Posted by Sheryl Kirby in SOLE food, event reviews, events, farm to table, politics on February 19, 2008 at 7:29 am

Can organics feed the world?

This question was posed to the closing panel at this year’s Canadian Organic Growers Conference. Organic farmers, food producers, nutritionists and writers convened in Toronto this past Saturday to examine the issues and explore how organics is changing the world.

The day-long event included a keynote speech by Helge Hellberg of Marin Organic from Marin County California, who is hard at work to make Marin the first completely organic county in the United States. Hellberg, a Certified Holistic Nutrition Counselor recounted a visit to Marin County by Prince Charles, who is one of the world’s leading supporters of the organic movement to visit the Marin County farmers market. Hellberg’s inspiring speech set the tone for the day, as participants broke off into different seminars that ranged in topics directed towards farmers, food producers and consumers.

Posted by Rod Weatherbie in SOLE food, farm to table, ingredients, meat and poultry, products on January 18, 2008 at 5:04 pm

Local, traceable, and meaty are in, while equatorial fruit and small plates are passé.

A quick not-statistically-accurate-at-all poll of a few city chefs shows that the buying local trend hasn’t run out of steam, although being able to intimately map a food’s source is quickly gaining ground.

Posted by Erin Letson in farm to table, grocery, shops on November 18, 2007 at 3:15 pm

Fiesta Farms
200 Christie Street
416-537-1235

I love buying groceries - it represents freedom (I can get whatever I want!), the thrill of the on-sale find, and even a bit of luxury (I deserve the $8 cheese this week!). But the lustre can wear off, especially in the winter months when the produce is uninspiring and trekking through snow with overloaded bags is a huge pain.

Luckily I've found a way to stay inspired even though the temperature is dropping: Fiesta Farms. It's Toronto's largest independent grocery store and is like a health food store, farmer's market, and foodie destination rolled into one. It's been getting major props (NOW, CityBites) since partnering with Local Food Plus, an organization that certifies farmers and processors, and helps get sustainable food to consumers. I finally got a chance to check out Fiesta Farms a few weeks ago and felt like I had stumbled across one of the city's best kept (although maybe not anymore) secrets.

Posted by Sheryl Kirby in event reviews, events, farm to table, politics on November 7, 2007 at 7:44 am

One of the biggest complaints about local food is that it’s hard to find. Sure, farmer’s markets are popping up in many neighbourhoods, but the issues involved in getting local food to local tables, particularly restaurant tables, are many and diverse.

As part of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, a panel discussion and networking event that connected farmers and chefs took place on Monday, November 5th. Panel members included moderator Lori Stahlbrand from Local Food Plus; Tobey Nemeth, Chef de Cuisine at Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar; Elizabeth Harris, organizer of the Brickworks Farmers Market; Mark Trealout of Kawartha Ecological Growers; Dan Taylor, Economic Development Officer of Prince Edward County; Paul Finklestein from the Screaming Avocado and Food Network Canada Show, Fink; Barry Monaghan from Fresh Start; and Sasha Chapman of the Globe and Mail.

Each participant took a few moments to discuss the question, “What is the most important thing farmers can do to address local food opportunities?”

Posted by Catherine Gerson in SOLE food, event reviews, events, farm to table, politics on September 30, 2007 at 4:24 pm

I’m not sure how I feel about Jamie Kennedy these days. He will forever be the arbiter of local food, lending his presence and his bed head hair to Greenbelt gatherings in the name of sustainability. No one can deny him this title. However, at the Gardiner Museum’s recent lecture, From the Ground Up: Nurturing the Art of Sustainable Living, nothing sounded new. Was I growing tired of his refrain?

The Gardiner Museum has never struck me as local food’s chief advocate. Ceramics, clay, delicate and pretty things just don’t mesh with the gritty, earthbound perspective of farmers, though the erudite moderator Lori Stahlbrand, founder and president of Local Food Plus, was quick to quash my initial hesitation with the simple remark that clay is part of the soil in which food grows. Oh. Ok.

Posted by Greg Clow in SOLE food, events, events upcoming, farm to table, politics on September 18, 2007 at 11:44 am

For those who haven't gotten their fill of locally-sourced food this summer from their neighbourhood farmers market and events like Harvest Wednesdays and the Slow Food Picnic, you'll be happy to know that even though the warm months are coming to end, there are still a few more chances to stick to a 100(ish)-Mile Diet before it's back to several months of icky imported fruits and veggies.

One of them will be happening this weekend in lovely downtown Parkdale, where federal MP Peggy Nash (NDP) will be hosting a 100-Mile Brunch at The Rhino (1249 Queen Street West). Taking place on Saturday, September 22nd from 10am to 2pm, it will feature a bountiful buffet created by a number of local chefs using ingredients sourced within a 100 mile radius of Toronto. Renowned chef and long-time local food advocate Jamie Kennedy will be stopping by to say a few words, and all proceeds will be donated to FoodShare Toronto's Good Food Box campaign, which distributes food and money to community kitchens. Good food cooked by good people for a good cause - what's not to love?

Tickets for the brunch are $25, and can be purchased at Rhino and other area restaurants and shops including Café Taste, Tinto, Silver Spoon and Another Story Bookshop. For more information, call Kara at 416-769-5072.

