Juliana - Where to get Started

Feeling Inspired? Here's is a list of where we found some basic foods and local brands to get you started...

This list is non-exhaustive and feel free to add places you've found great local foods in the comments section! Remember to try new foods and meet the people behind the food you buy, this can be the richest experience of eating!

D Dutchman Dairy

Choices Market, Nesters Market, Natures Fare, Rutland IGA, Winfield IGA and Bankhead Store

Blackwell Dairy Farm

Paul's Produce, Pandosy Foods, Pioneer Market, Mediterranean Market, Fresh Green Grocer (Lakeshore Rd)

Jerseyland Organics

Lakeview Market, Okanagan Grocer (Guisachan Village Mall on Gordon), Pauls Produce (Guisachan Village Mall), Urban Harvest, Natures Fare and Quality Greens (Spall Plaza)

 

Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan Inc:

Choices Market, Okanagan Grocery and Save On Foods

Grains

Okanagan Grocery (Guisachan Village Mall)

Quality Greens

Natures Fare

Nuts

Gellatly Nut farm (West Kelowna)

Fruit and Vegetables

BC Fruit Packers store (Clement St)

Urban Harvest

Choices Market

Paul's Produce

Quality Greens

Farmer's Market

Meat (Beef and Chicken)

Kelowna's Farmers Market

Johnny's Meats

Choices Market

Don't forget about local farms and fruit stands!

Also, don't be afraid to ask for help at local grocery stores, the managers and employees are happy to help! The manager from Choices gave me a full tour of the local foods inside his store!

Meghan - Watermelon Radish "Fries"

So I had some watermelon radish left over after our Spring Valley Middle School presentation and I wanted to do something with it that would expand on the versatility of this vegetable. With all the remaining vegetables, I just roasted them up with olive oil and rosemary (which was tasty) but I wanted something different for this very vibrant coloured radish.

Here is a great recipe that I got from a friend but sadly I didn't have all the ingredients on hand to make it but did make a variation of these fries that were very yummy!

1.5 lbs watermelon radishes, scrubbed clean and removing the green outer layer
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
sea salt (to taste)
1 lemon, zested and juiced

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Chop watermelon radishes into large matchsticks. 
In a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients to the matchsticks and mix well. Spread evenly into a 9 x 13 lined with parchment paper or larger roasting pan. 
Bake for 30- 40 minutes, turning 2-3 times, or until crisp on the outside and golden brown.

Meghan - Spring Valley Middle School

Today was our presentation at Spring Valley Middle school which I was very excited about. I am noticing how much I like and how easy it is talking about food and educating others on options and resources in our area so I was hoping this was going to be the same.  I knew in advance that we were going into a non-traditional classroom where the students may not be in rows of desks with notebooks in hand and I was prepared for that. We knew in advance that there would be a maximum of 10 students in the class for our presentation and as such we had prepared a draft outline of what we wanted to go through but really we were just going to hopefully have a conversation with the students about where food comes from, what food we have locally and about our experience eating within 100 miles. This morning before heading out to the presentation I cleaned, cut and organized our food samples we were taking so that it would be easy for everyone to just help themselves as they wished.

When we arrived in the classroom everyone was doing their own thing; some students doing homework in a loft area, others putting up art on a board, yet another cutting out wood pieces for a model that they are working on and lastly one just hanging out reading. We were met by the principal teacher and were given a tour/introduction to the students as they continued to work on their tasks as a way of warming them up to our presence and see that we are approachable the open to interacting with them. We started by telling them a bit about what we were there for and how most food that we get has to come a long way to get here. We then talked about what it means to eat locally and asked them what food they liked as a way of breaking the ice. Then we started talking about how different foods have a culturally connection to their areas based on what food is available to them. Some of the students pointed out that they like pizza and we explained how many of the components to make pizza can actually be found in our local area. This gave us a way to explain a bit more about local food, talk about foods that are found locally and then introduce our BC food map. We all broke off and talked to different students about what the map shows and how you can learn from it. The student I spoke to found it very interesting to see how many food options there was in the lower mainland but also that we are very lucky with the quantity and options we have here. He pointed out how it must be hard from people that live in the areas where there was only one or two "commodities" (from looking at the map) and this gave me a great opportunity to talk about food deserts and how challenging it can be for some communities to access local food. We also talked about how we each can have a different definition of local and that it doesn't need to be the 100 miles that we used for our challenge but that having an awareness of where your food comes from is important. We talked briefly about food miles explaining that the distance from production to consumption can be a long ways and how sometimes it's better to buy something locally, even if it costs more because it is better for the enviroment and our local economy.

