really well known for?

“My jerk chicken!” says Fagon. She says that she went through 110 pounds of it the weekend before we spoke.

“I’m French trained and I studied in Italy, so I can do other stuff,” notes Fagon. She makes a great curry — both Jamaican and Thai curry.

Fagon is also well known for her lasagne. She puts her own twist on it with a simple base that uses green pepper, but no carrots or celery.

So what’s new on her ingredient list in 2020?

“I see more spices coming,” says Fagon, as she talks about more robust and earthy flavours — and more Indian flavours. She’s thinking of more heat too, and says more people now see the benefits of hot food, such as increased heart rate and the release of endorphins.

Fagon finds people are trying more spices. She considers this a good thing — especially since she’s come across a fair number of people who say they’ve never had curry before.

What new dishes is she cooking in 2020?

“I’m taking old-fashioned stuff and putting a twist on it,” says Fagon.

She says it’s similar to the movies, where we’re seeing remakes of classics such as Spider Man. As an example, Fagon talks about a chicken pot pie she recently tasted that had Moroccan spices.

What food trends has she noticed recently?

“I find that people are cutting back on red meat,” says Fagon, pointing to an interest in plant-based foods. It’s a trend that has her questioning whether consumers read ingredient lists.

“I know what’s in a ground chuck burger,” she says, noting that the ingredient list on some plant-based products is as long as it is for processed meats.

She thinks chefs can address trends such as plant-based food with simplicity. For example, a burger could be mushrooms with some garlic and onions and mashed black beans. “That’s a tasty burger!” she says.

What influences does she think will be big in the next couple of years?

“Hakka food, with its Chinese and Indian influences,” says Fagon.

She also thinks there will be interest in Caribbean food. She likes that, since her goal has been to provide high-end Caribbean food.

When it comes to diversity and its influence on food, she points to her own kitchen, where she is French-trained with a Caribbean background, her sous-chef is South Indian, the junior sous-chef is North Indian, the pastry chef and baker is Greek, and another kitchen helper is from Trinidad.

Of special interet to farmers, what is she hearing from consumers and other chefs about sustainable ingredients?

Fagon says some people care about sustainable ingredients — some don’t.

Those who care are interested in knowing about things such as sustainable food choices.

What kind of business thinking is needed to excel in the food and restaurant industry today?

“Number one is knowing your demographic, knowing where you’re located, and knowing what’s going to reach your area,” says Fagon.

For example, she says that in affluent neighbourhoods, she finds people associate higher costs with better quality. That’s important to know.

Fagon also thinks that focus is key. “Stay in your lane,” she advises. In her case, she studied Italian and French cuisine — but saw a need for really good, authentic, high-end Caribbean food. “I know my lane,” she says.

Chef Adrian Niman

Founder and Executive Chef at The Food Dudes

Chef Adrian Niman is at the show to speak about to how to thrive in a diverse Canada. As the owner and executive chef of The Food Dudes, Niman started out in the industry with a catering company, which has grown into a hospitality company that includes catering, restaurants, food trucks and ghost kitchens. The Food Dudes caters over 2,000 events a year.

I begin by asking what food he grow up with.

“My cooking career and my passion for food didn’t start until I was 15 years old,” says Niman as he explains that both his parents had demanding jobs. And he was inspired by cooking shows on TV — not by home cooking. It was after an apprenticeship at a restaurant that his passion for the hospitality industry took off.

What’s a dish he’s really well known for?

“We change our menu seasonally,” says Niman. In fact, he’s known for frequently changing the menu based on the time of the year and available ingredients. “In the winter we focus more on comforting and richer flavours; in the summer we try to go a little fresher and lighter,” he says.

If he had to pick just one dish he says it would be the “chop salad,” which was developed for one of the restaurants — but is very well suited to the catering business because it keeps well. To start, the bowl is lined with a jalapeno-feta spread, and on top of that, a salad of kale, napa cabbage, quinoa, cherry tomatoes, grapes, bell peppers, mint, cucumbers, parsley, red wine vinaigrette, harissa-dusted crispy chickpeas, and sumac. “It’s kind of like a party in your mouth,” he says.

What’s new on your ingredient list in 2020?

“We’re going back to our roots,” say Niman as he talks about using more preserved and fermented foods.

He says he will also be using more bitter greens such as endive and radicchio. “I think you’ll keep seeing a lot more of that in our cooking this year,” he says.

What new dishes is he cooking in 2020?

Niman’s menu is constantly changing, and 2020 is no exception. He says that cooking from scratch using traditional methods will continue to be a focus.

What food trends has he noticed recently?

“I believe that plant-based food will be a focus,” says Niman.

He feels that along with interest in vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free cooking, there will be more awareness of allergies. “Allergy-friendly dishes are an important focus,” he says.

He’s also seeing an interest by chefs in natural ways to create umami without MSG. He points to rice-derived koji as an example of how chefs are doing this.

What influences does he think will be big in the next couple of years?

Niman thinks indigenous dishes and ingredients are going to be big.

What dishes does he consider “Canadian?”

“Bannock is definitely a Canadian thing,” says Niman. He also points to dishes that use maple syrup.

What is he hearing from consumers and other chefs about sustainable ingredients?

“We’re trying to do the best job we can from a packaging standpoint this year,” says Niman, as he explains that to cut back on plastic wrap they have switched to reusable vinyl wrap. “We’re really trying to find things that are we can reuse to minimize waste,” he says.

What kind of business thinking is needed to excel in the food and restaurant industry today?

“I couldn’t live in Rosedale if it wasn’t for my catering business,” says Niman, as he explains that he started in catering instead of opening a restaurant because catering provides a better cash flow and higher profits.

“I’m extremely grateful for the catering business,” says Niman, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the business. “We are heavily involved in a lot of restaurant opportunities, but when you actually break it down at the end of the day, I mean catering is still the core of what we do.”

Niman says success in the hospitality industry takes more than good food and making guests happy. “It’s all the back-end stuff that will bite you eventually if you don’t do it properly from the beginning,” he says. That means watching what goes in and out of the bank account, and understanding cash flow and cash position.

Chef Philman George

High Liner Foodservice

Born in Toronto, Chef Philman George is influenced by its diverse array of cuisines, while also being anchored in a strong culinary tradition from his upbringing. A corporate chef for High Liner Foodservice, George will host a culinary competition at the 2020 RC Show.

What food did he grow up with?

“I would say my upbringing had a huge influence on my approach to cooking.”

George’s parents came to Canada from the Caribbean island of Barbuda shortly before he was born. While he’s been inspired by the diversity of food in Toronto, the culinary heritage of Barbuda has been very important.

When his parents came to Canada, he says, they were they were part of a small Barbudan community here. “Every Barbudan that travelled to Toronto would bring a cooler full of fish for the community,” he says, as he talks about growing up on a steady diet of pan-fried fish, stewed conch and stewed spiny lobster.

As he started to cook, George says he always paid attention when he was given fish or crustacean to work with. “I already had a comfort level with it,” he explains.

He is raising his boys to enjoy the traditional Sunday family seafood breakfast from Barbuda. George explains that a key ingredient is salted cod, which is soaked overnight. The salting process transforms the texture, making it a bit chewy. “It’s almost like this chewy texture that can continuously release its flavour as you work through it,” he explains. After soaking, it’s boiled to remove a bit more salt, and then mixed with stewed tomatoes, garlic and onion.

What’s a dish he is really well known for?

