Canada’s food goddess and her special day
Anita Stewart wants everyone to think local when it comes to food and wine
Last Saturday was Food Day Canada. Anita Stewart had dinner with me less than 48 hours before the big day. Man, was she excited. She reminded me of a little tyke waiting for Christmas morning.
In a way, Food Day Canada is Anita’s Christmas. I’m certain that this special day — on which millions of Canadians focus on cooking and enjoying “Canadian” ingredients — fills her with the same kind of uncontrollable joy an eight-year-old has on Dec. 25.
She has good reason to feel the way she does. It was, after all, her idea. Anita — who lives a deceptively quiet, pastoral life in the sleepy village of Elora, Ont. — is the founder of Food Day Canada. She is Canada’s food goddess.
We dined at Bianca’s, who, by the way, weren’t aware they’d be feeding Canada’s food goddess. Anita studied the menu and wondered how many dishes featured local Atlantic Canadian ingredients. Plenty, as it turned out. We shared — and loved — a thick, beautifully seasoned, crunchy-coated salt cod cake, topped with a summery stew of tiny diced fresh veggies.
Glorious lobster
Anita followed with glorious Atlantic Canadian lobster, shelled and served in a luxe sauce. I had plump Newfoundland chicken roasted with herbs and butter, served with lemon gnocchi. All was fresh, beautifully prepared and satisfying. Our server, Cory Westman — with whom Anita had an enjoyable chat about British Columbia and its delights — was excellent.
Anita agrees the state of Canadian food culture is probably better than it’s ever been. The respect for, and interest in, local and regional ingredients is widespread. Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, I’ve witnessed an explosion of interest in game: caribou, moose, rabbit, seal,
Local scoff
Clarification
etc. We’re growing more vegetables and great strides are being taken in clean, sustainable aquaculture. Heightened interest in regional ingredients is mirrored across Canada.
One concern for Anita is how we share the wealth of wines being produced in provinces like Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia, as well as our berry wines, with all Canadians.
Up until Parliament’s recent passage of Bill C-311, you had to risk getting a criminal record if you wanted to ship any amount of wine, from a vacation for example, between one province and another. The federal government moved quickly on C-311 because MPs realized the long-standing restriction was, frankly, stupid.
However, Anita and others (especially wine producers) are now concerned that the provinces will step in (i.e. provincial liquor boards) with their own roadblocks.
Provinces still maintain the right to regulate the sale and transport of alcohol. It’s my impression that Anita will do her best to advocate the removal of any restrictions so that Canadians everywhere can have easy access to the wines being produced on Canadian soil.
Canadian wine isn’t a joke anymore. Our wines are winning awards at international competitions. So in 2012, we have lots to celebrate on the Canadian food and wine scene.
Order of Canada
Before parting Anita reached into her handbag and showed me her Order of Canada medal. She received it for “striving to make a better country” by creating Food Day Canada and raising awareness of our home grown ingredients. I’m thrilled for her. Having followed her work for many years, and having been one of her correspondents for years, I know how much she deserves the honour.
On Food Day Canada, 300 restaurants across Canada offered special all-Canadian menus. Chefs and volunteers held outdoor food events featuring Canadian ingredients. Thousands of others celebrated by shopping at local markets for Canadian ingredients and cooking up a Canuck meal.
In St. John’s, several chefs got together and prepared a “local only” picnic for dozens at Lester’s Farm on Pearltown Road. By all
accounts it was a great success and great fun. I decided to cook an all Canadian, mostly local scoff. It was uncomplicated and very good tasting. The meal began with a fish stew that featured Canadian hothouse tomatoes, fresh herbs and onions from pots on my deck, farmed Newfoundland mussels, wild Newfoundland cod and coldwater shrimp. We washed it down with a lively gewürztraminer (2011) by Sumac Ridge Estate Winery in British Columbia.
Next, I prepared a salad of local romaine, local beetroot, and Quebec chèvre — sprinkled with olive oil, wine vinegar and white sesame seeds. After cooking the beetroot, I sliced it and let it marinate in red wine vinegar for several minutes.
The combination of creamy chèvre, tart, earthy beetroot and crisp romaine is a perfect union for my palate.
Our main consisted of New Brunswick pork steak, Newfoundland cabbage, turnip and carrot, and Prince Edward Island spuds. I steamed the cabbage, boiled the turnip and carrot and roasted the spuds in Canola.
The pork was transformed into what I call a baked schnitzel — dredged in seasoned flour, washed in egg and rolled in seasoned breadcrumbs. You bake the steaks for about 35 minutes at 400 F. Locally made pickles really put it over the top in terms of taste. I served Black Sage Vineyard merlot (2009) by Sumac Ridge Estate Winery with the pork.
It was a very happy Food Day Canada. In last week’s review of Klondyke Steakhouse (Bay Roberts Hotel), the headline “The invis- ible patrons” was written in reference to my guest and I having been completely ignored by the restaurant’s hostess when we arrived for our reservation. Not only were we ignored, but a couple that arrived after us was ignored, too. We were as good as invisible to the hostess, and only received attention when a restaurant manager arrived on the scene — hence the headline.
When the column was published and I saw the headline printed in white over a photograph of an empty section of the restaurant, I realized that someone who hadn’t read the review would likely infer that Klondyke had no other customers that evening.
Not so. In fact, most of the patrons were seated in the restaurant’s sunroom. I’d estimate approximately 25 or 30 patrons were located in or near the sunroom.
I regret that the headline appeared over that particular photo, and I apologize for any distress this may have caused owners and staff at Klondyke Steakhouse.
However, let me assure readers that as far as the review itself and individual photos are concerned, I stand by them 100 per cent. It was a fair review.
For regular updates on Rogers TV’s “One Chef One Critic,” my Telegram Dining Out column and the latest developments on the local culinary scene, please follow me on Twitter @karl_wells.