The Canadian Food Experience Project: A tale about pigs' tails

Photo by Gavin Bell.

I remember the moment well when the proverbial wheels feel off my efforts to Assimilate with Albertans.

It was dinner time and a handful of us university residence dwellers gathered for the evening's grub in the Lister Hall dinning room at U of A. As we hovered over our Melmac plates loaded with an overcooked vegetable, carb and protein — two carbs and a protein for all those farm boys I went to school with — we'd all clearly reached the threshold of tolerance for our assembly line meals.

It was February so the doldrums were made that much deeper by piles of papers and mid-terms, near constant darkness, and an end of the school year that felt worlds away.

We started talking about home — the food, mostly, though we longed equally for free laundry facilities.

One of us started talking about their favourite Mom-made meal, probably something beefy, and then we all started spilling about the home cooking we missed most. We were awash in a tidal wave of fond food memories, our voices growing louder as we bonded in our agreement that yes, roast beef with horseradish would be really amazing right now, or as we held fast in friendly one-upmanship that one's Baba's cabbage rolls were better than another's.

Caught up in the excitement of sharing, I blurted "Or how about some pigs' tails?"

Food truck food fight: B-sides from a reporter's notebook

If people glean anything from this blog, I hope it's my love for Niagara.

A good friend once told me I have an amazing ability to fall in love with wherever I live. I've had serious relationships with eight cities in three provinces in my 36 years. That's a lot of love and, at times, a fair share of heartache.

Niagara is no different. I am enamoured with this place, a stunning beauty with incredible potential and much already accomplished. But after more than eight years together, we've reached a comfort level where we're not always on our best behaviour and our flaws are more apparent.

If you asked Niagara, I'm sure it would say I still gush a little too much about Saskatchewan, one of those three provinces I once called home.

If you asked me, it's that sometimes the Region of Niagara is the Region of No.

In my time here, first as a passive observer, reporting for a local daily newspaper, and now as a more active participant, it often feels as though when new ideas come along, our reflex is to say no without giving much thought to the good that could come from a simple, well-considered yes.

Wine Deconstructed builds wine knowledge and appreciation

Some of grape grower Matthias Oppenlaender's Chardonnay vines. Oppenlaender's
Niagara-on-the-Lake vineyard serves at the backdrop for Wine Deconstructed
seminars.

There are few things more stressful to me than showing up late to the home of a German.

This might surprise my German parents, who are both dismayed at their progeny's propensity for not being punctual given Germans seem to be genetically wired to be on time — or early — for everything. Yes, it's true, I'm terrible at minding a clock and I know they wonder what sullied the gene pool. 

Despite that, I've never grown oblivious to the disapproving looks, the tapping of the wristwatch, and a series of incomprehensible guttural noises spawned by my tardy ways. 

So, you can imagine my anxiety when, poised to be punctual, Google Maps led me astray and made me late to a German grape grower's home recently for the first seminar in the Wine Deconstructed series.

Commentary: Don’t pave over prime farmland

(Editor's note: it's not clear what effect such plans would have on land already protected by Greenbelt legislation, which encompasses much of north Niagara.)

By Keith Currie, Executive Member, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA)

It’s time to smarten up on population density and get a handle on urban sprawl.

Ontario farmers work to sustain our arable land and so are seriously concerned by the Ministry of Infrastructure’s recent proposed amendment to increase population allocations within the Golden Horseshoe region. This huge tract of land spans from Niagara to the north shore of Lake Ontario, and east around the lake to Port Hope. Most of the land surrounding existing Golden Horseshoe settlements is class 1 agricultural land, an invaluable, irreplaceable agricultural resource.

Approved by the provincial government in 2006, the Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan is a 25-year plan containing policies to control urban sprawl, build better suburbs, make more efficient use of land and infrastructure, and protect farmland and green spaces. 

Currently, the amendment contains proposed policies that relate to population and employment forecasts for municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This proposed amendment includes an increase in population allocations and comes up for cabinet approval this week.

A spring foraging primer

The roots of evil. Garlic mustard roots can be tasty but
hard on kitchen appliances. 

It pains me to admit this, but I experienced my first foraging casualty this week.

No, I didn't feed my husband — or anyone else — a bad mushroom or toxic leaf. Instead, I killed my mini-food processor.

I watched as it and some garlic mustard roots got their roles reversed and instead of the sharp, high-speed blades pulverizing the weed's tap roots, those tough bastards broke my blade to bits.

I unceremoniously tossed the processor — one of my first kitchen appliances, donated to me by my mother eons ago because I couldn't afford, nor had the room for, a proper, large processor. It was a bitter good-bye made even worse by the fact that I had now wasted the evening harvesting, scrubbing and peeling the pointy roots and their tentacle-like offshoots only to have to chuck my handiwork and, well, my entire evening on the compost heap.

And I had so been looking forward to the results, hot like horseradish with a garlicky kick, much like I'd sampled at a foraging workshop just two weeks ago.

Of wild violet jelly and career-limiting moves

My wild violet jelly.

My boss bought me a chocolate chip cookie yesterday.

A kind gesture, yes, but don't be fooled into thinking there was anything altruistic about this. I'm certain this was a pity cookie.

You see, my boss has taken to teasing me about my dining habits of late. I often tell him that he could pick an entire meal's worth of food on his way home from the office, given he traipses through a forest that's akin to a wild produce section.

There's garlic mustard, burdock, wild garlic, ramps, mayapples and plenty of dandelions.

He laughs when I tell him this. Pokes fun at me because that's where I stock up on the makings of pesto, jelly, frittata and stir-fries. Inquires about the welfare of my husband and whether he's still alive or has wasted away on weeds. I'm certain he thinks I come home from work and put myself out to pasture in my backyard, grazing the night away like a cow.

In fact, he has not-so-subtly hinted that's what he thinks when he said my name and "out to pasture" in the same sentence recently. I'm fairly confident he wasn't talking about my career.

Tomatoes, tomahtoes and more at Linda's Tomato Days sale

By Linda Crago, Tree and Twig Heirloom Vegetables

Need some great heirloom tomato seedlings?

I've got lots!

Beginning on May 18 and right through the long Victoria Day weekend, I'll be selling my tomato seedlings. And thereafter until I can sell no more.

The plants will be all laid out on my driveway, and me, my family and friends will all do the best we can to make sure you find exactly what you would like. Be patient with us, especially me. I love to talk tomatoes with people and I'd love to talk them with you, too!

I am not a fancy nursery, I am a farmer. The advantage is that I know these tomatoes and other veggies because I grow them all myself.

Consider it a tomato lovers treasure hunt. There are treasures to be had for sure.