“My Caribbean-style shrimp tacos,” says George. While he’s a corporate chef, he sometimes cooks for events, such as when friends open a restaurant.

Using a traditional tortilla taco shell, he fills it with pickled purple cabbage that is topped with salsa that he makes from plantain — instead of the traditional pico-de-gallo-type salsa. The diced, sautéed plantain releases sugars. Added to that are Caribbean herbs, pimento pepper, and, finally, rum-flambéed shrimp. It’s topped with jerk aioli.

“It’s my take on what a taco would be if it had a Caribbean influence,” explains George.

What’s new on his ingredient list in 2020?

“Alaska pollock, which is a beautiful fish. I think it’s one of the most underrated fish on the planet.” George says it’s got a great sustainability story, with one of the world’s best managed — and largest — fisheries.

He finds the mild flavour of pollock is well suited to the Canadian palate. This mild flavour also allows chefs to do many things with it.

“That’s a major ingredient on my list for 2020 — and showing customers how they can utilize it effectively on in their menu,” he says.

On a personal level, George says he is looking at a lot of ingredients from West Africa, including a grain called “fonio,” and “moringa,” a plant with many edible parts. He’s also using cassava — both the leaves and the root.

What new dishes is he cooking in 2020?

George is busy spreading the word about the new Highliner Alaska Wild Wings.

“We’ve taken this beautiful Alaska pollock, and we’ve made it look like a fish wing but we’ve kept the core integrity of pollock,” he explains. It gets a crispy breading and a fairly simple flavour profile, with some pepper, onion and garlic — so chefs can customize it. When customers order wings, chefs can give it a dry rub, or toss with different sauces.

George laughs as he notes, “Chicken’s not going anywhere.” This is a novelty food that chefs can fit into an existing wing offering on a menu.

What food trends has he noticed recently?

“I don’t even look at sustainability as a trend anymore; I think that is here to stay,” says George, as he talks about both food and packaging.

He thinks specialized diets — including plant-based foods, plant-forward cooking, vegan, pescaterian and keto — will continue to trend in the years to come, making it important for the industry to keep them on the radar.

He is also seeing a return to a more simplistic approach to cooking. “There’s a heightened sense of awareness of the star ingredient of the dish, and just using a few ingredients to elevate it and make it shine,” he explains.

What influences do you think will be big in the next couple of years?

“I think West African cuisine is prime to be trending in the years to come,” says George.

He is seeing an evolution in Middle Eastern cuisine based on immigration. “That cuisine has more room to grow.”

George also points to the traditional Israeli condiment call “schug,” which he finds is making its way into Mediterranean cuisine in general. “That’s an example of a condiment that is transcending what we think of Mediterranean cuisine,” he explains.

What dishes does he consider “Canadian?”

“I think what makes a dish Canadian is utilizing the ingredients that are unique to Canada,” says George.

An ingredient-focused approach to “Canadian” cuisine leaves room for chefs to be creative.

Some of his favourite examples of Canadian ingredients are saskatoon berries, late harvest ice wine — and, most recently — pawpaw fruit. “Let’s let the ingredients be the star and let the chefs be creative — and that to me is Canadian cuisine,” he says.

What is he hearing from consumers and other chefs about sustainable ingredients?

“Millennials are the demographic driving food service — it’s imperative to cater to their needs, and they are demanding sustainability,” says George.

He says that he sees more chefs who understand the importance of everything on the menu having a good story. He says this helps customers have a good conscience while eating — and they can feel good knowing where it’s coming from.

“People who get it understand that your staff need to be sustained as well,” he explains as he notes that sustainability goes beyond ingredients. High staff turnover is a big problem in the industry, making “living wages” an important part of sustainability. “That might be something that gets lost in the mix of sustainability,” he says.

What kind of business thinking is needed to excel in the food industry today?

“The more stories that you can tell the better,” George says. “When people come in and they take a picture of your food and they post it, they are posting it because they feel connected.”

He believes he must connect eaters to farmers and fishers.

“They should be able to to see your vision, to see the story, to understand where the foods were sourced — that should be apparent from every touch point of your restaurant,” says George.

He points out the importance of technology, whether it’s leveraging social media to tell the business story, or allowing customers to order in and experience the restaurant without physically coming in. He says people may not want to just go into a restaurant: “They might come in and visit it once, and then eat at home on the couch after that.”

Learn more at rcshow.com.

The post Three chefs take centre stage appeared first on Country Guide.

It turns out it’s the usual. Is anyone gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian? We all smile and tell him we’re good, and it’s not long before the waiter is back with the first dim sum item.

Moncel clearly knows the territory. He’s city manager at Culinary Adventure Co., which bills itself as Canada’s leading food tour company, with eight different tours here in Toronto, plus tours in Ottawa and Winnipeg too.

You get the sense from the name Culinary Adventure that this is a business that knows its target clientele and how to promote itself, including with the slogan “Every Bite Tells A Story,” a line that clearly works with this audience.

They also know that the tour-goers want to know about more than just the food, so Moncel explains that when he took over this culinary tour, he started by meeting the owners of the restaurants and food stores on the tour to find out more about their own histories. It makes this three-hour food tour — a tour of Spadina Avenue and Kensington Market in Toronto — more than a food tour: It’s an immersion course into the people, businesses and neighbourhoods.

The ticket is $69, which isn’t exactly expensive in this city, but it’s high enough that you want some value for it. And some tasty food would be nice too.

But we’re confident. Forbes Magazine rates this as one of the best nine food tours in the world.

From the East

Dim sum is a Cantonese-style brunch that consists of a succession of servings of mostly bite-sized food. Moncel tells us that while dim sum is the name used for this style of meal here in Toronto, in other parts of the world you might find it called “yum cha,” which means to drink tea. Whatever you call it, it’s a drawn out social meal with lots of sipping.

Several of us on the tour associate dim sum meals with carts of food wheeled around the restaurant for diners to choose from. There are none here. This restaurant has a focus on efficiency — and with no carts they can fit more tables. It’s just one of the many story bites that Moncel sprinkles throughout the tour.

As we wait for our next dish, Moncel and another guest, Norm, who is visiting from Western Canada, talk about the use of honorifics in the Japanese and Korean languages. It turns out Moncel, who loves cooking Asian food, trained as a chef. He spent time teaching in Korea — while Norm taught in Japan. They both have favourite recipes to share.

Dim Sum at Rol San

We’re in Rol San Restaurant. A banner hanging outside the restaurant advertises all-day dim sum. With a narrow storefront, it seems like a small restaurant from the street — but Moncel explains it can hold 240 people because of the large room we’re sitting in at the back.

As he refills our tea, Moncel says that the restaurant opened in 1994. “This is a real neighbourhood institution,” he says. The family that who it is from Guangdong Province in southern China.

Moncel has arranged for us to sit here in the back so he can point out some of the things that make this restaurant unique. For example, there are bins of numbered clothes pegs behind the counter across from us. We’re table 32, so the server will take clothes pegs that are marked 32 as he delivers our order to the kitchen. In the kitchen, in full view of the cooks, are signs for each of the dishes on the menu. The server affixes clips with our table number to the signs for the dishes we’ve ordered. It saves the server writing down instructions. Everything is efficient. It has to be.

The waiter arrives with a plate. “The whole idea here is to give you a contrast,” Moncel says as he talks about the crispy dough fritter wrapped with a soft rice-flour wrapper.