Posted by Corey Mintz in butchers, farm to table, meat and poultry, politics, shops on September 15, 2007 at 8:59 am

The Butchers
2636 Yonge Street
416-483-5777

I showed up at the organic meat tasting schvitzing like a pig. Which was figuratively significant because I was there to eat a pig. I was late and ran 10 blocks (ok, I walked for one block and stopped in to the Puma shop to catch my breath and look at sneakers). In the past two weeks I’ve gone out, three times for Chinese, twice for ribs, and arranged an all-chorizo dinner. Sheryl, maybe for my next assignment you can send me to a colonoscopy party.

Posted by Catherine Gerson in SOLE food, events, events upcoming, farm to table, politics on September 2, 2007 at 7:56 am

On Sunday, September 16th, over 50 chefs, producers, farmers and winemakers will team up with Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen at the Brick Works to host a picnic celebrating the best of Ontario.

With the little snail as its symbol, the Slow Food Companion reads, “Slow Food links pleasure and food with awareness and responsibility”, and pleasure is what I was in search of. What followed, naturally, was in fact awareness and responsibility, but much to my delight, respect, discipline and passion.

For those who are new to the idea of Slow Food, you’ll be glad to know that it is indeed a revolution based on pleasure. Paul DeCampo, Convivium Leader of Slow Food Toronto and a man of youthful exuberance, tirelessly shares his expertise when we meet one afternoon. “It’s a little bit like apple pie,” he chuckles, “who’s going to say, No thanks, I’d like Velveeta please?” There is, however, the nagging notion that the pursuit of pleasure affords itself only to an elite few. While this resistance might seem to have plagued the movement in theory, in practice chefs are aligning themselves with Slow Food faster than its name would lead us to believe.

Posted by Erin Letson in SOLE food, farm to table, ingredients, meat and poultry, politics, products on July 29, 2007 at 8:50 am

Cynthia Beretta tells me she was raised on garden-grown food by an Italian mother who was “ahead of her time” when it came to eating organic.

The key to spotting trends must run in the family. When Cynthia and her husband Mike bought their first farm in Wingham, ON, in 1993 and converted it to organic to raise their livestock, there wasn’t much public awareness about a green lifestyle. But after moving to a bigger farm in King City and experiencing an organic craze about three years ago, the business at Beretta Organic Farms is booming.

Posted by Melissa Woycechowsky in SOLE food, farm to table, grow your own on April 1, 2007 at 1:49 pm

It looks like spring has finally come to Toronto, and it's time to start thinking about gardening. Even if you only have a small yard or deck, you can grow at least some of your own food. Now is the time to start cultivating most varieties of seeds indoors for transplanting - herbs, beans, and tomatoes are easy to grow and can be grown in containers. It's a relaxing hobby that can save you money. In addition, you can help keep heirloom plants in circulation.

Many of the fruits and vegetables in supermarkets have been bred for their ability to withstand automated cultivation processes and long shipping distances. They may look good on the shelves, but we lose much of the flavour. Heirloom plants have been passed down though generations in part because they taste good and grow well in smaller gardens. With fewer people growing any of their own food, we are in danger of losing some of the varieties that have been around for centuries.

Posted by Melissa Woycechowsky in butchers, farm to table, meat and poultry on March 11, 2007 at 8:05 am

"Twenty five pounds of beef? Where are we going to put it?" asked my husband.

"In the freezer." I said.

I'd wanted to try getting meat directly from a farmer for a while. I wasn't sure how my husband would react when I told him I was going to order twenty five pounds of grass fed beef from Beef Connections, nine small farms who have a co-operative sales and delivery service. After an initial surprise at getting that much meat at once, my husband agreed that it was a good idea. I placed an order online and the next weekend found us driving to a parking lot on Bloor Street, where I was to pick up the meat and give them a hundred and thirty dollars.

The people who brought the meat were the farmers themselves. They were very friendly and quickly found my order. It comes in a big cardboard box, which they helped me carry to the car. Twenty-five pounds of beef seems like a huge quantity, but it fit in our freezer with plenty of room to spare. I could have even ordered the fifty-pound assortment.

Posted by Sheryl Kirby in SOLE food, event reviews, events, farm to table, politics on March 1, 2007 at 4:49 pm

The folks at Slow Food Toronto have issues.

This past Monday, February 26th, they met at Hart House, along with a variety of local farmers, food purveyors, chefs and media to discuss how to best deal with them.

The issues being, of course, how to set up links between small local farms and the restaurants and consumers (aka. co-producers) who want their products.

A panel consisting of farmers, farmer’s market organizers and restaurateurs discussed the hurdles faced by everyone in ensuring local produce made it to local plates. Speakers included Stephen Alexander of Cumbrae's; Susan Benson of the Culinary Tourism Initiative; Pamela Cuthbert, food writer and Slow Food Toronto founder; Anne Freeman of the Dufferin Grove Market; Jamie Kennedy of Jamie Kennedy Kitchens; and Mark Trealout of Kawartha Ecological Growers, as well as panel moderator Wayne Roberts of the Toronto Food Policy Council.

With a goal of forging partnerships between local growers and both restaurants and farmer’s market customers, the panel took turns speaking on various initiatives to increase awareness and dialogue.