We then had a little tasting of the food that we had brought into the class. We explained what it was, when it's grown and how it can be prepared. Amy's small apples went over well and they started with those because they were familiar but with the encouragement of their teachers, the principal (who had dropped in) and us we were able to get all the students to try at least one but in most cases they tastes them all. They started to tell us a bit about the bistro they run and what they have learned from the experience. They shared that they had been on a field trip to a farm and they found it interesting and we were given a tour of their mini greenhouse grow operation where they have herbs and kale that they use in their food in the bistro or just enjoy during the day when they are hungry. The student I was talking to told me that he often forgets to take his iron pills in the morning and feels very low energy during the day and he like that he can just wonder into the "garden" and have some kale which helps him feel better (I left so good about this because some of the kale plants from my parents yard we had dug up and given to this class along with parsley and mint.

We were invited to come and see the bistro they run for the school, where they make up a few different options for meals and snacks. They were very proud to show us how and what they do in their bistro and you could clearly see that they were working well as a team to make a product that they supported. Everyone had their role and knew what to do without being asked so that was neat to see. They wanted us to taste their quinoa salad that they made along with a few dessert loafs which were all very tasty and we were happy to try.

Overall the class was attentive and interested in what we were presenting. I feel that bringing food in was a great way of engaging the students with different food options that they would normally not have eaten. I also feel that we all learned something from this experience, them about eating locally and us about how much students of this age do actually know about food. I feel that with awareness like we did through this class, it could make it possible for more dialogue about local food both in their homes and with friends. I know this experience has certainly done that for me.

Celebrate food... from field to table quiz

I found this great website, Celebrate food... from field to table, that has a little 15 question quiz that you can test your knowledge of where in Canada our food comes from. 


Test you knowledge and learn something new: http://www.celebratefood.ca/en/game

I reviewed these and pulled out a few of the questions to have ready for our Spring Valley Middle School presentation if things were getting challenging and we needed material to stimulate the class with. Let's hope they are not needed.

Meghan - Preparing for Spring Valley Middle School presentation

So in preparation for our visit to Spring Valley Middle School on Wed. Nov 16th I needed to find some local produce. Given that there was not a Farmer's Market the weekend before our presentation I decided to check out Urban Harvest's warehouse sale on Saturdays from 9am - 1 pm at their distribution centre on 806 Crowley Ave. (right next to Okanagan Street Food in the North End industrial area).


I was so pleasantly surprised by the feel of the space, the quality of the produce and the diversity of goods, it really felt like a little fruit stand or market. The week prior to their warehouse sale they list on their website the food items that will be for sale that week and which farms they come from. This made it a bit easier for me to pick out which items to buy that were within our 100 miles for the presentation and tasting. Although most of their produce is locally base with a few exceptions (bananas, avocados etc). On their website they sometimes explain what the items are or how it's used if it's something different.  They also tell a bit about the farmers where the produce is coming from along with linking you to their website if they have one.


I had such a great time finding really near and different gems. I had to limit myself for buying everything I wanted for this event so as to not saturate the students we were presenting to. The final produces that I decided to buy were celeriac (celery root), watermelon radish, white radish and sunchokes. For our presentations we kept everything raw. 


Celeriac (celery root) is a ugly looking root vegetable which can be eaten raw or cooked.  It taste like a very strong celery which can be added to salads, boiled, braised, sauteed or baked. So lots of options for this vegetable and it's available most of the winter months.

Watermelon radish

Watermelon radish is a large root vegetable that is related to the turnip family. It has a crisp texture and a mild peppery flavour. This radish is the size of a soft ball or small watermelon with an outside colour of light green. The inner flesh is what makes it so attractive with a bright red to magenta colour. This radish can be cooked or served raw. Great on salads but also can be sauteed, braised or roasted. In the US it's a spring radish but in BC it appears to be available more in the fall.


White radish is a round radish the size of a small apple or orange. Its taste is a milder pepper flavour then the traditional red radishes and as such many people eat them like an apple. This radish can be cooked or served raw. It is available in the summer and fall seasons.


Sunchokes (Jerusalem artichoke) are in the sunflower family and has nothing to do with artichokes. They have brown lumpy skin (reminding you of gingerroot). The white flesh is nutty, sweet and crunchy which makes it great both raw or cooked. They are available from October to March in most areas.

So those are the produce items along with some apples that Amy has that we will be taking into the classroom. I was hoping for some coloured carrots but no such luck this week, so as you can see these are lesser known produces but non the less it's food so hopefully that will go over well.


