Get your fill of local fare on Food Day
Expert dedicates Saturday to honouring producers, raising awareness
“There are many ways to eat, drink and honour the people who produce our food.” ANITA STEWART UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH’S FIRST FOOD LAUREATE
Canadian food diva Anita Stewart thinks this country’s homegrown fare deserves its own national day of recognition. So, she’s declared one. Stewart, the University of Guelph’s first food laureate, has crowned the Saturday of the Civic Holiday weekend Food Day Canada.
This year, that day falls on August 5. That’s when Stewart wants you to strike up the band for Canadian food.
“Paddle a canoe to the shores of a campsite and cook by a campfire, dig a roasting pit in your backyard if you have one, or relax on your neighbourhood restaurant patio,” Stewart says. “There are many ways to eat, drink and honour the people who produce our food.”
She’s been highlighting Canadian food with an annual tribute for 14 years, starting with a tribute she led to beleaguered Canadian beef producers. At the time, they were getting pummeled by a BSE (mad cow disease) scare and mean-spirited sanctions at the U.S. border.
So Stewart, an accomplished Canadian cookbook author, created the World’s Longest Barbecue, a nationwide event to support the affected farmers.
“I said then, and I still do now, that if we don’t get behind these farmers and keep them in business, we won’t have them,” she recalls. “Then what? Wait for other countries to come and dump whatever food they have extra on our doorstep?”
She wants Food Day Canada to further raise the awareness of farmers’ role in food security, and of local food’s value.
I say it’s working. To me, Food Day Canada is like early Thanksgiving, with a twist.
First, it occurs at the height of summer. That’s when so much of what we eat is in its prime. Trees are lush, fields are green, the weather’s good and Canadians are in the mood for food prepared however and wherever.
And this year, as a nod to Canada’s sesquicentennial, Food Day Canada features an extensive list of150 Canadian ingredients, a colourful, delicious mix of raw commodities and finished products.
Stewart insists there’s no pecking order — which explains why icons such as back bacon weigh in at No. 39 and maple syrup is No. 90.
Item No. 1? Tap water. Homegrown popping corn is No. 150.
In between you’ll find edamame (23), canola oil (28), wild game (36), Arctic char (56), oysters (66), Dragon’s Breath blue cheese (77), apple cider vinegar (84), hazelnuts (95), Saskatoon berries (109), seaweed (129) and pickles (146).
That latter entry sticks in her craw. You see, Stewart is an avowed pickle junkie who struggles to find a Canadian fix outside of farmers’ markets.
“Check the label for the point of origin when you buy any food, including pickles,” she says. “Canada grows lots of cukes, but supplies them to big U.S. processors. We have a few superb small producers but we need more.”
Indeed, there’s always room to improve. After all, who can have too much good Canadian food?
Join the Food Day Canada Twitter party Wednesday, from 8 to 9 p.m.
Owen Roberts is an agricultural journalist at the University of Guelph. Follow him on Twitter at @TheUrbanCowboy