Eatdrink #48 July/August 2014

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Serving London, Stratford & Southwestern Ontario № 48 • July/August 2014 www.eatdrink.ca

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ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

Stratford’s

“Nouveau Ontario” at

The Bruce

FEATURING

Shakespeare to the Shoreline A Road Trip Taste Trek

The Tastemakers & Flavourful Fiction Summer Reading for Foodies

Summer Theatre

A SPOTLIGHT on Port Stanley & Grand Bend

ALSO: Smoked Beers, Reloaded: BBQ’s BFF | The Arts & Cookery Bank | The Forest Feast Cookbook

Ontario’s Event of the Year

Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival

presented by

July 19th - 20th A uniquely Canadian culinary adventure with more than 150 chefs, culinary personalities, farmers, Ontario wineries, craft brewers and food purveyors come together in Stratford to create one of the largest culinary events in Ontario celebrating cuisine From Coast to Coast to Coast and the 30th anniversary of the Stratford Chefs School.

GE Café Chefs Series with Dale MacKay and Derek Dammann ~ An exclusive 3-hour class and lunch Taste of Ontario Artisan Alley ~ Saturday’s tasting of craft beers and cask ales, VQA wines, Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers and cider tastings along with Ontario artisan cheese samplings in pay-as-you-go format Toronto Star Culinary Stage ~ Hosts Top Chef Canada winners and Stratford Chefs School graduates in culinary demonstrations The Perth County Hoot presented by Mill Street Brewery ~ A night of music by The Steel City Rovers and River Junction Band Women in Food Breakfast ~ A provocative panel discussion Sunday morning at The Church Restaurant The Grand Tasting presented by Scotiabank ~ Seasonal morsels created by 30 local chefs paired with producers, craft beers and VQA wines at our Sunday afternoon garden party Jenn and Larry’s Emporium of Wonders ~ Three venues to delight and amuse young gourmands from bugs to veggies to music FREE entertainment presented by the City of Stratford ~ New Sunday Sunset Party featuring Trent Severn Come and share in our celebration of food.

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OUR COVER: The Restaurant at The Bruce is Stratford’s latest contender in the top echelon of fine dining in The Festival City, offering a sophisticated “Nouveau Ontario” menu in elegant surroundings.

Kitchens Bathrooms Large Additions Victorian Restorations 519.860.9640 www.old-castle.ca

contents

ISSUE № 48

8

12

12 18

18

Saffron and “Secrets of the Back 40”

By BRYAN LAVERY

ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

R E S TAU R A N T S

The Restaurant at The Bruce: Nouveau Ontario in Stratford

By BRYAN LAVERY

ROAD TR I P

Shakespeare to the Shoreline: A Road Trip Taste Trek

By JANE ANTONIAK

C U L I N A RY E D U C AT I O N

24

The Arts & Cookery Bank, in West Lorne

By TANYA CHOPP

T R AV E L

28 Photography&Pho: Trekking in Vietnam

34

36

24 42

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F O O D W R I T E R AT L A R G E

8

JULY/AUGUST 2014

By CLAUDIA VIANI

FA R M E R S & A R T I S A N S

ZZ U B E TH 35

The Food Web: Part II — SPRING

By ANTONY JOHN

N E W & N O TA B L E

The BUZZ

IN THE GARDEN

42

Sow What? Making the Most of Our Growing Season

By ALLAN WATTS and RICK WEINGARDEN

WINE 44

New Opportunities for Local Wines: Farmers’ Markets

By KIM MILLER

B E E R M AT T E R S

46

Smoked Beers, Reloaded: BBQ’s BFF

By THE MALT MONK

49

T H E AT R E

46

49

Summer Festival Theatre: Art with Heart

By DONALD D’HAENE

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56

BOOKS

The Tastemakers by David Sax

Review by DARIN COOK

54

Flavourful Fiction: A Summer Reading List for Foodies

Review by DARIN COOK

COOKBOOKS

58

The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson

Review by TRACY TURLIN

THE LIGHTER SIDE

62

Paris, avec plaisir!

By EMILY CHANDLER

58

navigate great № 48 | July/August 2014

TO

TIMES

in

Lambton County

you’ll

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LAMBTON SHORES

SARNIA & POINT EDWARD

CENTRAL LAMBTON

ST.CLAIR RIVER DISTRICT

TOURISM SARNIA-LAMBTON

LET US GUIDE YOU THROUGH OUR VACATION PLAYGROUND!

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over our BEACHES

call or click for your FREE travel guide and map

also available at southwestern ontario visitor centres

1.800.265.0316

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№ 48 | July/August 2014

food writer at large

Saffron and “Secrets of the Back Forty”

By BRYAN LAVERY

A

fter years of travelling concessions and scouting back roads we have begun to notice a renewed prevalence of hand-painted signs and newly erected farmgate stalls at the end of long laneways throughout Huron County’s countryside. The modest chalkboards and hand-crafted wooden signs announce: free run eggs, horseradish, honey, maple syrup, sauerkraut, rhubarb, strawberries, seasonal vegetables and fruit, fresh-cut bouquets, baking and “No Sunday Sales.” Often there’s no one there to receive you, just a wooden box or a locked drawer into which to drop your money. It is called the honour system.

At six-thirty in the morning we have already travelled two hours from the Bruce Peninsula.

We are returning to the city when we pull into the dirt laneway off the beaten track.

The farmgate is more of a purpose built outbuilding flanking a large greenhouse and the whitewashed homestead for the family of ten. Sarah, an Old Order Mennonite, greets us wearing a solid-coloured dress of heavy broadcloth. A matching extra-long apron covers the dress. Her long hair is coiled into a tight bun, and her head is covered with a plain white cap tied under her neck. She emanates industry, simplicity and modesty.

Discussing the small packets of seasonal saffron she has for sale, I offer to lend her The Essential Saffron Companion on a return visit.

“I have no time to read a book,” says Sarah, matter-of-factly. After several attempts to interrogate her about the plants her “safferon” is collected from, it still remains a mystery.

Cultivated as a kitchen-garden staple for generations, saffron’s role has been defined in traditional, regional poultry and noodle dishes in Pennsylvania’s Amish and Mennonite kitchens. Sweet and warm with an intense aromatic flavour, it confers earthiness and is known for its sunny appearance.

(Saffron filaments need to be activated in hot liquid or stock before use. Many cooks are oblivious to this and subsequently saffron’s virtues continue to escape them.) Despite continuing speculation, Sarah firmly rejects the spring blooming, purple flowered crocus as a possible candidate, simply referring to it as the “safferon” plant.

I am left to wonder if these delicate aromatic threads come from field marigolds, or calendula, which are known for both their culinary and medicinal uses.

Both the calendula and the safflower are often referred to as “poor man’s saffron.”

Sarah scoffs at the idea of harvesting saffron from fields of wildflowers, especially now, during planting season. She tells us that her mother carefully removes the vivid crimson stigmas from each blossom individually before drying them for weeks in a warm, dry place.

Hooked by the quality and the familiar taste of saffron, the thought of cultivating it locally and its many culinary applications makes my head reel. In time, I have learned that the potency of saffron is indeed a product of its terroir and how it is treated after it is harvested.

In the past, I have known saffron to impart a floral taste, honey sweetness or toasted, nutty, and pungent flavours.

In conversation, Sarah doesn’t give voice to her opinions and her observations are to-thepoint and instructive local Mennonite history lessons. With her husband nodding sober agreement, she speaks plainly about how the Old Order continues to use horses and buggies for transportation and horse drawn implements for field and farm work. She talks of the growing community whose population has doubled since they migrated to Huron County in the late 1970s. Interestingly, further to the south, Perth County has the largest and oldest Old Order Amish community in

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№ 48 | July/August 2014

Canada and the only Old Order community that originated in Canada.

Wholesome, modest offerings that are meant to stick to your ribs and sustain your soul have been prepared by Mennonite, Amish and Hutterite cooks for centuries. The food has its own gastronomical connotations like “tasty,” “lip-smackin’,” and “food that really schmecks.”

Old Order Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites are spiritual counterparts that share a past that dates back to the Protestant Reformation in Europe, where they embraced adult baptism and pacifism. The relative isolation and self-sufficiency within closed communities, combined with their conviction that farming is a way of life, produced unique socioreligious cultures. They are all known for the high quality of their seasonal farmgate and farmers’ market offerings.

In the recently published and imminently instructive Secrets of a Hutterite Kitchen, Winnipeg author Mary-Ann Kirby gives a voice to contemporary Hutterite life that remains rooted in cherished spiritual

convictions and a closed community of Old World traditions. More than 40,000 Hutterites live on 400 colonies throughout the United States and in Canada’s Prairie provinces. The book is the compelling narrative of a woman who was raised in the Hutterite community, was torn from it, then returned to it with focused objectivity and genuine appreciation for the culture and cuisine. Kirkby has compiled a collection of recipes in her book, many adapted by her mother, with a directness of voice that recalls Hutterite oral tradition.

Here is a partial excerpt for the Hutterite recipe for 50 lbs of Sauer Kraut [sic]: Fill barrels with cut-up cabbage and salt and sugar. Jump in barrel. Be sure you are wearing new rubber boots.

Stomp it down until it is covered in its own juices. (Two people per barrel.)

Make Sauer Kraut when there is a new moon and it won’t get moldy.

No discussion about this style of cooking would be complete without paying homage to Edna Staebler’s popular treatise Food

Welcome to a TASTE of Downtown London!

Our dining guide gives you a delicious roadmap to the many restaurants that call London’s downtown their home.

Whether you are looking for a farm-to-table meal featuring the best of local food and beverage choices, or a quick bite on the go, you can find it in our new dining guide.

Visit our office at 123 King Street to pick up your copy.

You will find more listings for our restaurants online at www.downtownlondon.ca.

123 King Street 519.663.2002 www.downtownlondon.ca @Downtown_London

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DowntownLondon

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That Really Schmecks: Mennonite Country Cooking as Prepared by My Mennonite Friend Bevvy Martin, My Mother and Other Fine Cooks. The book exalted the cuisine and lifestyle of Old Order Mennonites by documenting over 700 recipes as practiced in the Kitchener-Waterloo County district.

Initially published in 1968, selling hundreds of thousands of copies it became a classic in the canon of Mennonite cooking along with its companion, More Food That Really Schmecks.

Staebler, an award-winning literary journalist and author, raised Ontario’s Waterloo region’s profile as a distinctive culinary destination. Food That Really Schmecks evokes an enduring code of conduct and tradition that can still be found at farmers’ markets and the farmgate.

Until I experienced the growing seasons and agricultural products at the Old Order Amish and Mennonite farm gates, and had conversations that developed into meaningful acquaintanceships with the farmers and their families, I had not realized the inherent social and economic value of the farm gate. Buying from the farm gate enables people to develop connections to a

farm and the innate tenets of stewardship of the land and its natural resources. It can make a big difference in a farm family’s life.

Never mind your own.

Last year, the Township of Huron-Kinloss produced an informative brochure celebrating rural life, called Secrets of the Back 40: A Farm Gate Experience. Descriptions of each farmgate, including what they sell, hours of operation, method of payment accepted, etc., are provided in the brochure along with a map showing their location. www.huronkinloss.com/public_docs/documents/ farmgate-brochure-final-8.5x17LR.pdf Other resources: Oxford County: www.oxfordbuylocal.ca/images/stories/ pdfs/oxfordbuylocal_map_2012.pdf Elgin County: www.wechc.on.ca/wechc_docs/ BuyLocalBuyFresh.pdf Perth and Huron County: www.visitperth.ca/pdfs/ BuyLocalBuyFreshMap10.pdf Middlesex County: www.middlesex.ca/sites/default/files/ Get_fresh_MAP%20standard%20%20web.pdf Lambton County: www.locallylambton.com/html/map.htm BRYAN LAVERY is eatdrink’s Food Writer at Large.