Also in preparation for this presentation I was able to find a great BC food map for us to distribute to the students to help them see what we have available both in the valley but all over the province in the way of food options. 


Sources: BC Food map - BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation (http://www.aitc.ca/bc/uploads/bc-food-map.pdf)
Watermelon radish picture - Urban Harvest (http://www.urbanharvest.ca/item/14819/)

Meghan - Friday, Oct 28, 2011 - UBCO Farmer's Market

Today was the first (of hopefully many) Farmers Markets at the UBCO campus. There were many vendors with all sorts of interesting, local and tasty foods. Along with many interested and engaged students, facility and staff that were coming by to check out the event. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to run a booth as a way of engaging the campus community and educating them on our project of eating within 100 miles. 

The variety of just basic knowledge on what eating local was, all the way up to understanding what the 100 mile diet actually looks like was diverse. I had people come by the booth and say what do you mean by "eating local" or "what is local food" for which it was a wonderful opportunity to answer that question for them and share our experience. I also had many people that were very familiar with eating local or within 100 miles and understood the principal and they would sharing their experience and their practices. Many people asked abut price, access and choices available which were great questions and I took them through what I had learn. I explained what grows in our area and where they could find these items. Many were surprised by the choices that we actually have around fruits and vegetables even dairy and eggs. Admittedly grains was still a bit of a challenge to find and I explained that but also guided them towards where you can find those things. Price came up in a few cases where people, especially students, commented that they could not afford to make the choices they would like because of their limited budget but would love to buy more local in the future. I explained to them that if they just choose one thing and make that their local purchase that it is still a step and if you simply budget for it then eventually you will find that you can add more things that are local.  Many students commented that they are making efforts to be socially conscious of their food choices and as such really embraced the idea of local food also because of the impact on our local economy.


Through many of the discussions people mentioned that they would like to start a garden but didn't have the space for it living in residence or in an apartment. The discussion often moved to ways that they could do that, such as putting potted plants on their deck for herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers etc but also how they could engage through community gardens. I was pleasantly surprised how many people were interested in ways that they could connect to the earth and slow down the pace of their hectic lives and gardening and eating more fresh local food was a way that they would like to start doing that. 


I feel that this event was a huge success, for the campus community and vendors, because I saw many people (myself included), caring bags of veggies etc and because people were talking and learning about food and where it comes from. The vendor in the booth next to me had to call her family member to bring more supplies and a friend of mine with a booth was planning on going to the Kelowna Farmer's Market the next day but ended up selling out of many things. I would say that's a good sign of success.


For my part, I felt the day was time well spent because I spoke to many people about our experiences which helped to educate people a bit more about the importance of local food and what it means to our community. I hope to be part of future Farmer's Markets on campus in some capacity. 

Meghan - What was local food for my grandmothers growing up?

After my Day 2 post, Mary asked that I should talk to my grandparents about what it was like for them growing up and where their food came from, so on our next dinner night this week I took the opportunity and I had no idea where the topic was going to go, if they were going to remember or had even sort of payed attention while they were growing up. To my surprise my maternal grandmother told me all sorts of interesting things that I had never heard her talk about before and when I mentioned it to my mother, she indicated it was new to her also. So I must have just asked the question that had maybe never truly been asked for her to share before or maybe it was just my sincere interest that brought all the details of her childhood food sources back to life. 

Chickpeas in pods

Enough suspense already eh! My maternal grandmother grew up in Southern Saskatchewan and she told me that they had a huge garden where they grew; beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini and squash and I suspect much more. They had a cow to meet their dairy supply, which my grandmother started to share how her mother (my great grandmother) would have made yogurt. They also had chickens and even turkeys. My grandmother said that they had so many turkeys that they would sell them off to the neighbours and towns people. I guess my great grandmother was very good at raising turkeys. I asked my grandmother if they grew any of their own lentils or other grains for which she could not recall but given that Canada grows a significant amount of lentils I am sure they were not that hard to come by. My grandmother told me that they used to grow chickpeas and for a special treat her father would roast them over the fire for them to enjoy and it tasted amazing. Oh they sounded so good as she was describing this because I love chickpeas and I only which we could get them locally and then experience that warm toasted sort of taste that sounds amazing. I bet they would taste so much better then the dried chickpeas that I often enjoy as a snack. Don't get me wrong I love them, but this would elevate it to a new level. I will have to see if around here we could grow chickpeas and get on that. I had not given much thought to if they grew in pods like other beans but they do and just need to be harvested from small bushes just the same as soy beans (which I have brown in our yard, although that was several years ago). According to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Canada is one of the major exporters of chickpeas. Now that I know this I am going to be doing more research and find out how I can buy "local" (ie Canadian) chickpeas rather then from Turkey or Myanmar. Who knew we grew so much chickpeas!