As we finish the wrapped fritter, a plate of dumplings arrives. “This is like the margherita pizza of the Cantonese kitchen,” he says, pointing to the shrimp wrapped in rice wrapper. “The mark of a really nice one is that you should see the pink of the shrimp shining through.”

We finish with barbeque pork buns. Moncel says these are leavened with yeast — like bread — but instead of being baked, they are steamed. He offers to pass the hot chili oil if anyone wants any. He says to dig for the crushed peppers from lower down. They’re hotter.

One last story bit is that there is a condo development slated for this site. Having heard the story of this restaurant, I’m interested to know what will happen to it. They don’t yet know.

Congee at Kings Noodle House

The next stop along Spadina Avenue, Kings Noodle House, has barbecued ducks hanging in the front window. Before we go in, Moncel points to the kitchen in the front window where someone with a cleaver chops barbecued meat. He asks us to think about all of the chopping that has made the board concave.

There is tea before the congee arrives. Congee, Moncel explains, is a savoury rice porridge. Ours has green onions and ginger. “Add the other dishes to your congee and treat it like a stew,” he advises.

As we await more food, he gives us a cultural tip. It’s customary to tap the index and middle fingers on the table as a way of expressing gratitude — it represents a bow.

An order of deep fried dough arrives. “This has the role of a muffin in western countries,” he says as he explains that, like muffins, it’s easy to eat on the run. Then he tells us the legend behind the name, which translates as oil-fried ghost.

“The principal characters in the yau ja gwai story are Yue Fei (the general) and Qin Hui (the scheming prime minister.) Qin Hui is still a very hated figure in Chinese lore — think of Guy Fawkes to the Brits or Benedict Arnold to the Americans.” It’s the scheming one who gets made into the oil-fried ghost, cut up, served and eaten.

As the barbecued pork arrives, Moncel points out that the five-spice rub used when cooking this pork often has more than five spices — but the name doesn’t change because five is a lucky number in Chinese culture. There is one piece of pork left that nobody takes. Most Canadians won’t take the last item from a plate, even when prodded, he says.

The same husband-and-wife team, Grady and Stanley Lee, have operated this restaurant since 1984. When they arrived, they found the city lacked authentic Hong Kong-style Chinese food. That’s their focus. They are now serving the grandchildren of their original clients.

As we leave and walk up Spadina Avenue, we peer into the window of a dumpling shop. Moncel points to the guy rolling dough into little round circles and asks if we know why they leave the dough thicker in the middle. Answer: It’s the load-bearing part of the dumpling.

We’ve finished the first leg of our tour, with tastes — and stories — of Chinatown under our belt. We turn onto a side street and are in Kensington Market.

Kensington Market

We shelter under an awning as Moncel points to shops across the street and explains that the market area today has many recognizable elements from the early twentieth century.

Eastern European immigrants arriving in Toronto in the early 20th century found a city that was not welcoming. As a result, many came to this neighbourhood, then an inexpensive part of the city, where they sold wares in front of their homes, eventually adding an awning, and, over time, turning the main floor into a shop. Eventually, homes became shops — and the cluster of shops became Kensington Market.

He’s had people ask him where the market is, expecting a stand-alone market building. “You’re in it,” he tells them.

The synagogue across the street is another clue. The neighbourhood today is diverse. We walk past Rasta Pasta, run by a Jamaican-Italian husband-and-wife team. Nearby is a Portuguese bakery. There are fishmongers, cheese shops, greengrocers and a thriving vintage clothing scene.

Cactus Sandwich at Torterĺa San Cosme

As we grab stools in a Mexican torta shop, Moncel talks about the owners, and how they have sourced a lot of the ingredients for their Mexico City-style street food here in the market.

We will be tasting a Nopales torta — a cactus pad sandwich. He goes behind the counter to ask one of the staff for a tin of cactus packed in brine, which he brings to show us. He explains how the skin and spines are removed, describing the taste as being “like a green bean crossed with an aloe plant.”

Putting the sandwiches in front of us, he points out the refried pinto beans, avocado, caramelized onion, a firm Mexican-style cheese and green salsa.

The savoury part of the tour is done, and we finish off with stories of sweets. First to CXBO Chocolates, where we hear how chef Brandon Olsen got into chocolates, and how his wife, designer Sarah Keenlyside applied her talents to make the jewel-like chocolates. The Ziggy Stardust Disco Egg, a dark chocolate shell filled with aerated milk and white chocolate pieces, is mine.

Our tour finishes off at Wanda’s Pie in the Sky, a bakery-café. Wanda, who has had a life-long love of baking, grew up in the Niagara area, so it’s fitting that we have sour-cherry pie. Moncel says that Wanda started by delivering pies by streetcar, and eventually opened this café.

The tart cherry pie he orders has little cherry cut-outs on top of the crust. The unique thing about this pie, he says, is the almond extract, adding, “That nuttiness just rounds out the tartness of the pie.” The butter crust on the pie is explained by something written on a chalkboard on the wall: “We’re a vegetarian café, but we don’t beat you over the head with it!”

With that, our tour comes to an end. We’ve talked the entire time about food and about the people responsible for it.

And I haven’t seen or heard the name of a Canadian farmer the whole time, not even once.

The post A food tour of Toronto’s Kensington Market appeared first on Country Guide.

It announces, “Sample Ontario Corn Whisky: Neat, On the rocks, Whisky sour cocktail.” In a way, it’s the kind of sign I expect to see at the Toronto Gourmet Food & Wine Expo, where agencies promote food companies, wineries and distilleries.

Except this isn’t a liquor agency doing the promoting. It’s the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO).

GFO communications co-ordinator Brianne Curtis greets visitors who wander into the booth. It’s a big booth with seats where attendees can stop, talk, sample, and hang out. Along with corn whisky, they have samples of oat cakes made with Ontario oats.

Mixed crowd

$35 gets you in the door of the 140,000-square-foot event. There is no dress code for the show, though the website suggests anything from smart casual to city chic to quite dressy.

The crowd tonight is mixed, but there are lots of gleaming shoes and pressed suits, and most attendees wield a wineglass in one hand, sometimes skillfully sometimes tentatively navigating the crowd with the glass held out front to avoid spillage.

At the end of the aisle with the GFO booth is a chef presentation. A few rows over is a figure skater in a frilly gown performing on fake ice.

There’s wine, hard cider, beer, and booze from all over the world. And there are mixologists with all sorts of mixing tips. One booth has olives to taste. Another charcuterie. A couple of aisles over, the restaurant chain Moxies is serving tasters.

The din in the background is a mix of people talking, live bluesy music, and amplified voices giving cooking demos.

GFO at the show

I check in with GFO after the show to learn more. “This year was our fourth year that we’ve attended the show,” Curtis explains. She says that some people are surprised when they come to the booth and realize it’s the Grain Farmers of Ontario, but when they hear about the connection of grain farmers to the whisky and oat cakes, they say, “Oh, that makes sense.” She tells them that the whisky is made from Ontario grains grown within 250 km of a distillery in Collingwood, Ont.

That consumer awareness — that “Oh, that makes sense” — is the goal.

“The whisky and the whisky sours were a big hit,” says Curtis. A fun drink at this event is likely to be a hit, meaning a fun drink opens the door to tell the story of the whisky — and of the grain behind it.

The oat cakes are made an hour away at a bakery in Guelph, Ont., with Ontario oats, she says. “We were able to tell the story of local food made from local farmers.”