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restaurants

“Nouveau Ontario” at The Restaurant at The Bruce, in Stratford

By BRYAN LAVERY

A

fter a delicious lunch at Mercer Hall, we made a mid-afternoon reservation for dinner at The Restaurant at The Bruce Hotel.

Owner Jennifer Birmingham handles the reservation personally, which allows us the opportunity to inquire about the chandeliers in the dining room that I have been thinking about since my last visit.

They dramatically recall Finnish designer Tapio Wirkkala’s art glass crystal sculptures which are reminiscent of melting ice.

Birmingham tells me they were purchased at auction from the Four Season’s Hotel in Toronto. She offers that each glass panel, of which there are many, weigh 1 ½ pounds.

In fact, she acquired numerous decorative objects and furnishings from the Four Seasons specifically for The Bruce.

The newly built and handsomely appointed 25-room Bruce Hotel, set on six and a half acres of property and a short walk from the Festival Theatre, is the third hospitality undertaking for Birmingham. The restaurant and the hotel are named after her father, Bruce, a former president of the Bank of Nova Scotia who passed away in 2010.

The hotel is directed by General Manager Paul Gregory. During his tenure with The Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, it became the first hotel in Canada to win both Forbes

The new Bruce Hotel, a short walk from the Festival Theatre, is the gracious home to a serious contender in the uppermost tier of Stratford’s fine dining Travel Guide Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond rating.

Word has it that Birmingham wooed Stratford culinary luminaries and owners of Bijou, Aaron and Bronwyn Linley, to join her at The Bruce. Aaron is the Executive Chef and Bronwyn is Food and Beverage Manager.

Aaron’s resume comprises sous chef positions at Rundles in Stratford, Scaramouche in Toronto, Maple Bistro in Halifax with Chef Michael Smith, and chef at Le Nouveau Parigo in Toronto. Bronwyn’s pastry chef and sommelier experience includes Stratford’s Pazzo and Down the Street, Pan Chancho bakery in Kingston and pastry chef at Maple Bistro and Biff’s in Toronto.

Returning to Stratford in 2001, the Linley’s opened Bijou. What has made Chef Linley’s cooking unforgettable is the brilliance of From left: Jennifer Birmingham, Aaron Linley and Bronwyn Linley. Photo by Leslie Wu, Ontario Restaurant News.

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Above, The Bruce Hotel lobby his regionally-sourced ingredients paired with multi-cultural elements. For many years, his culinary opus at Bijou was the standard for inspired, locally-procured food in Stratford. Now he has positioned The Restaurant at The Bruce to be a contender in the uppermost tier of Stratford fine dining, along with the venerable veterans Neil Baxter at Rundles and Bryan Steele at The Prune, (which, sadly, is closed for lunch this season). Another popular Stratford stalwart, Mercer Hall, was recently included in the 2014 Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada (determined by an esteemed roster of chefs, food industry professionals, connoisseurs, and travel and food writers).

There are two rooms that comprise The Restaurant and entry is through the clubby lounge. The dining rooms are white linen, chic and understated with squarebacked upholstered chairs and settees.

This is contemporary elegance and indeed Linley’s menus are loaded with ingredients that term evokes.

Chef has dispensed with the main-course concept and offers a small-plates menu at dinner.

Lunch is à la carte. There is an expectation of a particular level of care in a restaurant befitting a well-run luxury hotel. Among the hotel’s amenities are a gym and an indoor pool. (Rooms are $500.00 and “petit” suites are $650.00 per night and include Middle & right, The Restaurant at The Bruce Hotel

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a sumptuous prix fixe breakfast. Some have private courtyards.)

Chef Linley describes his cuisine as “nouveau Ontario,” using French technique and ethnic influences “applied to the good things of this province.” The menu is prix fixe, offering two Beginnings and Dessert for $58.00, one Beginning and Middle for $58.00, or a Beginning, Middle and Dessert for $68.00. This arrangement is meant to expedite the challenges of pre-theatre dining where theatre-goers arrive and depart simultaneously and later, there is a respite. There is also a 5 course tasting menu available after Continued on page 16 ...

Stratford is more than great theatre...

“Ontario’s Event of the Year”

July 19-20, 2014 www.savourstratford.com We hope to see all of our wonderful customers at our new location!

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Chef-inspired artisanal food and drink featuring local seasonal cuisine, Ontario-focused wines & house-infused cocktails.

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BRUNCH • LUNCH • DINNER • EVENTS 104 Ontario Street, Stratford 519.271.9202 www.mercerhall.com

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1

4

2

3 Continued from page 13 ...

7:30 pm for $80.00 per person, and only available to an entire table. The Lounge offers a separate menu.

On my first visit, the restaurant was full and the service under the direction of the consummate professional Dorey Jackson was nothing short of impeccable. This despite the fact that it was our server Dallas’s first night on the floor (weeks later we were fortunate to have her serve us again at lunch). The busboy was well-versed on the menu and attentive, adding to the professionalism and pleasantness of the experience.

On that visit an amuse that began the prix fixe menu one night was a miniature bahn mi (Vietnamese sub) with duck prosciutto, pickled jicama, jalapeno and carrot, cilantro and ancho-chili aioli. On another occasion

1 Tasting of Canadian, sustainable chilled seafood: 2 Rutabaga Ravioli; 3 Taridito of Salmon; 4 Beef and Broccoli; 5. Lemon Tart

5 the amuse was two thin slices of duck prosciutto with tart local feta, slivers of crisscrossed asparagus and dots of kaffir and Szechuan-peppercorn oils.

The menu starts with Hot and Cold Beginnings and Fish and Shellfish. On two occasions we ordered the chestnut velouté and made do with the most delicious velvety garlic velouté imaginable, garnished with scooped apple balls that looked like parisienne potatoes and a mini bouquet of straw mushrooms.

Another time, Tariditos of rainbow trout, the Peruvian cousin of seviche, were a mosaic of flattened, thinly- sliced strips of orange-red flesh with a whisper of yuzu (Japanese citrus), Szechuan peppercorn oil and garnished with crispy rice puffs. Perfectly cooked, deepflavoured rutabaga ravioli with piping hot mushroom-scented turkey broth consommé

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may seem unseasonable in May, but was a big hit with my dining companions.

On another evening, my nephew raved about the potato trifecta: potato, potato, potato.

The delicious confit of duck-fat roasted fingerling potatoes with bonito flakes he anointed the star of the trio. Vegan-friendly dishes such as “On the Streets of Jerusalem” are a trio of deepfried balls of seasoned chick peas, smoky eggplant purée and with splashes of harrisa aioli, and a dab of hummus hidden under long The Lear Room; each of The Bruce’s well-appointed bedrooms and suites is inspired by a Shakesperian character. thin slices of folded slightly-pickled cucumber with pomegranate seeds and sumac. Originally, listed under the Lacto-Ovo-Vego section of the former The Restaurant at The Bruce dinner menu, it remains in the Hot and Cold 89 Parkview Dr., Stratford, Beginnings section of the menu, and also 855 708-7100 debuts on the lunch menu. A composed salad www.thebruce.ca of lightly cooked asparagus “Caesar” style with open tuesday–saturday crispy-sweet, fatty guanicale, savoury crostini lunch: 11:30 am–1:30 pm and shaved Toscano is a sure-fire hit of creamy dinner: 5:00 pm–close garlic goodness at lunch.

Lunch is served Sunday and Monday in The Lounge. The Lounge For carnivores, the menu offers a Birds is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as late night. and Beasts selection with a variety of fish, poultry and game options. A pan-fried wild salmon is supremely satisfying when Chef BRYAN LAVERY is eatdrink’s Food Writer at Large. combines it with a saffron pistou broth.

Skate is cooked deftly. Another evening’s standouts included skirt steak with cubes of potato millefeuille and rich Perth County pork cheeks braised to perfection with strips of crispy melt-in-your-mouth polenta and braised fennel.

Try the Canadian shellfish: freshly shucked oysters, mussels, escabeche and wild side-striped shrimp with classic condiments are top notch, or the selection of oysters on the half shell, seviche and cold poached shrimp are offered on the more casual menu in The Lounge.

Warm and caramelized chévre cheese­ cake tart with blood orange sorbet is pleasing as are warm, sugary apple fritters with Moss berry jam and ginger ice cream. Birmingham’s sense of whimsy is evidenced in the dining room when a superior selection of artisanal cheese and accompaniments are wheeled out on a cart designed as an Acme-style mousetrap.

The swimming pool

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road trips

Shakespeare to the Shoreline Taking the Taste Trek

By JANE ANTONIAK Photography by BRUCE FYFE

L

ocal culinary tourism is all around us this summer and one idyllic trip is made easy by following the Shakespeare to the Shoreline driving route, which focuses on food locations in the vicinity of Highway 8. All that’s required is a vehicle, a cooler, and a willingness to wander in search of locally crafted and presented chocolate, cheese, meat, baked goods and so much more.

We started our Taste Trek in Shakespeare, Ontario where the morning was greeted with a slice of rhubarb pie at Shakespeare Pies.

Drawing on a family history of Mennonite baking, Kenton Plett and his family now produce 45,000 pies annually, including seasonal fruit pies and a selection of meat pies.

We took home a frozen Tex Mex pie which was happily devoured by our resident teenaged football player. It was here we also picked up a steak and kidney pie, something not always available elsewhere but appreciated by those of a certain heritage. This special spot is open six days a week — closed on Sundays, as are most Mennonite bakeries. You can call ahead to have your order put aside.

At the other end of the quaint village of Shakespeare, we got a chuckle out of the giant pig statue in the yard of The Best Little Pork Shoppe. Owner Bruce Wettlaufer Shakespeare Pies

sources pork from the topnotch pork producers of Perth County. The Shoppe is well-known for smoked summer sausage, chops and other meaty delights.

This is a good spot to pick up gluten-free, filler-free meats for the cooler or cottage — fresh or frozen.

“We get customers from Windsor to Toronto,” says Bruce proudly. The stop is also a Perth County Visitors Centre and even offers a doggie rest area. Open from June to October, and on Fridays from 3pm–7pm there is a farmers market. How better to get all you need for pork kabobs?

With Shakespeare on our minds we followed the Taste Trek routing into Stratford, which always has plenty of treats for theatre-goers.

Looking for coffee, we headed off Ontario Street towards Stratford City Hall where Revel Caffe offers great atmosphere and a perfect cup of coffee in a relaxing indoor and outdoor location. Owner Anne Campion brews up four

The Best Little Pork Shoppe

Revel Caffe

Distinctly Tea

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Chocolate Barr’s signature blends of beans (roasted in London by Las Chicas del Café).

Paired with a savoury meat croissant and a hermit cookie this more than hits the spot.

Some cinnamon buns topped with Monforte Dairy Chèvre icing make their way into our cooler.

Paddle boats on If you’re not the Avon River a coffee drinker, then Distinctly Tea on York Street facing the Avon River is a great alternative.

With over 350 teas and herbs, owner Dianne Krampien also serves hot and iced tea to go. We also picked up a pair of tea-pot earrings as a gift for our favourite tea lover.

With thirst quenched, it was time to indulge in the battle of the cocoa bean by visiting Chocolate Barr’s, which is just about to move into a new, larger location at 55 George Street (the former Sun Room Restaurant). Chocolate makers Derek and Jacqueline Barr have their own line of beanto-bar chocolate. The almond butter crunch, pecan pattie and sea salt caramels cannot be missed. Again, the cooler proves very useful.

