Where Apples Really Come From
Posted by Corey Mintz in fruit and vegetables, ingredients, neighbourhoods on November 10, 2007 at 8:44 am
When I went to Joe to pick up the cucumbers and wild dill for my annual batch of pickles he had a case twice as big as last year. 40 pounds! “That’s how they come from the guy down there,” was his explanation. Joe runs Augusta Fruits (65 Nassau Street), a produce wholesaler in Kensington market, one of dozens a few decades ago, now one of the handful left. “The guy down there” he’s referring to is one of his suppliers at the Ontario Food Terminal, where nearly all of the produce in Toronto makes a stop. The Terminal is where growers and large-scale wholesalers sell their product to local wholesalers, who in turn supply Toronto’s restaurants. And I’ve always been way-curious about this Shangri-La of fruits and vegetables despite many people telling me how unexotic it is.
Joe agrees to take me with him. When I arrive at the shop at 11am Brad the delivery guy asks me what’s up. I tell him and he asks, “Why would you want to go there?” Why indeed.


