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T
he thrill of the crunch from
the first baby cucumbers from
Sun Wing Farm is something
I anticipate every spring, and
nothing captures the flavour
of summer more than standing
in one of Saanich’s you-pick fields of ripe
raspberries, sampling the wares while
filling up a basket. And who doesn’t marvel
at Michell Farm’s pumpkin crop dotting
landscape with orange every autumn.
From an astonishing variety of vegetables,
fruits, and berries to wheat for baking,
hormone-free meats and cheeses, and
wine, cider, beer and even gin, we enjoy
easy access to some of the best quality
ingredients around, most of it within a
20-minute drive and a 20-mile radius.
It shows up at the many farmers’ markets
from Fernwood to Sidney, at savvy grocery
stores committed to promoting local produce,
on the plates of some of the city’s best
restaurants, and made into delicious products
by the many artisans who make this such a
uniquely delicious region to live in.
WHERE FOOD COMES FROM
“Flavour and pleasure are the
fundamentals of eating local food,” says
Sinclair Philip, co-owner of the famed
Sooke Harbour House, ground zero for the
locavore movement. “It satisfies my palate
and my soul.”
While imported food is still a necessity, it
rarely tastes as good as something picked at
the peak of ripeness from a local garden or a
farmer’s field. Harvested by anonymous farm
workers under unknown conditions, import
foods defy us to know where our food really
comes from. When you add in increasingly
expensive fuel and transportation prices, the
cost of putting that imported food on our
tables follows suit.
While I’m certainly not condoning a life
without mangos, limes, or avocados, we can
offset our heavy reliance on imports and
reduce our carbon footprint by buying from
the abundance growing around us.
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Matt Rissling, executive chef of the
Marina Restaurant, is also committed
to putting local on the menu. He works
with farms such as Saanich Organics and
Vantreight to procure the best seasonal
ingredients, along with offerings from
independent harvesters of nettles or wildforaged mushrooms.
Clearly, the demand for local, organic
offerings is there. One week in February he
took a delivery of 100 pounds of Saanichgrown organic produce, and at the height of
summer, he orders four times that amount,
twice a week.
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YAM MAGAZINE
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