Also at Chocolate Barr’s is a full gelato bar.

Continued on page 22 ...

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Dine

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A Fresh Take on Tradition Celebrate the Season!

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find Kathleen Sloan-MacIntosh running the Black Dog Pantry. Known for her line of cookbooks, Kathleen is most at home in the kitchen, so she has recently renovated the Pantry shop to include a full bakery. Everything from Red Velvet Cake to chicken pot pies and Jamaican patties are now produced in this upscale pantry for take-home enjoyment. Kathleen is especially delighted by the macaroons which colourfully adorn her counter. We also pick Culbert’s Bakery Continued from page 19 ... up some Gunn’s Hill Five Brothers AppenFurther along the chocolate trail zeller cheese, some is the well-loved Rheo Thompson delicate scones and Candies co-owned by Marc house-made granola.

Johnstone and Kristene Steed.

The Taste Trek One really can’t go home without continues in various a mint smoothie, can one? Clearly, directions as far as there is enough room in Stratford Wingham, Listowel, Blyth and Exeter. With for both of these divine chocolate shops! so many options it can be taken many times, After taking time to stroll along shore of the finding new destinations on each trip.

Avon River, where paddle boats are available, it’s time to return to the vehicle as we continue Black Dog Pantry the Taste Trek. Our destination — Goderich, on the shores of beautiful Lake Huron.

First stop is Culbert’s Bakery, which thank­ fully is fully restored following the tornado of a few years ago. Truly the most historic stop on the tour, Culbert’s has been operating as a bakery on the same site since 1877. The Culbert family took over in 1942 and now 4th-generation family member Darin Culbert handles all the baking of breads, cookies, shortbreads, pies and sweets. His on-going Several stops also have seasonal farmers’ claim to fame is the famous Culbert’s Cream Puff, filled with a variety of flavours including markets including Bayfield, Exeter, Goderich, and Stratford. chocolate (oh, my). Culbert’s also displays Shakespeare to the Shoreline is a a mouth-watering arrangement of oldpartnership between the Huron Tourism fashioned donuts. We put our white bakery Association, Huron County Tourism and box of treats into the cooler, as coming home Perth County Visitors Association. It began from Goderich without them is, simply, about 10 years ago with research into the unacceptable for those back at home.

The Square in Goderich has a lovely variety reasons people travel, and their particular of food and culinary shops that are well worth passions and interests. visiting. We also recommend a stroll down to www.shakespearetotheshoreline.ca the harbour where fish ‘n’ chips are served in season. This provides a great place for some JANE ANTONIAK is a regular contributor to eatdrink calorie-burning along the boardwalk. magazine, particularly in search of culinary tourism destinations.

Heading further along the shoreline aspect She fuels her adventures by working as Manager, Communications of the Taste Trek we end the day in Bayfield, & Media Relations at King’s University College, Western University. where locals fill the patio of the Black Dog Bistro. You may consider spending the night in BRUCE FYFE slings his camera along the winding roads and one of the spectacular rooms at the Red Pump shorelines for eatdrink magazine. He especially is pleased when Inn, especially after enjoying the impressive travels result in a steak & kidney pie. Bruce is also Librarian, craft beer list at the Black Dog. We head in Weldon Library, Western University. through the side door of the Bistro, where we

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culinary education

The Arts & Cookery Bank A wealth of culinary learning opportunities, in West Lorne

By TANYA CHOPP

F

or over four years, The Arts & Cookery Bank on 242 Graham Road in West Lorne has served as a treasure trove of culinary learning opportunities.

Created as a living legacy to promote appreciation for the agricultural community’s history and having modern day relevance, this unique venture illustrates the magic that can occur through an unexpected marriage of space and function.

The repurposed 1914 Bank of Montreal and 1883 timber frame barn that house the Arts & Cookery Bank may seem like an unlikely coupling —

The Arts & Cookery Bank is housed in a unique coupling of a 1914 Bank of Montreal and 1883 timber frame barn but if you ask one of the non-profit’s original founders, Grace McGartland, the adjoined structures have created the perfect space to meet and learn.

“What’s great about our venue is the studio kitchen is large enough to have a lot of hands-on activities in there — instead of being talked to or watching, you’re in there working with the chef and he or she is showing you what to do,” she says.

The versatile Cookery space, which is available for private functions, has also caught the eye of many community groups eager to hold interactive celebrations and conferences.

Smart APPetite, a collaborative, south­ western Ontario community-based project in support of local food economies and access to healthy food (from “field to fork”) hosted its first workshop at the Arts & Cookery Bank this past April. During the workshop, a focus group discussed how the project’s smartphone application (app) and Grace McGartland, one of the original founders, in the former bank vault

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interactive website should be developed so that users and local communities can get maximum benefit.

“We served everything that night that was locally made and locally grown, including local cheese and local produce” says McGartland, adding, “We have hosted numerous others, including Ontario Trillium Foundation and Elgin County.

People like how our conference space offers a twist, as attendees often participate in making their own meals. It can be a great team-building exercise.”

Over 1,300 visitors tour, explore and engage at the Arts & Cookery Bank each year, many taking advantage of the diverse programs.

Youth can enjoy culinary boot camps that explore the bounty of the region, as well as black box competitions, where participants are challenged to get creative with a basket of mystery ingredients while parents watch from a separate screening room.

“The kids are the ripe audience because they are the future purchasers, the future families. In the class they get into deep methods and techniques for cooking and

Chef Kim Saunders, from The Windjammer Inn in Port Stanley, in the Cookery the value and the use of the food down the road. We bring in the farmers, butchers, egg raisers, and it’s run by professional chefs,” explains McGartland.

Visitors of all ages can enjoy methodbased classes such “lost arts” and “cooking on all burners.” Eager learners are also given the chance to drive their own culinary learning experiences by helping select the theme for “Fest-a-Month” dinners, where, for $35 per person, diners also join-in in making their meal.

“For the Greek evening, we put people into the Cookery where they were taught to

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(LEFT) Heritage Hall, set for 50 diners (RIGHT) Touch screens in the Foto Stable, a state-of-theart digital photo lab and interactive photo classroom make phyllo dough. We had flaming cheese and everyone had a shot of ouzo. It’s very interactive,” says McGartland.

And as if all of the above wasn’t enough, according to McGartland, the scene at the Arts & Cookery Bank is going to get even more interesting as they welcome new Executive Chef and General Manager, Gerry Brandon, this summer. To learn more and get an overview of upcoming events, check out the “What’s New” section of the Arts & Cookery website.

tuesday–friday 11 am–4 pm closed mondays call for events on saturdays & sundays TANYA CHOPP is a London-based marketing communications specialist and freelance writer whose work is focused on the promotion of health, wellness and support of the arts.

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travel

Photography & Pho Trekking through Vietnam

By CLAUDIA VIANI

T

ravel has been a lifelong passion of mine, and several years ago I established a travel bucket list — with Vietnam at the top.

At long last (and after several diversions), I traveled to Vietnam on a photography tour in April. I discovered and enjoyed an amazing country, people and cuisine.

After a long but comfortable flight via Seoul, we started our two-week trek in Hanoi. The modern day capital of Vietnam maintains the mystery and charm of past centuries. We visited highlights such as the American War Museum and Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, including the gardens of his former residence. We also went to a simple tworoom Stilt House situated within a peaceful parklike setting, with a serene lake stocked with the largest koi I have ever seen.

Hanoi exudes an air of elegance com­prised of charming public spaces, lakes and tree-lined

Bicycles are a common mode of transportation, and some riders take bold measures navigating city traffic with challenging loads of goods.

Rice paddies, tended by hand ­ oulevards. The famous b Dong Xuan Market provides street after street of merchants that sell everything from food to herbal medicines, hardware, household items, clothing and more.

Since most of the merchants live in the back or upper floors of their shops, life simply happens before your eyes (as people visit, drink tea, and watch the world go by — and someone is always cooking).

Vietnam is a haven for those who love shopping, and especially for market fans. Street markets are inherent to the Vietnamese culture and lifestyle of the country where one can buy almost anything.

What to buy? Pearls, local lacquered handicrafts, silk clothing (have something made especially for you), local art paintings (check out the Golden Fish Gallery in Hoi An Old Town … www.titingallery.com), traditional Vietnamese hats and lanterns.

Not long after arriving, my very first local culinary experience was pho — a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, rice noodles herbs, and meat. It was prepared and served at our hotel along with North Americanand continental-style fare at breakfast. I was hooked at first bite, and thus began the culinary part of my adventure.

I have enjoyed Vietnamese food for years as we are fortunate to have many amazing Vietnamese restaurants right here in London and southwestern Ontario, but there is nothing like eating a cuisine in its home country. Later that morning, during our visit

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to the Yen Phu flower market, I discovered the exotic and delicious jack fruit. From there I made it my mission to try and enjoy at least one new dish every day, which turned out to be a very easy goal to accomplish.

In Hanoi, we enjoyed lunch at a unique local restaurant called KOTO (which stands for Know One, Teach One — learning should be passed on, and knowledge is there to be shared).

KOTO was created by a Vietnamese-Australian in Hanoi over 10 years ago with the opening of a hospitality and life skills training centre for disadvantaged youth. Today, KOTO runs two restaurants (including Pots & Pans, where we enjoyed yet another amazing dining experience), an online bakery, cooking classes and a catering service. Here are just a few of their delicious and unforgettable menu items: Chicken Wrapped in Pandan Leaves; Prawn on Sugar Cane (one of Vietnam’s popular dishes); Non Du Du — Green Papaya Salad with Roasted Beef.

Another unique Vietnamese experience we immediately discovered upon setting foot outside our hotel, is how to cross the road ... and this applies to any busy road in Vietnam!

I had heard that the traffic was chaotic. But what I found is that it is also an intricate dance of people, bicycles, motorbikes and cars. They move in a controlled state of chaos, magically gliding through the streets and intersections, for the most part unscathed. Our guide advised us to walk calmly and slowly when crossing any street in Vietnam, in order to get to the other side without bodily injury — the drivers would simply go around us. A bit unnerving at first. The trick is to look straight ahead and pray. Obviously it worked as all members of our group made it home safe and sound!

A diverse array of boats can be seen traversing Vietnam’s numerous lakes, rivers and ocean ports.

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En route to our next stop, Ha Long Bay, we stopped to observe and photograph traditional garden plots made up of neatly mounded rows of vegetables, rice and herbs, growing in fertile rich soil, carefully tended by hand to perfection. The (wannabe) artist side of me liked the neatly arranged plots like an artist’s canvas consisting of different shades of green.

Once in Ha Long City we embarked on an overnight cruise aboard a very comfortable and traditional Vietnamese junk.

Hanoi was a bustling and exciting city; Ha Long Bay provided tranquility. For the next 24 hours we were treated to one of the natural wonders of the world, an open-air geological museum.

The museum consists of approximately 1,600 monolithic islands and several enormous limestone caves. A community of around 1,600 people lives on floating houses in Ha Long Bay, sectioned into four quaint fishing villages. All share this idyllic setting with numerous species of birds and monkeys.

Next stop, after a short flight, was Hue. Here we experienced a leisurely boat ride down the Perfume River (during autumn flowers from orchards upriver fall into the water giving the river a perfume-like aroma, hence the name) stopping to visit the majestic Tomb of Emperor Min Mang, the last Emperor of Vietnam.