I asked my paternal grandmother about the food she ate growing up and her response was very different from my maternal grandmother's. First I must way that there is 10 years difference between them with my paternal grandmother being in her 90s and my material grandmother in her 80s, so different times but also different locations. My paternal grandmother grew up just east of the Saskatchewan border in Alberta, first in a very small town and then they moved in Saskatoon. She is the second youngest of eight girls so her main memories about food was that she ate whatever her older siblings didn't want to eat which sometimes left her with not a lot of food. She does not recall having a garden or vegetables often at the dinner table but does remember a lot of potatoes and porridge as staples as a young girl. They had a neighbour, a bachelor, that worked his own land and often would bring by some of his harvest to my grandmother's family as my great grandfather was not around and their land did not produce anything. When they moved to the city, she recalls having exposure to more and different vegetables but sadly nothing sticks out in her mind other then her enjoyment of parsnips and turnips. Sadly I feel I may have started asking these questions too late but never the less, I will keep asking the questions in hope that each time she will remember a bit more and then I can piece together a bigger picture of what her local food looked like growing up in the prairies the 20s and 30s.  


I have yet to hear from my material grandfather so he is the next on my list to ask and I am sure his stories will be interesting as he was out on the open range with their grazing livestock for a large part of his growing up years and not at "home" having dinner with his family being the eldest boy. 


Source: Government of Saskatchewan website (http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Default.aspx?DN=e698460c-7eb1-4615-87ed-695f31e5483f)

Meghan - Week 2 follow up

Okay so it's been almost a week since the official challenge of eating local has ended. I do not feel that much has changed in the way of what I am cooking at home, and how I am eating. Now that may be because I still have tons of veggies, grains, cheese and nuts so I either didn't eat enough last week or I over purchased not knowing what I would want or how much I would eat. Either way I feel like I am still eating almost 100% local, with a few minor exceptions like I am using some non local food from my freezer. 

Tomatoes ripening

In the spirit of fall clean up, my parents where bringing in all the squash and tomatoes from the garden and as many of you know a large portion of the tomatoes where still green. So other then fried green tomatoes what do you do with them... I don't know where or who told my mother to keep the tomatoes on their vines but she did and as such we setup a storage space in the cold room where we are going to hang the tomatoes on their vines from until they ripen (see picture). Over the next few weeks as they turn red we will still be able to enjoy fresh local tomatoes from our garden and I think that's a great thing!


My roommate just picked up this great veggie slicer which makes zucchini or cucumber and I bet other things into noodles. I wish I had had this last week because I can't get over how great it tastes and how much you do not even notice that it's not pasta. I cut up other veggies, added it to my home made tomato sauce that I had canned earlier in the season and used some asiago cheese to add some protein. My first non 100 mile food that has been added back into my diet has been bananas but only for in my green smoothies as I have not had the interest to go into a grocery store and have to make purchases the conventional way.

AMY - Short Report

                Eating foods grown and produced within 100 miles of your home sounds like a simple enough task. I mean, of the food one already consumes how much of it really comes from outside of this range? Well, for me it was almost everything. Taking on challenges, especially dietary ones, in the middle of a busy lifestyle can be a very challenging mission. However, the importance of eating local food is very high. I wanted to take on this challenge in a manageable way, but a way that would highly increase my awareness of local food, my interpretation of what is good food, and perhaps even improve my health. These are the reasons which pushed me to take on a short version of the 100 mile challenge for this term project. I was happy to have Juliana and Meghan to work with for this project, as support is always helpful!

                The first one or two days of this challenge were the hardest for me for a couple reasons. Firstly, I was not as well-prepared as I should have been, partly due to the small amount of time between having the idea, and carrying it out and partly due to general ignorance. Secondly, I am by no means a chef, although I can cook certain meals in the kitchen, combining ingredients without a recipe is something I can have trouble with. In the beginning, the problem was that I was focusing on what I could not eat rather then what I could eat. I was looking at the challenge the wrong way; I focused on making versions of foods that I know. After a couple days I realized this was not the best way to go about eating local foods, I had to change what I knew about food in order to create delicious meals. 