Victoria Berry, GFO manager of communications says shows focused on food and celebrating food are a good fit for GFO. “It’s a great opportunity for us to remind people that their food is grown very well here,” she says. It allows consumers to connect their food to the farm and the way it’s grown.

Farm outreach. Ontario corn. Whisky sours. Three tickets.

How to meet consumers

Sampling whisky at a Toronto food and wine show is part of the GFO’s larger Good in Every Grain campaign which launched in 2014. It is an umbrella campaign for GFO’s consumer-focused initiatives.

The GFO Good in Every Grain campaign has a number of consumer touchpoints. “We go all over the place,” explains Victoria Berry, manager of communications at GFO. “We have to marry the event portion, and the social portion, and the website, and different other campaigns that we might be running,” she says.

For example, GFO has an interactive trailer that it sets up at fairs. There are larger displays at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, the International Plowing Match, and the Canadian National Exhibition.

Another urban, non-farm event that GFO attends is the Honda Indy. The first year, recalls GFO communications co-ordinator Brianne Curtis, people stopped to take a double take, saying, “Grain farmers?” But once she explained that grain corn is used in ethanol, which is used in fuel, people made the connection.

The Honda Indy is an opportunity to connect with consumers who would not otherwise be thinking of corn when they think of fuel. They’ve even taken the campaign to the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada to talk about the ethanol connection.

Berry points out that sometimes it’s effective to use people from outside the farm industry to share information. For example, GFO works with nutritionists and dieticians for some initiatives, while the current Train with Grains campaign is working with the Ottawa Senators.

Some conversations are more challenging than the story of whisky. The Good in Every Grain website includes topics such as GMOs, high-fructose corn syrup, pollinators, and sprays. Curtis says that these are topics where there can be strong opinions. While opening a dialogue doesn’t mean it’s possible to change the mind of someone who is passionate, when people are truly curious, there is an opportunity to share the farmer viewpoint. Even if there is a difference of opinion, she says, it’s often possible to end on a positive note and talk about quality.

Curtis talks about putting a face to an industry. As part of the campaign, the GFO website showcased a different farmer each week, with photos, information about the farm, and insights to help non-farmers relate to farmers. “We connect them to the food, and then connect that food back to the farm,” says Curtis. “Here are your farmers, growing food on your behalf.”

The post ‘Good in Every Grain’ campaign bridges urban-rural divide appeared first on Country Guide.

“At the core, you try to create something memorable and special. The possibilities are endless,” says Voula Halliday as we discuss food and events — and how using them together has so much impact when you’re trying to promote causes and make change.

It’s a Tuesday morning, and Halliday apologizes as she tells me it feels like Friday evening. She’s in demand and she’s tired. She has spent the past three days teaching and there’s been a full slate of student presentations. She says it’s been intense. And amazing. She’s clearly thrilled with how the presentations went and absolutely loved the stories in those presentations.

Halliday is a professor at Centennial College in Toronto, where she teaches students in the food-tourism and food-media programs. In one of the courses, about freelance food entrepreneurship, she gets students to develop a food business concept. “What’s your story? What’s your brand?” she asks as she explains the thought process. For example, a food entrepreneur could create a book, “as a calling card,” she says.

Halliday becomes animated as she tells me more about the student presentations. She says they were very heartfelt. It moved her deeply to hear students weave in their own personal stories.

It’s the key point, she says. Food and stories must go hand in hand.

Food, events, change

It’s no surprise that the stories touch her. Halliday uses food and stories to get people together at events. Ultimately, it’s all about promoting a point of view or a cause, and it’s the sort of thing that makes her tick.

Halliday is a former co-chair of Slow Food Toronto and Slow Food Canada, and she is also a founding member of the Terroir Symposium, an event that brings together people from the tourism, hospitality, food, beverage, and business sectors.

Hers is a familiar name for many Canadians, having regularly appeared on radio and TV. She has been a regular guest sharing her recipes on the CBC show “Steve and Chris,” and has written for a number of magazines including Chatelaine, Canadian Living, and Reader’s Digest.

Her teaching role is more recent. “I’ve been cooking since I was seven and always loving it,” she says. At university she studied creative writing. Then she worked at CIBC making corporate videos.

“It wasn’t my thing anymore,” she says as she talks about leaving CIBC after a dozen years to go to Australia for Cordon Bleu chef training.

Halliday loves recipe development and loves the art of communicating recipes properly. She feels lucky to have brought together her two loves of writing and food. Food, words, stories — make change.

Eating at Home

Halliday is off today, Tuesday, because she teaches Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She is ready for down time. For Halliday, winding down includes cooking. Tonight, she says, she’ll make a mushroom pizza.

I’m actually surprised that she is not having leftovers for supper tonight, but I don’t say so as we haven’t yet chatted about her cookbook, with its focus on using leftovers to make home cooking more achievable.

In the book, Eat at Home, Halliday sets out to make home cooking an achievable goal. The introduction starts with her listing everything she aspires to get done in the morning, from walking the dog, laundry, exercise, meditate, check the inbox… and continues with about a page of things. She goes on to say, “This is what I want. And I am exhausted just thinking about it.”

One day Halliday realized that her family was spending a lot of money having food delivered instead of cooking for themselves. And so began her focus on more home cooking — and on more leftovers. She embraces leftovers as a way to make home cooking manageable. “I’ve gotten so much out of cooking with the intention of creating leftovers that it’s become an ongoing personal challenge that thrills me,” she says.

Halliday advises to follow her recipes the first time, and then experiment a bit the next time. She explains how to swap-in different ingredients in some of her recipes — to encourage people to experiment in the kitchen. She believes that once people experience success, they become comfortable experimenting.

When I ask Halliday about food trends, she thinks for a moment and then says, “People do want to eat at home.” She goes on to talk about the current popularity of meal kits, where people order the pre-prepared ingredients required to cook a recipe at home: everything required, including spices, is in a kit.

While Halliday is glad to see the interest in cooking, she worries that meal kits include a lot of excess packaging. She thinks that will change.

So the trend now, she says, is that there is a generation of people who haven’t been in the kitchen. But they want to cook.

Farm-fresh for children

Halliday wrote Eat at Home after working as chef and food co-ordinator at Dundas Junior Public School. It’s an inner-city school in her Toronto neighbourhood.

The school hired a chef to prepare healthy meals for the children, but the chef, who hadn’t worked with children before, quit after just two days. Halliday was between jobs, so she stepped in and ended up staying for two years.

While at the school, her focus was using more locally sourced farm-fresh foods and telling children about where their food comes from. “Cooking for the children taught me so much,” she says.

A lot of parents asked her about home cooking. Her frequent response was, “You need nothing but a cast iron pan at home and you can make anything to eat at home.”

The positive parent feedback and the interest in home cooking moved her to do something. “I want to give back, so I’m going to write a cookbook,” she thought.

In her courses, Halliday talks about the importance of sharing stories. It’s advice she herself follows. When she was ready to have Eat at Home printed, she shared the story of the book on the online funding platform Kickstarter.

She told her story and the story of the book. She says it’s important to tell your true story. She told people that her Kickstarter campaign was so that she could pay for printing. “My campaign is to pay my Amex bill,” she explained to prospective funders. She shared the story of the school and that she would be sharing proceeds from the book with the school.

Eating at home

People want to cook, says Halliday. If you’re in doubt, just look at all of the step-by-step cooking videos on YouTube.

But there’s another critical point for anyone talking to consumers about food. Simplicity is a good starting point for cooking, Halliday emphasizes. And it’s a great starting point for food events.