Elephant Ear Fish In the quiet countryside outside of Hue, we were treated to a surprise private luncheon at The Boi Tran Gallery and Garden, owned by a renowned Vietnamese artist. This artist opens her home and gardens to special tour groups and local functions, providing the opportunity to sample fine local Vietnamese dining. Our gracious host and owner Boi Tran has recently been featured on an episode of Antony Bourdain’s food and travel show Parts Unknown.

The one item that stood out (although the entire culinary experience was unforgettable) was the refreshing and almost addictive welcome punch made from fresh fruit that had been fermented in cider vinegar.

We continued south by land, over scenic mountain roads along the coastline and through the Hai Van Pass, the dividing line between north and south Vietnam, to reach the beautiful city of Hoi An. It’s a perfect stop for any culinary enthusiast; cooking lessons are offered at several local restaurants, especially in the Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage designated site. Amidst the preserved pagodas and temples was my favorite part, the Central Market. This bustling all-day market is busy throughout the day, but it’s best to arrive first thing in the morning. From fresh fish to live ducks and chickens, rows and rows of fresh Vietnamese vegetables and fruit, it’s no wonder that this market also offers delicious restaurants and tempting food stalls at every turn.

I decided to try cao lầu, a Vietnamese dish made with noodles, Colourful street vendors are an integral aspect of Vietnamese culture

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EXCLUSIVE TOURS Downton Abbey Ladies Only A floating pineapple market pork, and local greens only found in the town of Hoi An ... and ended up enjoying two bowls.

Another short flight brought us to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), the largest city in Vietnam. Before venturing into this bustling city, we travelled to the Mekong Delta to visit Can Tho and sailed through the Floating Market. The Floating Market is made up of large barges and small colourful boats selling wholesale fruit and vegetables.

There we were treated to a local delicacy, Elephant Ear fish. Not attractive to look at, it is a delicious and indigenous fish of the Mekong Delta, and is enjoyed by the locals eaten in a rice wrap with fresh vegetables.

Once in Ho Chi Min City the highlight was a four-hour evening Vespa tour. The tour brought us to five local districts where we were treated to everything from local pancakes to Vietnamese coffee and a selection of finely prepared frog legs and various shellfish. Although our courageous host led us through thick and thin, he stopped at the frog legs.

Finally we wrapped up our trek with three days in Cambodia, visiting the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. To our surprise, we ended the culinary part of this tour enjoying margaritas and enchiladas at a local Mexican restaurant situated right in the heart of the market in Siem Riep.

It was a remarkable experience, and one I will always cherish. Chao mung and adios, until our next adventure!

CLAUDIA VIANI is an avid traveller and has worked in the travel industry for over 35 years. She is a Director, Leisure Operations Canada for Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

April 17–25, 2015 Escorted locally by Trafalgar tour director and qualified local experts.

Our specialty ladies tour has been designed to showcase where many TV scenes are shot, including the castle servants’ neighbourhoods and the Swan Inn, set location for Lady Sybil’s elopement. Highlights are in London, the Cotswolds area, towns such as Bath, Oxford & Kent and a tour of Leeds Castle, ”The Loveliest Castle in the World”!

For more exciting details regarding accommodations, meals and inclusions, contact: Carlson Wagonlit Travel 224 Central Ave., London ON 1-866-614-7717 email: london@carlsonwagonlit.com www.cwtvacations.ca/london TICO Registration 2950763

Tuscany, Wine & Cuisine

May 8–18, 2015 May 8–18, 2015 Accommodation for 7 nights at Villa Marta, located outside historic Lucca, and 2 nights in Rome. Group Host is Sommelier Bob Latham, instructor at the Stratford Wine School & Stratford Chefs School.

Experience local wine, cuisine and renowned attractions in Lucca, Pisa, Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Rome and the gorgeous Tuscan countryside. Enjoy private wine & olive oil tastings, and wine pairings with most dinners. Limited to 20 passengers so please book early.

For more information on this exciting tour, contact: Carlson Wagonlit Travel 450 Columbia St. W. Unit 6, Waterloo ON 1-800-267-9269 email: waterloo@carlsonwagonlit.com TICO Registration 50020877 www.cwtvacations.ca/waterloo

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farmers & artisans

The Food Web Part II: SPRING

By ANTONY JOHN

C

oming back from our stay in Belize, March on our farm hit us like the transition from the carpet to the moving sidewalk at the airport.

During the two weeks we had been away, daylight levels reached a critical 10-hour mark, and the greenhouses responded to that solar switch being suddenly turned on. The salad greens that we had struggled to find since January were, over the space of a weekend in March, suddenly in abundance.

As the days get longer, the diligent weeding and spacing that our crew of pickers has been doing all winter have paid off in the greenhouse salad beds.

By the end of the first week of March, we can hardly keep up with production. Which is a good thing because the next phase of our Food Web is about to begin, and will require greenhouse space.

The first warm rains from the south in March usually bring the first wave of migrating birds. Overnight, flocks of blackbirds, killdeer, and song sparrows join the recently arrived horned larks, and busily take up territory. As day dawns our farm, which has been so quiet since December,

is filled with raucous squawks of wet blackbirds and excited trills of song sparrows. It is a call to action for me, signaling the weaving of another strand in Soiled Reputation’s food web — our vegetables. Some of the crops we grow require such a long growing season that it borders on the impossible in our

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temperate (or this year, sub-arctic) climate. Celeriac, leeks, and shallots (grown from seed for a single, huge bulb!) all require a long germination period, then a growing season of over three months to mature. Others, such as parsley and sorrel, are welcome early spring crops that can take a frost. Starting them early allows us to alleviate the seeding and transplanting bottleneck of midMay. Spring moves through its gears like a formula one car in southwestern Ontario. It’s not unusual for me to start seeding transplants in March. By the time the last seeding of cabbages is done, at the end of May, spring is almost over. We have dug down and re-seeded all the beds in four greenhouses, to keep pace with salad plants that think they’re in their second year, so it’s time to set seed (not good for production!), and we’ve seeded untold varieties of dozens of vegetables (32 tomato varieties alone!) that require planting out as the climate allows. By June our greenhouses are bursting at the seams, and we’re frantically transplanting out into beautiful warm Perth clay-loam soil.

Our trees are in full bloom, and over 40 bird species have taken up nesting. Another 40-plus have visited briefly during migration to destinations farther north in the boreal forest and the tundra. Dawn song is a life-affirming symphony of biodiversity, and I try to celebrate and emulate that complex, stable, healthy balance by managing the farm as an ecosystem, not just from the surface of the soil, where I sow my seeds, but from a thousand feet up where the air currents carry Sandhill Cranes over us, to four feet deep in the soil, where worms, microbes, and fungi help keep plants supplied with organic nutrients. This is our food web in spring.

ANTONY JOHN is an organic farmer, painter and avid birdwatcher.

He lives near Stratford. This is the second of a series of reflections on the food we grow and buy.

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Red-Winged Blackbird

Tree Swallow

Snowy Owl

Horned Lark

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The BUZZ ... new and notable

T

he SmartAPPetite Team will soon launch SmartAPP, a smartphone application to make it easier to reach healthy eating goals, and help find local food businesses and farmers. What started last summer as a small pilot at the Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market will soon be a "farm-to fork" tool designed with the feedback of local foodies, farmers, producers, retailers, restaurateurs and other stakeholders throughout Southwestern Ontario. The team invites all those that want to share feedback to its next event at the London Central Library on July 8 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Future workshops will also be held in Perth & Oxford County. See smartappetite.ca for more details. The team will also be at the Local Food Skills Feastival on July 17. www.theheal.ca/SmartAPPetite_project.php The Only On King is offering a prix fixe menu dining option Tuesdays through Thursdays. For $35 per person you can enjoy an exquisite three-course menu with plenty of choices. On Wednesday nights “Sausage and Beer League” offers sausage plates served with sides and garnishes. Plates are paired with beers provided by Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. Also on Wednesday nights draft beer is only $5. www.theonlyonking.ca The Root Cellar Organic Café’s former kitchen will soon become London’s first co-operatively owned nanobrewery and will offer the beer, on tap, in the café. The restaurant is expected to have its liquor licence in the very near future. www.fb.com/therootcellarorganiccafe After 12 years on Richmond Row, and 5 years downtown, owners Kevin and Denise Greaves are closing Jambalaya.

It’s time for a break and they are actively looking for someone to take over the location. The existing on-street patio is expected to be moved to the front of Blu Duby.

Zack Agathos, formerly of Huron House/The Dancing Greek, has had more delays with his new Icarus Resto Bar on Richmond Row. As of this writing, he’s predicting a July opening.

Agathos will begin with a soft opening for his contemporary Mediterranean inspired resto.www.icarusrestobar.com

Downtown London’s Five Fortune Culture Restaurant proprietors, Wenbei and Jie Liang Yin are part of the wave of restaurateurs offering a true ethnic dining experience. The owners of the Yunnan-inspired restaurant will be taking a month-long holiday from July 15 to mid-August. www.fivefortuneculture.com Jeff and Sandi Harvey, new owners of Billy’s Downtown Deli on Dundas Street, continue the popular downtown landmark’s 30-year traditions. For lunch, enjoy classic deli offerings like the quintessential Reuben and Montreal smoked meat sandwiches or interesting daily blackboard features.

Now is the season to check out Billy’s for exceptional pies. www.billysdelirestaurant.ca Black Trumpet Chef Scott Wesseling has a modern-day take on international classics, drawing from local and seasonal ingredients to create his new menu offerings. The vaulted ceilings, towering centre-hearth fireplace and detailed craftsmanship create a warm ambiance. Enjoy the expanded terraced courtyard for al fresco dining. Closed Sundays. www.blacktrumpet.ca After a longer than expected renovation, Covent Garden Market produce merchant Chris Doris and Woodstock restaurateur Greg Efstatheu are expected to open Olive R. Twist this summer. The new restaurant will occupy the refurbished and updated premises formerly occupied by UpFront at the Market and Chancey Smith’s.

Each week, Miki Hambalek of the Hungary Butcher makes fresh sausages from old world recipes, using only the finest pork, beef and spices. All his beef products are from hand-selected cattle – sourced from local farms that do not use GMO feeds or antibiotics, grass fed and silage finished. Corn is never part of these animals’ diet. Hambalek also sources free range chickens. The main store is located at 892 Dundas St. Hambalek also operates a popular booth at the Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market and his wife, Agnes, operates The Butcher’s Wife at Ogilvie’s Market in Hyde Park. www.thehungarybutcher.com Luis Rivas and Elsa Garcia and family continue to provide Latin flavour and ambience at their new and much larger

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True Taco Authentic Comedor Latino restaurant, across from their former premises on Dundas Street, near the Aeolian Hall. This lively cantina, with vibrant red walls and plenty of comfortable seating areas, including a private room, is the second incarnation for Rivas and Garcia. They are expecting to be licenced in the near future. www.truetaco.com Sasa and Branka Milidrag’s four-month old Euro Pastry bakery is located at 727 Richmond St. at Piccadilly. Only pure, high quality natural ingredients are used in their baking, with no added chemicals or preservatives. Inspired by the classic European baking canon, cookies, cakes (Sacher tortes), pastries, strudels and savouries are made in-house daily, from scratch. Quality and a high level of service are the hallmarks of the hands-on owners. www.europastrylo.ca Farm Boy, the Ottawa-based food store chain, opened its first Southwestern Ontario store in London in June. The grand opening was a swanky affair attended by many local food luminaries. The 27,000-square-foot market employs about 150 people at 1045 Wellington Rd., most recently the location of Tag, a clothing and decor retailer. The chain buys fresh produce from local farmers whenever possible. www.farmboy.ca/london

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beer was made possible by fans of Forked River, who brought rhubarb in from their backyards, and local farms, Mazak Farms (mazakfarms.ca) and Thomas Brothers. Get this refreshing brew at the brewery, Wednesday through Friday 12-5:30pm and Saturday 11-4. www.forkedriverbrewing.com Congratulations to Milos Kral on having his popular Milos’ Craft Beer Emporium at Talbot & Carling included in canoe.ca’s list of the Top 10 Beer Bars in Canada. In addition to his 23 draught taps and two cask hand pumps, Milos’ sourcing of local Southwestern Ontario menu ingredients was noted, as was the pub’s “de facto spiritual home” to Forked River Brewing. www.pubmilos.com

“Reasonably priced, fresh, well-executed Ethiopian cuisine ...” — Bryan Lavery, eatdrink magazine

Annie’s Chocolates opened their first popular chocolate shop in Arva, in October 2011 at 21556 Richmond Street, two lights north of Masonville Place. A new location is expected to open early July next to David’s Bistro in the former Donna’s Apparel & Accessories store on Richmond Street. Annie’s also makes delicious chocolatecovered butter tarts that are quite popular with customers who visit her in the Arva location. www.annieschocolates.com Ivette Calderon recently opened a Mexican cafeteria-style restaurant at 129 Dundas called BEGOS. The term “bego” was coined by her mother to describe the baked, stuffed baguette that she created. The focus is on healthy baked bread made with whole wheat, flax seed oil, and other quality ingredients. The fillings seem to follow along the style of pizza flavours — pepperoni, Hawaiian, mushroom, Italian and Mexican. The restaurant will be licensed and Calderon is hoping to put a small patio outside.

