Your Farm to Fork
Destination
Eat Fresh, Tasty, Nutritious Food Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman said, “We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavours and furniture polish is made from real lemons.” As people learn more about the effects of food on their health and well-being, eating well becomes both easier and harder. The hard part is moving away from an over-abundance of convenient, affordable, highly processed factory foods loaded with residual chemical and industrial ingredients. The easy part is the growing availability of better choices and better information. And the recognition that in order to save ourselves and the planet we need to support those food growers who are doing all the right things. Fresh, natural foods grown closer to home and with a minimum of processing are the preferred choice. So, what exactly can we do to eat fresh, tasty, nutritious food? To be sure there has been a minimum of processing? To know it's been properly prepared by ourselves or a skilled chef? To minimize the environmental impact and water usage? Consider this: Education •Check out sites like ARSAN (Alberta Rural Sustainable Alternatives Network) at www.arsan.ca for facts about local versus sustainable food and much more. •Consider using food services like Eat Local First or Locavoria that make getting good food into your hands easy. •Read labels and research better choices. •Know that the less processing food undergoes the better. •Buy in-season produce.
Photo by Irvings Farm Fresh
Support Local Food Growers and Processors
Visit the featured farms in this ag-food section. Everything from hand-made chocolate to artisanal goat cheese; from preservative-free meat products to borscht like Baba used to make; from u-pick berry and veggie farms to flavoured honey is available in our region. Taste the magic that's happening in cottage industry kitchens: baking, ethnic foods like pyrohy, holubtsi, peryshki and nalysnicki. Whether you buy the food at the doorstep or the local farmers' market, you can't get much closer to the source. DIY (Do It Yourself) Grow your own. Whether you raise a grass-fed steer in the back forty, grow tomatoes on your balcony or some basil on your windowsill every little bit helps. Let the countless greenhouses in the region do the hard part for you: planting, germinating, nurturing. Mother Nature will provide the sun and rain. Do some weeding and enjoy! Know where to find it •You can find good food at a farm gate, a retail outlet, a food tasting event, a farmers' market, a website or an upscale restaurant. •The choice is yours. Pick your own fruits, vegetables or berries at a u-pick farm or orchard. Select your free range poultry. •Order that side of beef or pork from the farmer raising it. Then the cooking, preserving, or preparation is all yours. •Or buy the end-product (like chiffon cake, honey, smokies, cheese, pereshky, gluten-free sausage, eggs and cream) at a farmers' market, food store or farm gate. •Visit a tea or dessert shop, pyrogy supper, banquet, restaurant or food festival for the ready-to-savour experience. The final piece of advice comes from American food author Michael Pollan: “Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." Written By Hazel Anaka
For a unique dining experience check out the Footloose Caboose near Tofield. Enjoy menu items prepared using saskatoons, apples, wild mushrooms and herbs grown on-site as you dine in a restored rail dining car. To round out your adventure book a stay in one of the refurbished cabooses and explore the railway memorabilia. Groups are welcome and reservations encouraged.