Simplicity is how you make something memorable.

It’s linked to how Halliday tells her students it’s okay to start small.

The whole idea, Halliday repeats, has got to be both simple and obvious. It’s “to bring nourishment and joy to the table.”

The post How to talk food in the city appeared first on Country Guide.

At over 1.5 kg, this not your typical meat pie. Nor is this your typical store.

Summerhill Market co-owner Christy McMullen later tells me more about the chicken pot pie. “Everything is done on site,” she says. That includes the flaky puff pastry, dicing the vegetables, picking the chicken from the bone, and more.

McMullen says she has customers who come from the other side of Toronto to get these pies. She laughs as she recounts a customer who took one to a family member who had moved to Calgary and had a craving for a Summerhill Market chicken pot pie.

McMullen’s grandfather opened Summerhill Market in 1954 in Rosedale in what is now the heart of old Toronto. At the time, it was 2,500 square feet. Today, the store has grown to 10,000 square feet and has carved out a reputation for prepared foods. There are approximately 800 foods prepared in-house. Of the 250 employees, 110 work in the kitchen.

McMullen and her brother, Brad, co-manage the business. Their father, Bob, is still involved part-time, helping with tasks such as researching new equipment. While Bob still owns the business, they are currently in the process of moving ownership to the next generation.

In your blood

McMullen started working in the store when she was 10 years old and continued all the way through high school.

She left the family business for university, and then worked as a chartered accountant in Canada and overseas. She says that time away was an important step to getting to where she is today — back at the family business.

“They can be really challenging,” she says as she talks about family businesses. Working elsewhere helped her to make sure that this is where she wanted to be. She knew she would come back, though. “It’s in your blood,” she says.

McMullen has been on the board of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) for eight years, and in October 2018, became the chair. She is also on the board of the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, a horticultural research centre in southern Ontario.

These networks help her a lot. “It’s been a great experience,” she says, talking about meeting independent grocers from other parts of the country who aren’t competitors, people she can compare notes with. It’s also a good opportunity to connect with companies that service the grocery industry, such as consumer packaging companies.

At Summerhill Market, getting a piece of the retail pie has meant… making a really good pie. McMullen says Summerhill Market has had to differentiate itself from chain stores. High-end prepared foods like the pie is one way to stand out. Now, more than a grocery store, Summerhill Market is a destination for busy people who want really good prepared food.

Store tour

McMullen walks me around Summerhill Market and tells me about what they do — and what they do differently.

We start in the produce section, where one of the first items to catch my eye is fresh peas that are already shelled. The fresh figs look good too, and the employee laying them out can describe the colour inside and the taste.

McMullen says they have a produce buyer at the Toronto Food Terminal five days a week — and he tastes the fruit and vegetables before he buys.

The produce section also has prepared food items such as carrot curls, cut fruit, and “pressed juices” in a rainbow of colours. When I ask about the juices, she says, “You get your vegetables all in one drink.” The display is colourful and the names are engaging: orange power punch, mean green, and detox mojito.

McMullen stops at a large cooler in the produce section which she calls “the bunker.” They use this area to highlight special items. The idea, she explains, is to catch customers here in the produce section at the beginning of their shopping trip, before they’re tired.

One of the features in the bunker is a “restaurant pop-up,” where they feature food from a local restaurant for the month. The restaurant pop-up is curated by a Toronto food writer who promotes it on Twitter with the hashtag #SummerhillxRestoPopup. Today they are featuring a local Argentinian restaurant call VOS. McMullen says the restaurant pop-up gives them something new for their customers and creates a buzz.

Next to the restaurant pop-up are prepared individual sliced turkey dinners with cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and sweet potato. On the other side of the bunker is a shelf with the cheese of the week. This week it’s a Canadian cheese from Quebec, Le Riopelle de l’Isle.

And… there are chicken pot pies in the bunker too. McMullen explains we’ll see them again in a moment in the prepared food area. The pies are here to catch shoppers early in their shopping trip.

We make our way to the meat counter, which has thick steaks and choice roasts. There is as much marinated meat as there is fresh meat. “It’s a big portion of what we do,” says McMullen. Pointing to a marinated, deboned chicken stuffed with apple, she explains, “One of the big things is the deboned chicken with marinade.”

In the prepared-food coolers there is a wide variety of dishes. Along with more common fare such as soups, pasta salads, meat pies, and mashed potatoes, there are dishes such as braised beef linguine, gluten-free mushroom pizza, and spicy sausage and rapini orecchiette.

McMullen says that they are focusing on international prepared foods, pointing to what she explains is a Thai dish in a ready-to-go bowl labelled Khao Soy Noodle Bowl. The Summerhill Market website advertises, “We take our pad Thai seriously. Our pad Thai is hand-tossed with rice noodles, jumbo shrimp and garnished with fresh chopped green onion, lemon and cherry tomatoes in a house-made traditional Thai sauce.”

In the next aisle are the prepared vegan foods. A recent vegan addition to the menu is BBQ jackfruit — something that can be used to make a pulled-pork-style sandwich.

We put on hair nets as we tour the upstairs kitchen. It’s humming. McMullen explains that until they recently opened a 30,000-square foot offsite preparation facility, the kitchen upstairs operated 24 hours a day. There is an executive chef and four sous chefs to develop recipes and oversee the kitchens.

Being an independent

The “fresh perimeter” of the store — the area with produce, deli, meat, and prepared goods — takes up a lot of the store. It’s more than most grocery stores. McMullen explains that as an independent, it’s not a level playing field — so they play a different game.

Chain stores can charge product listing fees and can ask for price cuts. An independent can’t. As we walk through an aisle with soaps and detergents, McMullen explains, “We can’t get them at the same price the big chains get it for.” So soap and detergent selection is minimal.

That goes for other common packaged goods too. There are just a few types of Campbell’s tinned soup. There’s an ED Smith tinned pumpkin — but it’s got the same amount of shelf space as a lesser-known brand of organic tinned squash.

“You can get Diet Coke anywhere,” she says as we walk past store-made goods, pointing to homemade eggnog. “Our chips are made on site too,” she says. She adds that she is lucky because her clients have the disposable income to pay for prepared foods and specialty items.

McMullen says there are other challenges to being an independent. For starters, it’s hard to get financing. Then, when it comes to building, there is a lot to learn. “You have to be a master of everything,” she says, as she talks about permits, contractors, and designers. “Chains go in and build out a store in three months,” she says.

McMullen’s advice for small business operators is: “Listen to your customers.” More than that, she says, try to develop a relationship with them. She says it can be difficult when they give you bad news — but listening to that bad news is critical. Right now she gets lots of pushback from customers who want to see less plastic packaging, and she’s taking it seriously.

Looking ahead

McMullen has seen lots of trends come and go. Some stick. “Our customers always like local,” she says, adding, “I think local is here to stay.” She wishes that she could get local produce items later into the season.

The demand for prepared food is strong. While the chicken pot pies are a staple, the menu of prepared foods continues to evolve. McMullen talks about a growing menu of plant-based foods developed by the vegan chef who they recently hired. She also sees growth potential with international foods. And, in general, having “healthy” food made with whole ingredients.

Summerhill Market is in growth mode. In 2011, they opened a second location four kilometres away when her uncle retired and they bought his store. While not as big as the flagship store, it’s on a busy street.

They doubled the size of the flagship store parking lot over the past year, no small feat in an older, densely packed neighbourhood where they had to buy neighbouring buildings.

