The eruption of trade wars and tariffs has me looking harder than ever at what we eat and where it comes from, like every other Canadian.
Tag Archives recipes
Cooking Canadian, part 2: Shopping local
First We Eat: In recent years we’ve seen serious disruptions in our culinary supply chains
Cooking Canadian, part 1: Rediscovering cabbage
First We Eat: As Canadian food staples go, cabbage is cheap and plentiful
Cabbage and its bitter cousins — brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli — can be eaten raw, roasted, grilled, braised, stir-fried, steamed or simmered, best with something equally pungent, like garlic and onions, or salty, like anchovy or bacon.
Tools and techniques, part 4: Handmade
Inanimate objects have a time and place — but the hands are a cook’s first tools
My hands knead and stretch and shape, fold and pleat. They evaluate texture and assess degree of doneness. In the kitchen, my hands are my first tools.
Tools and techniques, part 3: Between a rock and a hard place
First We Eat: Pounding ingredients with a pestle encourages a calm approach to cooking
My mom tells me my counters are too cluttered. “Why don’t you put some of that stuff away?” she asks me repeatedly. Much of the counter space in my old farmhouse kitchen is occupied by electric tools designed to grind foods or to alter their shape: a food processor, blender and coffee mill stand shoulder […] Read more
Tools and techniques, part 2: Spurtles and spatulas
First We Eat: Preferring wooden hand tools means keeping a wide assortment
It was too hot in September 2024 in Grass Valley to be wearing my red crocheted holiday elf toque with the white pompom, but gift-giving was on my mind. Mom and I were in California to visit my best beloved auntie, and my cousin had told us about a terrific annual crafters’ sale. lt was […] Read more
Books worth cooking from, part 3: Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom
First We Eat: The Ontario pastry chef’s book is meant to be accessible to beginners and pros alike
Perusing a library’s shelves, whether virtual or bricks-and-mortar, is always a pleasure, especially when I have food on my mind. To my great joy, I recently found an impressive new baking book from a Canadian pro. Pastry chef and TV/YouTube personality Anna Olson, who is married to chef Michael Olson, is a reassuringly approachable pastry […] Read more
Harvest, part 1: Garnishing summer greens
First We Eat: In the dog days of summer, salads with protein can help dial down the heat needed for food prep
We’ve been in deep summer heat for weeks now after a rainy spring, and every plant in my yard — including the quack grass and chickweed — is consumed with the green fuse of growth. The result is a cornucopia of everything. The scarlet runner beans and snow peas twining around their bamboo stakes tower […] Read more
B.C. fish for Prairie plates
First We Eat: A co-operative aims to sustain the sea for fishing families’ future
Wild fish was part of my childhood on Vancouver Island. We picked oysters and mussels, dug clams, scooped up spawning grunions, and cast hooks for salmon. But these days, as fish prices skyrocket and issues over whether to eat farmed or wild fish become ever more complex, my consumption of fish has plummeted, relying on […] Read more
Brunching, part 2: Quinoa
First We Eat: Grain dishes can be augmented with various textures and flavours
Threshing, winnowing, drying. Those ancient words resonate with us, and for good reason. Humans have been harvesting grains to use for food by these timeless methods for millennia. Just think of wheat, barley, rice — and quinoa (pronounced keen wah). Quinoa, like amaranth, is not a grain, but a high-fibre pseudo-grain — an herb, in […] Read more
Seedy Saturdays
First We Eat: A freshly pulled carrot from the garden will remind you why this vegetable is such a mainstay
Back in March, I joined a crowd of people purposefully moving from booth to table to booth at St. Mary’s Wellness and Education Centre in Saskatoon. The occasion was the annual Seedy Saturday, an opportunity amidst the snow and ice for gardeners to buy seeds and think about spring. Seedy Saturdays occur across Canada under […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