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The 2014 Forest City Beer Fest will be held on Saturday, August 16 at Covent Garden Market. Free entrance with Talbot Street Food Vendors 11 am–10 pm (All Ages) and a Beer Garden on Rotary Square 2-10 pm (19+). Beer & Cheese Pairings, Beer Seminars, Cooking Workshops and more. www.forestcitybeerfest.com We bumped into Lynn’s Bakery & Deli owner Roy O’Connor and family at a Western convocation and caught up a little. The three-generation family business got its start at 2190 Dundas St. when Roy’s father launched a Buns Mastery Bakery franchise back in 1980. A few years later, Roy’s sister Lynn opened Lynn’s Deli next door and by the mid ’80s, Roy and his wife Rose were running both

Your love of all things Italian begins at

businesses, and eventually dropped the Buns Master association.

Today, with two dozen employees, bread, rolls and pizzas are fresh baked daily and the deli offers a full selection of deli meats and cheeses, sandwiches, salads, soups, and desserts. City of London-approved caterers, Lynn’s services all functions, from office luncheons to weddings. www.fb.com/lynnsbakerydeli Located on Fanshawe Park Road West, Brazza Restaurant is the latest entry into the London fine dining scene. Owners Cathy Bento-Silva and David Silva describe Chef Jason Bailey’s Portuguese and European cuisine as traditional cooking with a new age kick. www.fb.com/brazzarestaurant Jill’s Table. Jill’s has launched its Summer Cooking Class series and is excited to turn these lazy days of summer into a culinary delight. Chefs back by popular demand include Paul Harding from The Only On King, Emily Richards, Christie Pollard and Josie Pontarelli. Jill will be hosting classes in which she treats guests to the delicious recipes she picked up on a recent trip to Tuscany along with a unique “market” class where she will take participants to the Covent Garden outdoor market to shop and cook in season and locally. jillstable.ca/cooking-classes.

Bill Wittur of Noteworthy Wines has established a London chapter of the International Wine and Food Society (IWFS). The goal of the new branch will be to encourage wine and food enthusiasts to meet on a regular basis for great culinary and tasting experiences. For membership details, please email bill@noteworthywines.ca or call 519-914-1204.

Kevin and Mandy Whiting and Chef Brian Magee recently opened The Oxford Kitchen in the premises formerly occupied

by Bronson’s in Woodstock. The Oxford county-sourced menus find inspiration in updated versions of globally inspired comfort foods. Try the King Duck perogies with kimchee and pancetta or the Brussels sprouts and kale salad with crispy boar bacon and lardon-dried cherries. Think traditional everyday food reimagined, like pork and beans, which in this chef’s hands becomes appleMarsala braised pork cheek with bean succotash.

Congratulations to Woodstock’s Shep and Colleen Ysselstein at Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese for winning Business Development Bank of Canada’s Best Young Entrepreneurs Award and its $100,000 prize. You can purchase

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Gunn’s Hill Cheese in London from All ‘Bout Cheese at their 898 Dundas Street location or at their booth at the Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market. www.gunnshillcheese.ca Chris and Mary Woolf opened Little Red’s Pub and Eatery in St. Marys this past spring. The Woolfs have been pioneers when it comes to supporting farm-to-table and have been dedicated and loyal proponents of the area’s farmers, artisans, sustainable and organic producers for two decades.

The eatery features a wide selection of Ontario craft beers and wines. Be sure to check out their new digs. www.littlereds.ca The Benmiller Inn is delighted to host Taste of Huron’s first 2014 Food for Thought dinner on Tuesday, July 8.

Highlighting the “Magic of Mushrooms,” Chef Spencer has put together a creatively mouth-watering 3-course menu for this Special Dining event. $40 per person. www.benmiller.ca The next Food for Thought dinner is “It’s the Schnitz” III on Monday, August 11, 2014 at Hessenland Country Inn. Learn what makes a good schnitzel and see the many ways it can be prepared. Guests will graze until their heart’s desire at food stations set-up amongst the gardens while watching the beautiful Huron County sunset. $45 per person. www.hessanland.com For all 2014 Food for Thought Dinners: www.tasteofhuron.ca

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If you like ethical farm-to-table dining that won’t break the bank, Monforte on Wellington is a hands-down winner. The kitchen has developed a synergy between the local terroir and the diner, no doubt inspired by Monforte Dairy founder and cheesemaker Ruth Klahsen. The restaurant is a casual seasonally-inspired osteria featuring an ever-changing selection of artisanal cheeses, charcuterie, and pastas, salads, soups, tourtiere, fritters and other specialties, prepared in-house. There is a 35-seat courtyard for al fresco dining. www.fb.com/MonforteOnWellington Chef Yva Santini’s Italian kitchen at Taverna Pazzo brings a new sensibility to Stratford’s main corner. Sustainable seafood CH UN R m Y B 2p DA1am− N SU 1

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The restaurant at Mercer Hall Inn offers chef-inspired artisanal food and drink featuring local cuisine, Ontario-focused wines and house-infused cocktails. Mercer Hall was recently included in the The 2014 Vacay.ca Top 50 Restaurants in Canada, as determined by an esteemed roster of chefs, food industry professionals, connoisseurs, and travel and food writers. www.mercerhall.ca Stylish rooms in a heritage home overlooking a court­yard provide a sublime setting for one of the consistently best dining experiences in Stratford. Chef Bryan Steele serves up contemporary seasonally-inspired cuisine at The Prune. Sommelier/dining room manager Peter Lavoie showcases boutique vintages from local and international growers. In the aim of broadening Chef Steele’s cooking style to a larger audience, the Prune will be featuring a new prix fixe menu with a lower, more accessible price point and an expanded selection of offerings. www.theprune.com

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such as oysters, crab and lobster make up the heart of this season’s menu, and are joined by house-made pastas and gnocchi, and locally-sourced meats and produce. Check out the recently opened Pazzo Bambino next door for lighter fare and delicious grab-to-go options. Chef Sirka Sie is the talent behind the stunning food (and delectable zeppole) in the Pazzo Bambino. www.pazzo.ca

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The Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Festival, (www.savourstratford.com/culinaryfestival) presented by GE Café Appliances, will take place on the weekend of July 18–20. This year’s theme is Coast to Coast to Coast. Meet some of the top young chefs under 40 from across Canada – from Newfoundland to the N.W.T. to B.C. – all award winners, many trained in Stratford, and others associated with Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Anthony Bourdain. With over 150 chefs, farmers, producers, Ontario vintners and craft brewers, cheesemakers and culinary personalities, this is one of the largest culinary festivals in Ontario.

Refine your cooking skills and philosophies at the Toronto Star Culinary Stage where renowned Canadian chefs featuring Dale MacKay, Carl Heinrich, Rich Francis, Todd Perrin, Doug McNish, James Walt, Paul Rogalski and Derek Dammann present their distinctive approaches to creating authentic Canadian cuisine. $5 fee per event or $20 all-access pass.

GE Café Chefs Series presents Canada’s first Top Chef, Dale MacKay, along with Jamie Oliver’s business colleague, and Quebecer, Derek Dammann on Saturday July 19 at Stratford’s Local Community Food Centre for a playfully polished 5-course demonstration-style class. Featuring the best of Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec, each course will highlight Perth County ingredients and regional technique.

The menu will be paired with carefully selected wine from Rosehall Run Winery while sustainable vintner Dan Sullivan will be on hand to answer all your wine queries.

The Taste of Ontario Artisan Alley will be a bustling open-air market on Saturday July 19, from 11am-5pm. Free admission. Expose your palate to samples from Ontario’s leading breweries, vineyards and distillers featuring Mill Street Brewery, Reif Estate Winery and Dillon’s Small Batch Distillery, to name a select few. Pair local varietals with gourmet Ontario cheeses and mingle among producers and connoisseurs alike. At $1.00 a beverage ticket, sip, graze and enjoy the pay-as-you-go system.

Alison Fryer of Toronto’s former Cookbook Store moderates Women in Food Breakfast, an open forum with a focus on Women in Agriculture, on Sunday, July 20. Featured panellists share stories of their varying roles and experiences on the farm and in the office: Nosh on seasonal morsels at Savour Stratford Sunday Grand Tasting, the ultimate culinary garden party on Sunday July 20, presented by Scotiabank, set under an elegant tent along York Street. Treat your palate to delicacies from 30 top local chefs, paired with VQA wines and craft beers.

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tier culinary wares. Tickets are $100/VIP (12 pm entry with take home VIP bonus), $75/General Admission (1 pm entry) and can be purchased online. www.savourstratford.com JENN & Larry’s Emporium of Wonders is inviting young gourmands to explore the playful side of cooking at the Emporium of Wonders kids’ tent sponsored by Stratford’s own JENN & Larry’s Brittles and Shakes. This multi-tented, action-packed marquee offers Creepy Crawly Cooking (yes, that means bugs!), earth sundaes, The Farmer and That Smell puppet show, cupcake decorating, storytelling, face painting, music and of course food! www.visitstratford.ca/culinaryfestival/kids-tent.php Stratford Culinary Adventures: Flavours of Stratford Culinary Walks — Choose from three diverse culinary tours with local food enthusiast Kim Thompson. Offered mornings and afternoons: A Very Tasty Trek takes you to hidden gems featuring bold breads, baking, cheeses, teas and gourmet products; Fabulous Food and Great Gadgets blends heavenly hors d’oeuvre and refreshment pairings with the finest kitchen wares; Savoury Eats and Tasty Treats explore sweet and savoury tastes at unique downtown shops. www.flavoursofstratford.ca Weekend Foraging with Peter Blush — Learn how to identify, harvest and prepare nature’s bounty with conservation and sustainability in mind. $30/adult, free/child. www.pucksplenty.com

featuring: Crêpes and More • Fried Rice Delite Dominic’s Italian Eatery • Treats London’s Shawarma • Sushi N Sushi Daily Planet Café

Stratford Festival Table Talks — Casting call for theatre moguls who brunch! Join a series of professors from top tier Ontario universities for lively seminars and a delectable buffet lunch. www.stratfordfestival.ca

Slow Food Perth County Pork Party: bring your appetite to Stratford Sunday August 17 for an authentic Perth County local lunch featuring slow roasted, sustainably produced Perth County pork at the Slow Food Sunday Market in Market Square. www.slowfoodperthcounty.ca

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Stratford Summer Music pairs with Rundles to present Musical Brunches — Over six weeks in July and August, multi-instrumentalist Anna Atkinson will perform her classical original personal musical journey, while Rundles will inspire with their famed modern haute cuisine and boutique wines. www.stratfordsummermusic.ca

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in the garden

Sow What?