Looking ahead, they have a new store slated to open in spring 2019 in the Annex, a vibrant downtown neighbourhood near the University of Toronto.

I leave with a chicken pot pie. McMullen laughs and says, “I don’t eat them anymore.” She’s eaten a lot of chicken pie, and she has a lot of other prepared-food options to look forward to.

The post A turn at Summerhill appeared first on Country Guide.

The building Doyle is talking about is the Centre for Food at Durham College in Oshawa, the city on the eastern edge of Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe that has been best known for generations as the headquarters of General Motors Canada.

General Motors aside, today’s Oshawa is evolving into a post-manufacturing medical and educational centre with a quite different economic future.

Now it wants a different food future too.

Durham College’s Centre for Food is a hub for a number of the college’s food-related programs including culinary, horticulture, hospitality, and special-events-management programs. It also features a store selling food grown or produced on site, and a fine dining restaurant that is open year-round.

Doyle is the associate dean at the Centre for Food. Opened in 2013, it’s a modern-looking building with a colourful glass facade that is becoming a landmark on an otherwise dreary and suburban stretch of Highway 401.

And there’s a surprise. Even though it’s set amidst roads, malls, and restaurants, the centre is actually next to a field of vegetables. There’s a melange of crops including cabbage, sweet corn, tomatoes, squash and small fruit, and even a greenhouse and a small apple orchard, too, on a former industrial site returned to agriculture.

You soon find that this isn’t the only combo in the works. The food and farming program, one of the horticultural programs at the Centre for Food, has just doubled its enrolment to 48, made up of students from the region, second-career learners, and some international students. “It’s a real mix,” says Doyle.

Core values

Doyle says the vision for the centre started when the college realized that many students left Durham region to pursue post-secondary studies in the hospitality industry. At the same time, there was increased consumer awareness of locally produced food. Together, they contributed to a vision for an educational centre based on the concept of field-to-fork.

“We’re focusing on urban farming in urban areas,” says Doyle.

Doyle considers the community to be another key element of the Centre for Food. “We want to be a solution for this community,” he says as he talks about people using the facility as a community hub for weddings, bar mitzvahs and corporate training. Another connection is through its partnership with a local mental health hospital. When patients are ready to integrate back into the community, chefs at the college teach them about cooking skills and healthy, cost-efficient meals.

Agriculture is a big employer in Durham region. “Our mandate as a college is about making sure we’re connecting to industry,” says Doyle. Those connections include the advisory board for the food and farming program that consists of industry experts, an orchardist, bee keeper, cannabis industry representative, and a local restaurateur.

Food and farming program

The food and farming program teaches students small-scale and urban farming. Along with courses about growing, there are others such as entrepreneurship, food safety, and artisan product development. Labs include food production and the creation of value-added products.

Doyle says that an interdisciplinary mix of both courses and students is an important aspect of the program.

In a recent school-run competition, a food-and-farming student paired up with a culinary student to create the winning entry: a vegan, allergen-free, school-safe brownie. Then he gives the example of microgreens, a crop that food and farming students grow year-round, which is used by the on-site restaurant. “We have students who will pick out of our garden in the morning and serve on a plate at night in our restaurant,” he says.

The college hires 12 of the students to work on the farm for the summer. “The students feel really confident when they go out, they have this broad knowledge,” he says. “They can work in a lot of different places when they’re done.”

Signs of success

“We’ve had municipalities come to visit us to learn how we’ve repatriated the land and how we’re using it and producing thousands of pounds a year,” says Doyle as he talks about a growing recognition of the Centre for Food.

In 2016 Durham College named the Centre for Food after W. Galen Weston in recognition of a $1-million grant to the college by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation. Doyle says the Weston foundation has been very supportive of the focus on local food and the field-to-fork principle.

The values of the program are summed up in an annual harvest event. “Our harvest dinner is one of our signature events but it also captures everything we do,” Doyle explains as he describes the annual event that seats 130 members of the public outdoors, along a long table right next to the field.

Food and farming students grow ingredients. Ornamental horticulture students get the grounds in shape for the event. Culinary students prepare the meal. Hospitality and special-event-management students serve the meal.

It involves students from all of their programs, making it quite interdisciplinary. “People talk a lot about local food and the 100-mile diet,” Doyle says. “We’ve got a 100-foot diet.”

“I’m blown away every day I come here,” Doyle repeats. “What we’re doing is unlike anything that’s being done in Canada. The integration of food between programs, the complementary nature, the interdisciplinary study — it really makes for the most unique educational environment.”

Brad Abel is a second-year student in the food and farming program at Durham College’s Centre for Food.

Abel, who grew up near Ridgetown, Ont., says that while he wasn’t raised on a farm, “There was lots of corn.” Agriculture wasn’t new to him, having family members who had worked in the industry.

He is a second-career student. “I used to work in a machine shop,” he says. But indoor work wasn’t for him.

At the time, Abel was living in the town of Renfrew, Ont., where he had a large lot. He started growing lettuce, tomato, and eggplant. “The first year I did it to see how it went,” he says, explaining that he ended up with far more than he could use himself.

He liked growing. “I ended up building greenhouses on my property,” he says. The following year he got involved in a local farmers market. After selling at the market for a season, he came here to Durham College.

He says his classmates come from a wide range of backgrounds. Some are older than him (he’s 30), a few are in their 20s, and some are fresh out of high school. While some grew up on farms, others have always lived in the city.

Abel likes that the food and farming program exposes him to more than just growing. “You have this circle, this value chain, of experience,” he says. He also enjoys the direct connection to consumers. “People come out and they tell you this garden looks amazing,” he says as he talks about patrons of the campus restaurant, Bistro 67.

“It gives you this knowledge, ‘Yeah, this will work,’” he says. When Abel finishes the program he plans to return to Renfrew to farm.

“It’s a good way to learn how it will work in the real world — in a smaller system,” he says. “You can see every step.”

The post Gone to school appeared first on Country Guide.

It’s some warehouse. The business started in 1976 with one man — Ezio’s grandfather — and his pickup truck.

Some 50 years later, they’re operating out of a 40,000-square foot complex, delivering across a 200-km radius to stores, restaurants, schools, hotels and hospitals, with approximately 50 employees and 30 trucks.

And the future only looks up. The family expects farmers to see no end of opportunities to use their distribution service to sell high-value crop and meat products to targeted consumers with the background, the taste and the money to buy them.

As we walk through the four main sections of the warehouse, Bondi explains how the “wet-veg” section is for things that are normally misted at the grocery store. In the “warm veg” cooler we see squash and peppers — and I can smell the bananas before I even see them.

Each section has a captain who is constantly rotating the fruit and vegetables to make sure that the first in is the first out. “We try to operate on a three-day turn,” explains Bondi.

When we get to the lettuce, an employee sees Bondi and rushes over to talk. A supplier has shorted them on a specific type — but they have orders going out. They confer for a few seconds and decide on the spot how to fill those orders.

Clearly, it’s that kind of business. Their sophisticated long-term market strategy is a must, but so is the ability to make snap decisions to keep everything in motion and to ensure every Bondi customer keeps their own customers happy too.

From pickup truck to food service distributor

As we tour the complex, we pass underneath an old sign bearing the Bondi Produce company name. “There’s a little bit of history there,” Bondi says as he explains that his grandfather got the sign made for the original warehouse.

