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Scholar L.L. Newman, who exhaustively researched the history of the Nanaimo bar, learned that the sweet was first mentioned in print in the 1947 Vancouver Sun...
Farm Life, FarmLife

Canadiana classics, Part 1: Nanaimo bars

First We Eat: This favourite has been around for years and was likely developed by a member of the Nanaimo Hospital Auxiliary

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I lived in Vancouver in my 20s. Yaletown didn’t exist yet, other than as hulking rows of empty warehouses to be bicycled past quickly. Granville Island was an industrial wasteland, the Fairview Slopes didn’t exist, and False Creek was still a reclamation project. Elsewhere in town, the Ridge Theatre became known as the city’s repertory […] Read more
Was the planting of lentils by an early immigrant family the forerunner of today’s crops?
Farm Life, FarmLife

Was the planting of lentils by an early immigrant family the forerunner of today’s crops?

First We Eat: In 2020 Canadian-grown lentils generated over $2 billion in export sales

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In 1923, Jirys Ya’qūb Sallūm kissed his wife and young sons goodbye in the town of Qar’awn, located in the Biqa’ Valley, in the French protectorate of Lebanon and Syria. Speaking only Arabic, he travelled to Canada to work for a relative who had a farm in southwestern Saskatchewan. He wanted a safer home for […] Read more
Why do we cook?
Farm Life, FarmLife

Why do we cook?

First We Eat: Cooking needn’t be just a chore we do every day – it could help us improve our metal health and well-being

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When bad news hits or good news shows its smiling face, I head to the butcher block and start chopping. When my neighbour or my kids visit. When we need comfort. When Dave remembers another in his wonderfully long list of our anniversaries. The reasons we cook are many, and often have nothing to do […] Read more
Southeast Asian foods — Part 2: Try Thai
Farm Life, FarmLife

Southeast Asian foods — Part 2: Try Thai

First We Eat: Thai cuisine offers contrasts in tastes, textures and temperatures

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When talking about Thai food on the TV show “Parts Unknown,” the late Tony Bourdain said, “It was like discovering a colour I never knew existed before. A whole new crayon box full of colours.” Bourdain loved Thailand, and had the means to visit it repeatedly. Lucky man. But his life was tougher than we […] Read more
Jyubeen’s version can be made with palak (spinach), mustard greens, amaranth, chard, or other greens. The creamy paneer is spooned into the spinach mixture at the last minute, where it melts into the sauce. Serve with basmati rice. Serves 4.
Farm Life, FarmLife

South Asian favourites — Part 3: Vegetables take centre stage

First We Eat: The combination of warm spices and vegetables makes for tasty cuisine

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I moved to Vancouver from rural Saskatchewan when I turned 18, landing in an Edwardian house with two roommates on the East Side. I’d grown up on my Germanic mother’s honest meat and spuds, but the West Coast was a popular destination for immigrants, and I lucked into a South Asian enclave — shops and […] Read more
To find locally raised lamb, read the menu at your favourite restaurant and ask who supplies the kitchen, visit independent butchers or farmers’ markets, and browse the internet using key words like “local lamb” and your province’s name.
Farm Life, FarmLife

South Asian favourites — Part 2: Learning to love lamb

First We Eat: Lamb consumption is on the rise in Canada so it may be easier to find a local producer

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My Saskatchewan-raised mom never served lamb while I was growing up. She hadn’t eaten it as a child or young woman, and as a result, I didn’t learn to love lamb until I was in my 30s and living in Calgary. Sheep have been a presence in Alberta since the late 1800s, when thousands of […] Read more
South Asian favourites — Part 1: Pakoras
Farm Life, FarmLife

South Asian favourites — Part 1: Pakoras

First We Eat: To start off, try these vegetarian appetizers — fritters served with chutney

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When I told her I thought I was a changeling, my mom laughed out loud. “With those eyes? Those cheeks? That chin? You are the spitting image of your Aunt Lila.” It’s true. In the mirror, I see my family staring back, just as when I look at my sons, I see my dad’s face. […] Read more
Umami dates back to 1907, when a Japanese chemist discovered that kombu seaweed formed crystals of glutamate — an abundant amino acid — for a taste neither sweet, sour, salty or bitter, but savoury, rich and meaty.
Farm Life, FarmLife

Becoming a better cook — Part 2: The taste of umami

First We Eat: This Japanese word has various translations such as ‘savoury’ or ‘deliciousness’

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The four tastes — sweet, salty, sour, bitter — underpin every dish we eat. Smart cooks reach routinely for a bit of honey, a smidgeon of salt, a splash of lemon, or a drop of bitters to balance a dish, and fat too, like butter, oil, or whipping cream. Asian and Latin cooks add pungent […] Read more
Canada is the world’s leader in producing and exporting lentils, with 95 per cent grown in Saskatchewan.
Farm Life, FarmLife

What is a ‘chameleon’ dish?

First We Eat: Take a basic recipe and change it up by adding different veggies and spices for a whole new taste

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I’ve been benched. Perhaps you recall that last month’s column mentioned Mom’s and my West Coast holiday, specifically meeting a salmon fisher in Steveston. That morning we worked our way up and down the wharf, admiring the spot prawns and salmon despite having neither pans nor stovetop. We moved slowly, but not just to soak […] Read more
Steve Lewis has been fishing for 50 years.
Farm Life, FarmLife

Similarities of fishers and farmers

First We Eat: There are many parallels between these two professions including the next generation hesitant to carry on with the family business

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Early fall, and I am on a holiday with Mom, revisiting the foods, places, and faces of her youth. Mom is a retired dryland farmer, and like me, she misses the ready access to fish and seafood that we enjoyed during our earlier coastal life while Dad was in the Canadian Air Force. So on […] Read more

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