Making the Most of Our Growing Season

By ALLAN WATTS and RICK WEINGARDEN

E

verything old is new again. Only a few generations ago, most people, not only gardeners, would have taken advantage of the entire growing season to maximize their yield for winter storage. It was a way of life.

Extending the season by understanding which vegetables are more cold tolerant and their days to maturity (from seed to fully grown) was common practice. For reasons of necessity, supply or economics — growing your own meant a controlled supply of fresh food.

After years of depending on the suprmarket for instant gratification many people today are again embracing this wisdom and learning how simple it is. One of the keys is to embrace eating in-season and understanding how to eat and store your own local bounty. Whether fresh, frozen, preserved or pickled your own is always better!

We have recently been enjoying lettuce, cilantro, baby kale, Swiss chard and peas shoots, as these are the first plants that we seeded and/ or transplanted early in the season. These are also among the varieties Easy Recipe for that are Haricots Verts (Green Beans) considered 1. Blanch beans in a pan of salted cold tolerant. boiling water for 3 minutes.

Now, how­ 2.

Immerse beans in a bowl of iced ever, the water to cool, then drain and freeze. cornucopia of vegetables 3. If eating immediately (or to prepare frozen beans after thawing): sauté and fruits briefly in butter with lemon juice, begins. The salt and pepper to taste. harvest of the spring planting for most vegetables begins intensely in July, and ripens into August, as we anxiously await those varieties needing a longer growing season.

Sow What NOW?

Mesclun Mix

Pink Beauty Radish

Redbor Kale

Swiss Chard

We’ll tell you what! It is time to plant or replant a few examples of what to sow now and many lettuces and other vegetables with a shorter into the fall. growing season (30-50 days). Lettuce, spinach, As we enjoy our first crop of bush kale, beets, radish, winter radish and carrots are beans, we are sowing for the next crop.

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This way we don’t overload on too many beans and can enjoy them fresh through the whole summer season and into fall. Our favourite is the Heirloom French Filet Bean or Haricot Vert, a crispy, thin, stringless, delicious bean that cooks quickly. Beans freeze beautifully either raw or blanched.

Sowing a second carrot crop has given us beautiful, sweet carrots A colourful blend of carrots until winter stops us from digging in the garden (a little frost makes carrots and parsnips sweeter).

Perhaps we sacrifice somewhat in size for a second crop, but we also don’t complain about a fresh, sweet, baby carrot in November. The colourful blend of yellow, red, white, orange and purple carrots are a favourite. You can pick or pull them randomly for variety, but often they ‘head’ out of the ground and you can identify the colour.

Following one crop with another is referred to as succession planting. It is a great way to plan for your supply and you will find it surprising how long our season can provide for us. Succession planting offers a great way to balance the harvest and extend the season.

A late planting of beets can provide a crop of beet micro-greens or baby greens instead of the beet root— delicious in salads or sautéed.

Find out what will grow at different times in the season, and decide what you want to grow — and you will be on your way to selfsufficiency.

Sow, get planting!

RICK WEINGARDEN and ALLAN WATTS own Anything Grows SEED Co. (www.anythinggrows.com). They can be found at the Western Fair Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market on Saturdays, and at various gardening events around the region.

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wine

New Opportunities for Local Wines VQA Wines Now Available at Farmers’ Markets

By KIM MILLER Photographs by CECILIA BUY

H

ello Ontario! A mere 234 years after the first farmers’ market was established in Kingston, the Ontario government has seen fit to allow those farmers who turn their crops into wine to take part in the community.

Consumers are now able to enjoy one-stop local shopping, purchasing their fresh local groceries, and sampling and taking home a local wine as well.

In December of 2013, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced, with great fanfare, that VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) wine producers would have the opportunity to offer their wares in local farmers’ markets beginning May 1st of this year. To date, this has proven to be a winwin situation for all involved.

It was truly ground breaking news when this two year pilot project was announced.

Wineries who qualify for the VQA appellation are allowed to join farmers’ markets as an extension of their existing liquor licence at no extra cost, provided they have their own existing onsite store (already licensed). They are able to offer samples and to sell their products during farmers’ market hours. This means that if a winemaker participates at a market that opens at seven in the morning, they are free to offer samples of their local wines at that time and sell them as well!

This is an excellent opportunity for small (often family-run) businesses to showcase

and market their pro­ducts directly to those who are most likely to source out their wines.

One would assume they would jump all over this Tawse Winery at Covent prospect.

Garden Farmers’ Market To my utter amazement, there are only two wineries ­participating in the greater London region.

Moray Tawse and his team from Tawse Winery, which is both organic and ­biody­ namically certified, (as was covered in depth here two issues ago), can be found in Covent Garden Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, 8 am–1 pm and at the Slow Food Perth County Market in Stratford on Sundays, 10 am–2 pm. They generally bring about six wines to each location, based on what has sold well previously. Look for the Sparkling Riesling, Sketches Rose 2012, Quarry Road Chardonnay and Limestone Ridge Riesling for white wine lovers. Those who prefer reds will enjoy the Quarry Road Pinot Noir and the Growers Blend Cabernet Franc. Their presence here in southwestern Ontario is great boost for both us and them and satisfies a growing niche for organic wine.

Tawse Winery, from Vineland

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Quai du Vin heralds from nearby Sparta and has dived into this venture wholeheartedly.

The estate is run by the Quai family, and is Elgin County’s oldest winery. Roberto Quai acted immediately upon learning about the pilot project, applying for VQA status so his family could participate. And participate they do! Quai du Vin is in 13 area markets from Waterloo to Windsor and from Goderich to Simcoe. The lovely Beth, who runs the booth at the Covent Garden Market, was happy to offer up samples for us on a chilly Thursday afternoon. We tasted the 2013 Sauvignon Blanc priced at $14.00 and the 2013 Merlot, a winner at $15.00 a bottle.

Let’s band together folks, as fellow citizens of Ontario, to show the government that we support this program. Buy local. Buy organic. Support these local vintners who have taken such a huge step to bring their local wines to you. Who knows? If all goes well, maybe in a couple of years we will be supporting our local craft breweries in the same manner!

A complete list of all the participating farmers’ markets in Ontario is available at www.agco.on.ca Cheers!

KIM MILLER lives in London with her spouse and two children.

This is why she studies the many attributes of wine.

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BEER MATTERS beer matters

BBQ’s BFF Smoked Beers, Reloaded

By THE MALT MONK

T

he summer sipping season has finally arrived, and the availability of summer styles such as hefeweizen, witbier, pale ale, fruited light lambic, pilsner and kolsch occupy crowded patio tables. Most craft beer lovers think the light beers of the season will do the trick for summer food pairing, but let’s cast our brew palate to more sustaining brews that naturally partner with the whole purpose of summer — BBQ season!

Tradition has always considered the light brews of summer as natural companions for summer BBQ, and to a large degree this is correct as most of these pale styles have a palate clearing ability that cuts through greasy foods and creamy cheeses.

However, this ability and the sharp hoppy dry acidic character of these beers do not often do complimentary duty with proteinheavy foods like barbecued meats. Light acidic beers tend to stand as contrasting sapidities which work well in these pairings. However for my tastes, in pairing up brew and BBQ, complimentary flavours seem more satisfying — and nothing seems to complement and enhance smoky BBQ meats like smoked beers.

“Smoked beers” are not smoked per se.

These beers are made with malts which are dried over natural flame from burning wood or peat. After the malt is finished it imparts a smoky character to beer brewed with these fire-dried malts. It’s worth mentioning that most current smoked craft beer has evolved quite a bit from the traditional Germanic Bamberg style rauchbiers, such as Aecht Schlenkerla. These traditional rauchbiers are in-your-face, almost overpowering in their smoke flavour and quite a shock to a palate accustomed to lighter and less intense brews. Modern crafters have discovered that the judicious use of smaller portions of smoked malts provides a delicious complimentary enhancement to many different styles of beer.

Some of the traditional smoked brews are the heavier Scotch ales and German rauchbier, but recently I’ve sampled an

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increasing number of delicious smoked craft porters, stouts, amber ales, lagers and wheat beer which paired well with food and also drank easily by themselves. Smoked porters and stouts have the extra benefit of amalgamating the deep roastiness of dark malt with the light smoke demeanour of smoked barley — tasty stuff.

Locally we have a few crafters offering seasonal smoked brews — Beau’s All Natural Brewing has a smoked hefeweizen humorously branded “Smokin’ Banana Peels,” a very decent wheat ale with a light smoke to it — great with ribs. Mill Street Brewing has an unfiltered rauchbier based on a sturdy amber lager and Amsterdam Brewing offers a smoked Oktoberfest lager.

Both pair perfectly with barbecued meats.

Niagara Oast House Brewing makes a very nice smoked Irish stout that goes well with fresh oysters. Last but not least we have C’est What’s “Big Butt” — a smoked dark ale with fennel which, every time I’ve tried it, was a natural companion for a smoky BBQ chicken.

Usually found at the LCBO, you can get Dieu du Ciel‘s “Charbonniere” — a great smoked Marzen from Quebec — made for seared back ribs or savoury pulled pork BBQ. Les Trois Mousquetaires is also available seasonally and is one of the best smoked weizens I’ve tasted — this is a sure table mate for BBQ buffalo or venison burger topped with emmentaler. Occasionally we may also see Sam Adams “Bonfire” or other imported smoked porters or scotch ales. When you see them available stock up — and think BBQ.

47

Side Launch Brewing Company

This may be old news for some, brand new for others, but for us grizzled old froth quaffers it is great news. We all see the craft brewing trade expanding in the Ontario market, with new brewing companies and breweries springing up monthly. But what has me really excited about this latest opening is it is an excitement based in anticipating new brews from a true local craft beer pioneer/legend.

Michael Hancock, the original brewer/owner of Denison’s Brew Pub (one of Ontario’s first

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craft brewing enterprises) is now head brewer and partner in a new enterprise. Dubbed “Side Launch Brewing”, Michael now has access to a new state of the art microbrewing platform which is producing Denison’s old favourites in a new brewery — and with a new water source.

Denison’s Dunkel has been rebranded as Side Launch Dark Lager, Denison’s Weissbier will be renamed Side Launch Wheat. I’ve had them both on tap and think something has even improved on this dynamic duo of rock-ribbed classic local craft brews. Watch for them on tap at your favourite beer oasis, and for new offerings from this brewer — lots of promise here based in experience and craftsmanship.

Taste of the Month

BraufactuM Roog, a crafted rauchweizen (smoked hefeweizen), comes from Germany.

A new brewer, BraufactuM has recently acquired import agents in Ontario and now has a presence in the local market. The offerings are said to be “craft beer with a German twist.” The brewery founders’ vision is to develop Germany’s cultural asset (beer) by brewing artisanal beers outside the established tradition — a daunting task in the cradle of the brewing art. The result is an eclectic firstrate mix of styles and ingredients.

The offering I particularly want to recommend is one I have been merrily sipping away at for the past few weeks on tap at a local craft beer oasis.