He points to where he nicked it with a forklift when he was 16 years old. “I banged that up when I was learning to drive,” Bondi says. Clearly, family provides the heart that keeps this business pumping.

“We are a family-owned food service distribution business. I’m a third-generation Bondi,” Bondi explains as he talks about the company. “I technically joined the company in 1991 when I was four years old. That’s my earliest memory, going to work with my dad,” says the 31-year-old.

The company was started in 1976 by his grandfather, Ignazio Bondi. “Our origin story is your typical immigrant story,” he says. His grandfather came to Canada from Italy in the 1960s, tried a few odd jobs, but nothing really stuck. Then he got the idea of going to the food terminal with his pickup truck. He bought onions, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, and sold them for a profit by going door-to-door. “He was pretty much a pedlar at that point,” Bondi says. But he slowly built the business and started supplying restaurants.

Ignazio’s son, Gus, the second generation, took over less than a decade later. “As most family businesses go, when a new generation comes in you get an infusion of new blood, new ideas,” Bondi says. They diversified, selling to stores and to more restaurants. They also moved into buying produce such as potatoes, onions and root vegetables directly from local farms.

Then, when Bondi came on board full time in 2011, they began the process of branding the company and marketing themselves to appeal to a higher-end clientele. “A lot of stuff was going on with food in Toronto. For the first time, Toronto started developing its own culinary identity,” he says as he talks about a wave of celebrity chefs. Those young chefs, looking to make a name for themselves, were into things like buying local, slow food and nose-to-tail meats.

When it comes to having a multi-generational family business, Bondi says, “What works is having traditions.” His grandfather taught his work ethnic and business shrewdness to Gus, who in turn, instilled them in his own son.

Times change, Ezio says, but values span generations.

“We’re working with restaurants. We need to be open when restaurants are open. Restaurants are open New Year’s Eve? We’re open New Year’s Eve. Christmas Eve? We’re open Christmas Eve,” he says. “You got to work crazy hours.”

It’s not unlike so many farm stories — nothing glamorous. But it’s their family story, and they tell it to people.

Scaling up

One part of scaling up the business has been partnering with a continental produce-procurement and distribution company called Produce Alliance. It acts as both a buying group and seller network for regional produce distribution companies such as Bondi Produce.

“It’s allowed us to scale up and buy more directly from farmers,” says Bondi as he explains how Produce Alliance negotiates contracts with large grower-suppliers on behalf of its distributor network.

The alliance also extends Bondi’s reach so he can buy directly from growers in places such as Florida and California. It’s a reality of the modern marketplace.

That network also means, though, that unlike most of their competitors, the Bondis don’t have to buy from middlemen. “Now we’re able to source directly from farms all across America,” he says.

On the selling side, Produce Alliance works with large corporate chains, supplying safety paperwork and negotiating contracts. It gives Bondi an opportunity to supply national restaurant chains that might not otherwise use a regional supplier like him.

Terminal market

Bondi says the Toronto-area market is very competitive. It’s what he calls a “terminal market,” meaning that it has a food terminal — the Ontario Food Terminal, which makes it similar to New York, Philadelphia and Boston.

In a “terminal market” like Toronto, he says, there is a low entry barrier to selling produce. Anyone can rent a van and get an account at the food terminal. “That forces us to use large commercial farmers for certain items just because everyone can buy cucumbers in the summer and there’s always somebody selling cheaper than the other guy,” he explains.

Bondi says his company still uses the Ontario Food Terminal, but it is not as big a part of their supply network as it once was. “We’ve grown to a scale now where the volume we buy justifies us going direct,” he says.

But he still has a buyer at the terminal at 3 a.m. every morning to get what they haven’t been able to get directly. “We’ve got happier customers because they got everything they ordered,” he says. The food terminal is also a way to procure low-volume products so he doesn’t need to warehouse them. He likens it to having “just-in-time” inventory.

Telling stories of farms

Bondi says that buying from local farms isn’t new. It’s a given. “It’s cheaper for me to buy a cucumber or tomato locally when it’s in season because I don’t need to pay for transportation,” he explains.

While buying locally isn’t new, however, telling stories about it definitely is.

Some of those stories are already on their website. “We had to find creative ways to tell them,” he says. The Canadian farms they buy from are usually larger growers with the scale to offer the price point that he needs.

But Bondi thinks these farms and these stories are just scratching the surface.

And he sees a strategy for building a bigger future. Nearby in the Niagara region, smaller, “artisan” farms have a good story and a focus on taste and quality. “That’s where we got to go next to promote local food.

“We’re working right now on a complete redesign of our website to feature more local farmers,” he says. The redesign, which he describes as “farm-forward,” will tell the story of each farm, showing which products from that farm are currently in stock. Clients will be able to order by product and by farm. “We really want to be the ‘to’ in farm-to-fork,” he says.

Farming with a distributor

What’s important for him when working directly with a farm? “The first and foremost key is some sort of food safety program,” Bondi says. As an ISO-certified facility, they have an approved vendor list — and getting on that list requires suppliers to implement and document their food safety practices. It’s not enough to be a good grower. “There’s got to be some sort of paperwork there,” he says.

“If you can deliver, that makes my life a lot easier,” he adds. If not, location matters. If a farm doesn’t deliver but fits into his distribution network, he might backhaul the product after a delivery run.

Third is volume and consistent supply. The challenge for a small farm with good products, he says, is that demand can exceed supply. All it takes is for a famous chef to tell a few friends… and supply runs out.

Helping customers buy

“You can’t really innovate on selling an apple or orange,” says Bondi. Even so, there could be more technological innovation in the sector. “Where the innovation comes from is that you’re getting a lot of younger talent coming in,” he says. There are still a lot of manual processes — a lot of pen and paper — in the industry.

One way to innovate is to make it easier for customers to order. “We’re still one of the few produce distributors who offer something like that,” he says as he talks about the Bondi Produce app for ordering via mobile devices. “That’s how people are really differentiating themselves in our space,” he says.

Looking for opportunity

“You’ve constantly got to find ways to make money without raising your prices,” says Bondi as we talk about challenges. He points to the restaurant industry, where it’s hard for him to pass along his added costs. “Their labour model is pretty broken right now,” he says.

Being in Toronto, he says, it’s always a balancing act to attract labour without costs spiralling out of control. If the warehouse was on the outskirts of the city, the labour pool would be larger. Part of the solution is to automate and systematize as much as possible.

While raising prices is a challenge, there are still business opportunities. He’s found that a lot of chefs don’t want to live the chef lifestyle of working 18 hours a day. “The effect that has on our industry is that more people are looking for value-added products,” he says, explaining that means pre-sliced and pre-diced produce.

Bondi Produce launched a subsidiary business about a year ago, New Toronto Food Co., to fill that need for value-added products. “A light bulb went off, we’re like, ‘Minimum wage is going to go up — a lot of restaurants will have to make menu changes because you can’t justify paying a guy to dice onions,’” he says. Now he supplies those diced onions.

As we finish touring the facility, Bondi points through a window at a counter piled with kale, noting that it’s Ontario kale. ”Right now we’re doing a run of shredded kale,” he explains, saying it’s a very popular restaurant item, used for trendy dishes such as kale Caesar salads. “We were buying shredded kale from California; we now process our own.” Other items include a coleslaw mix, sliced onions, peeled onions, and pre-cut fruit. Bondi points to a bag of carrot curls, thin, curled strips of carrot, ready for use in a salad or as a garnish. “It’s really increased our local spend,” he adds.