Named BraufactuM Roog, this is a rich unfiltered all-natural German smoked hefeweizen (rauchweizen) done with lightly smoked malt and the new Hercules hop. It taps out a shimmering clouded rusty red-brown with a moderate puffy tan cap. Aromas of clove, over-ripe apple, banana and smoked almonds greet the nose.

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bearing. The flavour profile starts with a big wash of nutty-biscuity malts slamming the palate — joined almost immediately by a smoky-nutty fruitiness that balances. The hops are in a supporting role here, adding a spicy compliment to the primary flavors.

Finishes lightly dry but satisfying with a light smoked almond after taste.

This is an artisanal smoked beer where the smoke is subdued and complimentary in a brew that is deeply satisfying and delicious. This is also a brew that just begs to be paired with barbecued rotisserie spiced ham. Try it if you see it on tap.

I hope the agents get some bottled product on the LCBO shelves soon. This brewer also has a highly rated Marzen, Schwarzbier and Scotch ale that I hope to see available here soon as well. Keep an eye open for BraufactuM beers, they are made to pair with good food.

THE MALT MONK is the alter ego of D.R. Hammond, a passionate supporter of craft beer culture. He invites readers to join in the dialogue at maltmonksbeerblog. wordpress.com/

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№ 48 | July/August 2014

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BEER MATTERS theatre

Summer Festival Theatre Art with Heart Donald DISHES on Theatre

By DONALD D’HAENE

B

lyth Festival is a professional repertory theatre that endeavours to enrich the lives of its audience members by producing and developing plays that give voice to both the region and the country. But does that well ever run dry?

Artistic Director Marion de Vries insists, “Never! The well overflows with inspiring characters and stories, compelling history and burning current issues that are a neverending source for playwrights.”

Besides its unique history of producing original Canadian plays and, of course, its location, de Vries has strong feelings about what sets Blyth Festival apart.

“We have never wavered from our vision to create, develop and produce new plays that explore and reveal the specific nature and character of this community and region, and rural regions across Canada. You can see West End or Broadway anywhere. A Blyth Festival experience is authentic. When you see it here, you’ve seen it first!”

2014 is Blyth’s 40th season and de Vries decided to renew the vow to Blyth’s original mandate in her own original way stating, “I’m a farm girl born and raised, and I’m a trained and experienced theatre professional — I’ve relied on my artistic ‘guts’ and instincts to choose a slate of great plays that will give the audience a range of experiences — drama, comedy, music, history Marion de Vries

— all under the theme ‘Where the Heart Is!’ Human emotion is what theatre is about to me.”

Although the multi-tasker is a director, playwright, dramaturge and producer, she admits she can’t do everything — although Blyth Kitchen Radio

she’s tried. “Stage management and sewing — I failed at both!”

Ha! Can-do de Vries even wrote a musical debuting at Blyth this season, Kitchen Radio (co-composed by David Archibald). Who doesn’t love a country musical? De Vries describes it this way: “The central character is the lonely young wife of a bank manager in the late ’60s, whose best friends are the female country music stars she listens to on her kitchen radio — until she moves to a small farming town and gets entangled in the lives of the women who live there. Really great women characters played by some of the best performers in Canada. It is going to blow your socks off.”

And what of the future of the festival?

“There’s a renovation in the works to give the theatre a face-lift with new seats, equipment and improved facilities while maintaining the historic character. By the time this theatre turns fifty, Blyth Festival should be everyone’s destination to see

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wonderful, original, real Canadian theatre.”

Never experienced Blyth? I have. Expect delicious pie, country suppers, superfriendly peeps, music, the Art Gallery, a quaint historic main street. Authentic theatre in beautiful Huron County near the shores of Lake Huron. What’s not to love?

Drayton Entertainment is one of Canada’s most successful professional theatre companies. Alex Mustakas is the founder and Artistic Director and expanded his success to include seven venues across Ontario: Drayton Festival Theatre, Dunfield Theatre Cambridge, Huron Country Playhouse and Playhouse II in Grand Bend, King’s Wharf Theatre in Penetanguishene, St. Jacobs Country Playhouse and the Schoolhouse Theatre in St. Jacobs.

I’m exhausted just thinking about it. How on earth did he do it? Mustakas states, “I get way too much credit. I have been fortunate to have been surrounded by a dedicated Board of Directors and an incredible administrative and production team, who are as passionate about live theatre as I

№ 48 | July/August 2014

am. Growth has been completely organic. Local residents’ enthusiasm and support allowed me to dream bigger than I ever imagined possible.

There was no Alex Mustakas calculated plan for expansion; rather, our growth was fueled by a desire to make quality arts and cultural programming affordable and accessible to areas throughout the province that have historically been underserviced.”

In the mid-’90s, when Drayton was selling out every seat, Mustakas recognized the opportunity to do business elsewhere — hence the expansion. While many theatre companies are struggling to maintain their subscription base, let alone attract new patrons, today

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№ 48 | July/August 2014

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“We live in a world where smaller theatres can come and go with the whim of funding programs.

Government subsidy for the arts is extremely important, and I am a strong advocate for this. The reality is that arts organizations must strike a balance between artistic integrity and fiscal responsibility in order to be selfsufficient for the long term.”

Mustakas calls that “show business” with emphasis on both words. “The only way to ensure our survival in an industry that is both fragile and unpredictable.”

Echoing de Vries, Mustakas says, “Theatres contribute to quality of life — our spiritual, emotional, moral health and these days, to our economic health. The realms of art and business can work together … There is an art to running a business, and there is a business to be made in running an art.”

Photograph by Hilary Gauld-Camilleri

Drayton Entertainment’s Les Misérables

the umbrella organization under Drayton serves more than 250,000 patrons with 20 productions, and 896 performances annually.

This summer, just the two Huron Country Playhouses alone are offering two of their most ambitious productions to date, Les Misérables and Peter Pan, from August 7 to August 30.

Just how does one successfully balance the competing demands of quality productions, fiscal responsibility, and community integrity? Mustakas suggests,

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№ 48 | July/August 2014

books

The Tastemakers Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue

By David Sax Review by DARIN COOK

M

ixing the cultural with the culinary, the newest book by Toronto writer David Sax, The Tastemakers: Why We’re Crazy for Cupcakes but Fed Up with Fondue, looks at how food trends start, spread, and fizzle out. According to Sax, “once we developed the economic means to select a variety of foods, certain ones inevitably became more popular than others.” This is epitomized in the craze for cupcakes, which continues today in a frenzy of sugar and icing, but began more simply after World War I when Hostess issued to groceries stores the recognizable chocolate cupcake with braided white icing on top. The cupcake’s popularity has risen ever since, certain ones becoming especially coveted, like the red velvet cupcakes from New York’s Magnolia Bakery that got airtime in an episode of Sex in the City.

The hand-held simplicity and the universal appeal of the cupcake has propelled it to be not just a passing fad. In the same vein, but with broader significance to the world at large, organic farming has become trendy. Sax writes: “Though it remained a niche trend for many decades, organic farming grew rapidly from the 1990s onward and today represents one of the fastest-growing segments of the agricultural industry, driven largely by consumer food trends that have embraced organic products as healthier and their agricultural practices more environmentally sustainable.” Certain forwardthinking tastemakers, like Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, position their products in the hands of influential people to make a food become popular. In Roberts’ case, he wanted to save heirloom David Sax grains and rice with an effective

strategy; Sax reports: “He had targeted the most respected, visible chefs in the world and had his company’s name on all their menus, Roberts had harnessed their visibility and influence as tastemakers, turning those grains into a trend and using the trends’ success (and profits) to further his mission.”

Before the rise in popularity of food media, chefs cooked in seclusion in restaurants for their hometown customers.

But now “a ravenous online ecosystem of food blogs, review sites, and social media opportunities has not only cemented the idea of the chef as artist and celebrity but has also given chefs everywhere a vastly greater audience.” Many food trends come from these uber-creative kitchen artists, while others emerge from trade shows, like the Fancy Food Show in Washington, DC or Baconfest in Chicago. These types of gatherings forecast what new flavours will surface from the tongues of tastemakers.

Many food trends start small at trade shows and make it big with the proper exposure. It is these smaller innovators that get trends started more quickly than the product development bureaucracy behind the new ideas of larger corporations that manufacture food or run chain restaurants.

Foods also become trendy by being associated with health fads. This bandwagon links healthy living to foods with disease fighting properties, like chai seeds, kale, and acai

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berries. Some foods become so popular they develop their own cult following, like bacon, incorporated into all sorts of zany recipes like smoked bacon bread pudding or bacon cotton candy. Even naming foods differently can increase their popularity, as was the case when prunes were officially changed to dried plums.

Sax reveals trends that are long-lasting (cupcakes), lightning-speed upstarts (the Cronut sold out of its first batch in half an hour) or nostalgic (fondue doesn’t get the same attention it did in the 1960s, but still gets pulled from basement storage once in a while). Trendy foods fall into place for any number of business or marketing reasons, or they can just become popular by association depending on who’s eating or blogging about them. Whatever the case, Sax ponders that “if food trends are overtaking our thinking about the what, where, when, how, and even why of eating, then surely there must be something to them.”

DARIN COOK is a freelance writer who works and plays in Chatham-Kent, and keeps himself well-read and well-fed by visiting the bookstores and restaurants of London.

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books

Flavourful Fiction A Summer Reading List for Foodies

By DARIN COOK

N

ovels are often described as delicious by readers who relish a particularly tantalizing storyline. This takes on a deeper level of scrumptiousness when food is the central theme, as it is in the books listed below that treat food with literary exquisiteness and have chefs as their main characters and restaurants as their settings. Even though fictional, these books are rooted in humanity’s interest in cooking and savouring delicious food.

In the Kitchen (2009) by British ­novelist Monica Ali, opens with the discovery of a dead body in the basement of a London restaurant, followed by the termination of a ghost-like employee the next day. Chef Gabe Lightfoot’s professional kitchen is disrupted by the suspense and drama surrounding the death, as he tries to hold together the routines of the ­complicated dance that occurs in the kitchen between a motley crew of Russian sous chefs, porters, Mexican dishwashers, pastry chefs, butchers and a suspicious maitre d’ who could be using the restaurant as a front for human trafficking.

Writers of this type of novel, even if not chefs themselves, need to know a lot about food to provide a sense of authenticity. As Gabe shops for cheese for the restaurant, he selects “a ten-kilo Cantalet that had just enough hazelnut edge without it overwhelming the fresh milk flavor,” and we know that Ali must have extensive knowledge of cheese to validate those flavours.

Gabe’s personal issues are juxtaposed with his problems at work, and his life begins to spin out of control with elaborate lies to his girlfriend, too much drinking, too little sleeping, and a slow descent into psychological problems. The big question that haunts Gabe is whether the death will linger in his life and interfere with his dreams of opening his own restaurant, already

precarious given the shady background of the benefactors willing to help him.

Before the gourmet food truck craze, there were fish and chip wagons serving Britain’s national meal. The Van (1991) by Roddy Doyle, in the inimitable style of one of Ireland’s best writers, tells the story of the Rabbitte family’s attempt to make a living from a food truck on the streets of North Dublin.

The book starts at dinnertime with Jimmy Sr. saying his wife’s burgers and chips are better than he gets at any chip wagon. This is long before he realizes this same food could be a way for him to support his family financially.

Both out of jobs, Jimmy Sr. and his friend, Bimbo, buy a used chipper van, albeit with no motor, to start a business together. Hilariously, they have to push it around town because of its lack of motorized mobility.

They train themselves to become short order cooks, proficient at fish, chips, and burgers for their new restaurant on wheels, and open in time for the World Cup, hoping pub patrons will flock to their van for after-game snacks. Their opening night is after a match in which Ireland ties England and bar patrons are in a state of celebration. A week after opening, with business booming, they decide to buy an engine to make their rounds from pub to pub easier, and even extend their business to other towns. Fueled by the bond between

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friends, The Van is a success story of making things work in spite of life’s obstacles.

Like Water for Chocolate (1992), by Mexican writer Laura Esquivel, is full of fantastical elements that make for great storytelling, even though deliberately far-fetched to fit the style of fiction known as Magic Realism.

Full of family traditions, complicated relationships, and the strong influence that food has on human emotions, the story revolves around a Mexican family of three daughters led by a controlling, widowed mother. Through her cooking, the youngest daughter, Tita, brings a fantastical euphoria to her family that cannot be rationally explained, and the story follows numerous family events, including weddings and baptism feasts, that involve food.

The title is a metaphor for how emotions are strongly tied to cooking and food. The boiling water needed to melt chocolate is a symbol of the heated rage that Tita feels for her fate in life — as the youngest daughter in the family she is required to take care of her mother, rather than marry someone to start her own family. Tita is subject to unrequited love that cannot manifest itself in a normal manner, because the man she secretly loves has married her older sister.

A recipe accompanies each chapter of the book, the ingredients and cooking instructions an important part of the narrative. Even though it is not a traditional cookbook, it is still a cookbook “which tells in each of its recipes this story of a love interred” and how love continues on as long as someone keeps family recipes alive.

The human senses and the consumption of food have always gone hand in hand. In his novel, Appetite (2013), British novelist Philip Kazan takes us to fifteenth century Florence to experience the unusual palette of fourteen-year-old Nino Latini, whose sense of taste is not normal. He tastes things that others cannot and he discerns each individual ingredient in a dish. The flavours and aromas of food permeate Kazan’s writing, the same way they permeate his young protagonist’s body.

Florence is the Italian city of artists and the book portrays the historical detail of the

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Renaissance period, with Nino surrounded by artists, including a young Leonardo da Vinci. Home cooking lessons from his mother lead Nino to a career as a chef in a high-end tavern serving artists, scholars, and royalty.

The intensity of the kitchen work — the heat of the ovens, the aromas, the physicality of butchering meat — adds pages of detail to Kazan’s descriptions about the preparations that go into extravagant Renaissance banquets.

Amongst these elaborate depictions of food prepar­ ation and gluttonous feasting, the story is an epic romance and Nino ends up cooking an engagement banquet for his childhood girlfriend who is betrothed to another man. He loses all pleasure in food when he loses the girl he loves, but Nino has developed a mischievous side as a creative gastronome; he cannot help himself from preparing lavish dishes with licentious overtones, bringing notoriety to himself as someone who sees the world differently, through the artistry of flavour.

Before writing his first novel, The Debt to Pleasure (1996), John Lanchester was a British restaurant reviewer, and the main character, Tarquin Winot, was likely inspired by the author’s time spent in the company of gourmet food. Tarquin has an intense and snobbish appreciation of food and he starts out by stating that the book is not meant to be mistaken for a conventional cookbook, even though food and recipes make frequent appearances within the pages.

Tarquin’s pretentious tone merely portrays his haughty lifestyle, since the story is told through his voice alone. His primary influence in life has been that epitome of gastronomic writing, The Physiology of Taste by Brillat-Savarin, setting the tone for his philosophical and culinary opinions. Tarquin has sophisticated tastes, enjoying the best food he can find, especially when he can source it himself with mushroom foraging trips in the forests of Provence.

His food knowledge is encyclopedic and, amid lengthy ponderings on different types

№ 48 | July/August 2014

of caviar and the numerous ethnic dishes throughout the world that use lamb, the reader cannot resist thinking that he could be the perfect dinner guest to fill the time with foodie banter.

Lanchester’s writing style is pretentious, dark, and humorous, and as the story progresses Tarquin’s psychotic tendencies tend to be as strong as his penchant for good food. His sinister side is revealed as he recounts nefarious past events in his life dealing with food. Maybe he wouldn’t be such an appealing dinner guest after all.

Stanley Park (2001), by Canadian author Timothy Taylor, is a locavore manifesto in the form of a novel, and takes place around the famous Vancouver park. The Monkey’s Paw Bistro, run by Chef Jeremy Papier, is known for using local ingredients with an emphatic nod to the concept of terroir. Jeremy enlists Jules Capelli, whose culinary philosophy matches his own, as his sous chef and they passionately set out to “remind people of something. Of what the soil under their feet has to offer.”

But the financial side of the business falls squarely on Jeremy and money troubles are too severe not to accept an offer from Dante Beale, an entrepreneur with a global chain of successful coffeehouses, who wants to invest in the genius of Jeremy’s culinary skills.

Strangely enough, as Jeremy is supplied meat from local farms, his eccentric father has found a community of panhandlers that cook local bounty from Stanley Park. Jeremy finds himself partaking in impromptu gatherings with this homeless clan using squirrels and ducks as their source of sustenance.

As Jeremy’s restaurant gets a facelift from the new owner, he has to re-invent himself as a chef working for a businessman with deep pockets. He is still given freedom in the kitchen to create innovative dishes to appease an uprising of fooderati, but on opening night, with the city’s wealthy and influential drawn in by the foodie buzz, does Jeremy take his localism too far?

DARIN COOK is a freelance writer who works and plays in Chatham, and keeps himself well-read and well-fed by visiting the bookstores and restaurants of London.

№ 48 | July/August 2014

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cookbooks

The Forest Feast Simple Vegetarian Recipes from my Cabin in the Woods

By Erin Gleeson Review and Recipe Selections by TRACY TURLIN

I

f it’s true that we eat with our eyes then The Forest Feast, Simple Vegetarian Recipes from my Cabin in the Woods,

by Erin Gleeson, will leave you as satisfied as any meal you’ve ever had.

Erin Gleeson was a successful photographer and teacher in New York for eight years. When she wasn’t working at the frantic pace the city demands, she cooked and entertained friends. A job opportunity for her husband triggered a return to California, where they chose a cabin in the woods over suburban life.

Gleeson was looking for inspiration to transition her city career to her new home. She began her blog, theforestfeast. com, mostly so she’d have a link to send to editors but was delighted to find that people were reading and cooking from it. The Forest Feast is her first cookbook and is presented in the same style as the blog. There are over 200 pages of beautiful photos covered with illustrations and handwritten notes.

I began by looking for printed recipes and lists of odd vegetarian ingredients. I paged through for a few minutes before it dawned on me — this is it! A picture of some vegetables, a drawing of a bay leaf and a few notes were all I

№ 48 | July/August 2014

needed to create the beautiful Bay Potatoes dish pictured on the opposite page. All of the recipes are like this: short and simple, using a handful of ingredients you probably already have at home. In the entire book I found perhaps three ingredients I don’t keep in my pantry. I was hooked.

The recipes in The Forest Feast are meatless because Gleeson grew up as a vegetarian and says she mostly cooks that way now. Most recipes will work as main courses but could easily be sides to a non-veggie dish. All are simple, fast and affordable and could be put together for a weeknight dinner or used to impress guests at any get-together.

The book has a casual feel to it that makes you feel completely at ease. It would be great to make everything from scratch but storebought works too, as in the Asparagus Tart featured here. We’d all love to say we made the puff pastry ourselves but really, who’s

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going to say no to this just because the pastry came from the freezer?

With the time you’ll save, you could be making the Sweet Potato Stuffed Tomatoes. Delicate ripe tomatoes stuffed with hearty sweet potatoes, mashed with cream cheese and garlic, baked and topped with Parmesan cheese. That sounds so much better than rolling out a thousand layers of pastry, doesn’t it?

There are some bold combinations of flavours that might seem unusual at first glance. But if salty feta cheese works with sweet tomatoes, why wouldn’t it work with sweet nectarines as well? (Teaser recipe, check out the book!) Most of the items you’ll need will be familiar. The most exotic ingredients I found were wheat berries and burrata, a mozzarellalike cheese I’m now aching to try.

There’s something wonderful about a cookbook written by an artist. This one is clearly a labour of love from a very creative person rediscovering her passion for her work. It’s an art project that just happens to be about food. I’d buy this book as an inspiring gift for a beginner in the kitchen or for a budding artist. And one for my cookbook shelf. And one for my coffee table. You get the picture.

TRACY TURLIN is a freelance writer and dog groomer in London.

Reach her at tracyturlin@gmail.com.

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Author and artist Erin Gleeson (above) outside her “cabin in the woods” in Northern California, south of San Francisco. Follow her blog at www. forestfeast.tumblr.com and sign up for her quarterly newsletter and see more of her work at www.eringleeson.com/ All photos and illustrations © Erin Gleeson.

Recipes courtesy of The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson, published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang (2014). All rights reserved.

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the lighter side

Paris, avec plaisir!

By EMILY CHANDLER

L

ast August I had the very intense pleasure of living in the heart of Paris for the month while studying French. Friends to whom I recount these stories most often respond with a phrase akin to “Paris? You must have eaten so well!” While it’s true that I did have some marvelous culinary experiences, the act of finding such pleasures was considerably more difficult than I had anticipated. A great meal in Paris is certainly not guaranteed.

To avoid the disappointment of too many mediocre meals I relied heavily on social media.

I read blogs, followed Twitter influencers based in Paris, and downloaded apps. The dialogue around Paris’s food scene was fascinating and addictive. There truly is something to suit all tastes, if you do a bit of research.

I read about a crop of French-inspired bistros imparting their own modern approach and receiving plenty of accolades for it. Interestingly enough, there is a great deal of buzz around restaurants led by American or British chefs.

August is the month when most Parisians take les vacances, including the owners and staff of many cafes, bakeries and restaurants.

This made for several disappointments when, after trekking for blocks on the hot summer sidewalks, I’d find that the bakery I’d specifically sought out was “en vacances.”

There was rarely a reopening date posted.

One pâtisserie in my neighbourhood had me reduced to walking by daily hoping to catch a sign of business returning.

Luckily others who shared my desires posted online when some of these top bakeries opened, so with lucky timing I was able to dine at a couple of the establishments that were finding love in the online reviews.

Frenchie’s, under direction of Executive

Chef/Owner Gregory Marchand, was making repeated appearances in a variety of blogs.

With its tapas style service and communal seating, it had a palpable good-time vibe with well-executed plates with layers of flavours. And it would’ve been hard to avoid the Twitter chatter about Cantine California.

Food trucks — like everywhere else it seems — are becoming increasingly popular in Paris and these dudes had it down to a science. Their tacos and burgers were worth the Twitter stalking to find them, and the line-ups indicated everyone else agreed.

By the end of my time in France I had a running list of food “must-sees” in my head. The Albion, near my hotel, had to be my last meal in Paris. The praise I’d read was warranted. It remains a stand-out meal from my six months in Europe. While making my reservations in French the owner let me know that both he and the chef were British.

With the warm atmosphere, excellent wine pairings, and impeccably flavoured courses (I finished with a squeal-inducing brownie and chili infused ice cream), it was the magical end to my trip.

The online community’s value wasn’t just for selecting dining locations however. I questioned some experienced expats after receiving odd looks when I would proclaim “je suis excitée!” to my server, I soon discovered that I was not conveying my pleasure in the food, but was declaring that more than my taste buds were aroused. ­Providing c­larity on that was yet another reason to thank the world of social media.

Having recently returned from Europe, EMILY CHANDLER has a full case of the travel bug but happily resides in Stratford.

Follow her on Twitter @Emily_Chandler

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