“We’re constantly adding products, we’re asking our customers, ‘What are you wasting your time doing?’ Maybe we could do it for cheaper,” he says.

The post The distributor’s business appeared first on Country Guide.

The room hushes as Allison Ammeter, chair of the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission, speaks. “I grow pulses, which makes me a rock star, right?” she asks. The crowd applauds.

Ammeter steps down and Michael Smith, the celebrity chef and cookbook author, takes the stage. Smith is standing in front of a larger-than-life picture of himself in a farm field, windblown hair, with a handful of young lentil plants.

“Hanging out in Toronto and talking about pulses. Who knew?” he says with a smile. He pauses. People cheer. He asks the farmers in the room to raise their hands, and then tells the audience that the 13 farmers in the room are the real stars.

A pulse enthusiast these days, Smith says he didn’t used to realize that pulses grew in Canada. He thought lentils were from somewhere like France. But now, the UN has designated 2016 the International Year of Pulses.

Some food trends come and go, Smith says, but the UN is far from trendy. He doesn’t think increased awareness of pulses will be a short-lived trend.

An image makeover

Consumers shop for beans or peas or lentils. Many don’t shop for “pulses.” Many don’t even know that the word has any sort of plant or botanical meaning. “It’s new to the sort of population we’re trying to reach,” Smith tells the crowd. One Twitter post about the event reads, “Pulses — it’s a new word to some, but you are probably eating them already: beans, chickpeas, peas and lentils.”

These aren’t new crops or new ingredients. It’s not even a new word. It’s an old word going to a new audience. It’s an image makeover.

Say lentils and shoppers might picture hipsters poring over a vegetarian cookbook — or delicious Indian-style daal. Say pulses and… it’s a blank slate.

Pulse feast

I’ve only just stepped into the long, narrow room when someone with a tray of fluted glasses offers a drink. Then a server stops with an appetizer tray to offer kidney bean croquettes with spicy aioli.

A lot of pulse industry people in attendance wear name tags. And a few of them greet me. Jackie Tenuta, director of market development for Pulse Canada, says that the pulse industry is throwing this party to celebrate pulses, and they’ve invited chefs, bloggers, media, nutritionists, and people interested in food security and sustainability. “There are 111 events worldwide today,” she adds, explaining this is the kickoff to the International Year of Pulses.

Brand PULSE

Pulses have long been promoted as nutritious. Tonight they’re sustainable, affordable, environmentally friendly — and good tasting too.

A display explains what makes pulses an environmentally sensitive food choice. “Compared to other crops such as cereal and oilseeds, pulses have a smaller environmental footprint. Pulses need little to no nitrogen fertilizer, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. Pulses also use less water than other cash crops and they improve soil health,” reads the sign.

I chat with farmer Lee Moats, a director with Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. He tells me why these days, red lentils make up most of his pulse acreage. He’s keen to point out that in addition to being part of a healthy diet, pulses are environmentally sustainable.

We talk about promoting pulses. “Our effort is threefold,” says Moats, explaining that first they need to help consumers understand what the word “pulses” means. Second is helping consumers understand the benefits of including pulses in the diet. Lastly, he talks about helping consumers fit pulses into their interest in food and their tastes. “It’s hearts and minds and stomachs of people we’re after,” Moats says.

By the time Ammeter has taken the stage and talks about the smaller environmental footprint of pulses, it’s already the third time I’ve heard that message this evening. Nor is it the last.

Varied and versatile

The gourmet food served tonight shows the versatility of pulses. Four cooking stations — chickpeas, beans, lentils, and dry peas — feature three different recipes each. Staff members dressed in chef apparel offer me split pea bacon quiche, and it is delicious. Braised beef short ribs with lentil mushroom stew are my favourite. And the Indian chickpea stuffed crepe with chicken curry salad is nice. There are lots of others. Most are very good.

A food writer next to me bites into a lentil burger, frowns, and then puts it on a tray. “Burgers should be made with meat,” she says, and then talks about how great lentils are in many dishes — but wonders why anyone would try to make a burger out of them.

“We are way past thinking about pea soup,” says Moats, adding, “There are so many fantastic ways of consuming pulses that are good for you… but they’re good!”

The Pulse Market, a display near the exit, reminds attendees of the variety of pulses. It’s very attractive: red lentils against yellow; great northern beans and black beans; chickpeas and yellow peas; and many more. The small cloth sacks and scoops are there so that attendees can take samples to cook at home.

Spreading the (new) word

The party tonight is all about spreading the word: Pulse. Staff work the crowd, taking pictures of attendees holding signs for the Pulse Pledge. This pledge is to eat pulses once a week for 10 weeks. I hold up the sign as someone shoots my picture: it goes out on Twitter and I’m given a sticker saying that I took the Pulse Pledge. (The website, pulsepledge.com, reminds consumers that eating pulses is a good way to decrease your carbon footprint.)

This event isn’t the only one in Canada this year. There will be other activities to raise awareness of pulses. Tenuta says that events to help food processors use pulses are scheduled for later this year.

As I get ready to leave, I see people taking selfies with Chef Michael. Later, on Ammeter’s Twitter feed, I see a picture of her, Chef Michael, and Canadian food writer Anita Stewart.

I walk up Bay Street, behind people carrying small cloth bags filled with pulses.

I hear the word more than I have in a long while. My father tells me about a new word he heard on the radio: pulses. My neighbour, Jim, emails to say that he saw a news segment about pulses (and emailed me because I’m in the background); and soon after that, my friend Bob in Vancouver emails to say he saw a segment on Pulse Feast on CBC’s “The National.”

A word. A feast. A blank palette.

Pulse Tacos

The year 2016 has been declared the International Year of Pulses by the United Nations to celebrate one of the world’s most important foods: the edible seeds of the legume family. Beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils are packed with fibre, protein, nutrients, and flavour. Their nutritional intensity, inexpensive accessibility, and ease of cooking have made them indispensible staples to cooks all over the globe.

Wherever we live we all do our best to make healthy choices at home but it’s a lot easier when those choices are delicious. These meatless tacos are stuffed with so much sunny southwestern flavour that no one will notice anything missing. What a great way for your family to join families around the world in a global celebration of flavour and nutrition!

Makes 12 tacos. Serves 4 to 6.

For the pulse filling

• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of canola oil
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 heaping tablespoon (18 ml) of chili powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of ground cumin
• 1 cup (250 ml) of green lentils
• A 19-ounce (540-ml) can of your favourite beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups (500 ml) of water
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) of your favourite hot sauce

For the taco toppings

• A head of Bibb or iceberg lettuce
• 12 hard taco shells
• A few handfuls of grated cheddar or taco-blend cheese
• Your favourite salsa
• A large bunch of fresh cilantro
• 2 limes, cut into wedges

Make the lentil bean filling. Splash the canola oil into a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions, garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Sauté until the vegetables soften and the spice flavours brighten, 3 or 4 minutes. Stir in the lentils, beans, water, and salt. Bring the works to a slow, steady simmer. Cover tightly and continue slowly cooking until the lentils are tender, 35 minutes or so. Stir in the hot sauce.

Assemble the tacos. Fit a full leaf of lettuce into a hard taco shell. This will hold the fillings in when the hard shell inevitably breaks. Fill each taco with a heaping spoonful of the lentil bean filling. Pack with cheese, salsa, and cilantro. Serve with the lime wedges and share!

© Chef Michael Smith 2015

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