Mid-week, I started to look up meal ideas with the ingredients I had found on allrecipes which was an effective way to begin for me. Although most of the recipes I found still had to be tweaked or altered I began to really settle into a groove of cooking partially from a recipe and partially from my own skills. While I was doing the challenge, I was watching the food network documentary on Mission BC’s 100 mile project to supplement my learning. It was by their day 4 and my day 3 that “honey, wine, and wheat becomes the top priority” of those families and myself. This is the first day I made my own bread/biscuits. I think it was also one of the days I was most proud of my accomplishments, because not only did they fix my carb cravings, they actually tasted really good! I also collected local honey and wine, as did the families in Mission BC. 

 

By the last few days I had really become experimental and innovative, really stepping outside of my comfort zone of food. I made my own pasta noodles, which I will admit did not turn out magnificently, but were still edible. I made stew which was one of my favourite meals, and egg salad sliders. Most of my meals ideas were created by myself but also partially from allrecipes, Juliana and Meghan, and the 100 mile website.

When challenge week ended, I was definatly proud, educated and also quite releived. I liked being able to eat with my family again, and have sauces and breads again, and be able to eat meals at restaurants. However, I learned so much from this experience, that I cannot see myself ever going back to my “pre-challenge” diet. Although currently I enjoy the occasional banana and chocolate bar, I have knowledge of where that food comes from and the amount of chemicals potentially in it from pesticides or preservatives, so I do not have these foods frequently. I have kept some of the ties I created to farmers in the area, such as eggs. All of my eggs now come fresh every few days from a farm about 2 miles from my house, owned by a family friend. I found local organic cheese to taste much better than what I was eating before, as well as vegetables.

One of the most rewarding parts of this challenge was not only the pride in myself and alteration of my own eating habit but showing other people how much better local food can taste. I would often share my meals or part of my meals with friends or family so they could see how flavours and combinations can really mesh well, especially with local foods. I know that I increased awareness, my ability to see food for its good qualities and flavours, and I believe my health as well. This means overall, mission completed!

Eating locally is not a limitation; it is a way of thinking – a mindset. Benefits of local food definitely outweigh the challenges. The taste and texture of local food, the locally circulating economic flow, the decrease of food miles, increased skills in the kitchen, the community/family ties and the personal health are just some of the reasons to try eating local food. Challenges would be lack of availability with familiar foods especially, time consuming meals and snacks, smaller selection of foods in stores and or restaurants, winter time or food deserts, picky eaters and sometimes price point. Local food is a movement, it’s happening all over the world and the central Okanagan is a fantastic place to be a part of this movement. If the reasons above are not enough for you to try local eating or the 100 mile challenge, than just do it as a challenge to yourself, your family or your community.

AMY - Spring Valley School

As Juliana mentioned, the class we visited at Spring Valley Middle School was no ordinary classroom, it had a variety of hands on activities in order to properly educate these students according to their interests and abilities. I was pleased to notice they had a small herb and petite veggie garden in a room labeled “office”. I love that the students had incorporated some food into their learning experience in the classroom.

Our presentation was extremely casual and relaxed, to better suit the students. We helped them decipher and read a map that Meghan found which visually showed which food can be grown where in British Columbia. We also fed them a snack, consisting of watermelon radish, white radish, Jerusalem artichoke, celeriac (or celery root) and small sweet apples. At first the students all gravitated towards the apples, because they were familiar. However, with some bribing we were able to get some of the kids to try the other vegetables as well. We talked about what these foods were, and why the kids hadn’t heard of them or seen them before.

One of my favourite conversations included what the kids currently liked to eat – their favourite foods. I helped them think about which foods in their diet now are or could be locally produced. Also about what food, such as McDonalds (a common favourite) is not grown within 100 miles.

The bistro was really interesting to see, as Juliana mentioned the students run a lunch time bistro right out of their school and they sell a huge variety of foods. The classroom teacher is trying hard to keep the food healthy, homemade, and if possible, local which is fantastic. When a couple of the students were making food such as burgers, we talked a bit about which of the ingredients used would have to be cut out if they were eating locally, and what they could add instead. Some of the students were shocked to realize how much food they consume isn’t local at all and how far it has to be shipped.

It was a stimulating experience talking to this classroom, and the teachers. I believe that the students learned something about what it means to eat local and why we were trying to raise awareness. However I think they learned the best from seeing and touching and eating the foods, as well as when we talked about which foods are or aren’t local. They are really interesting kids, and like Juliana mentioned we learned a lot from them as well. Such as the level of knowledge students their age have about food, and why food matters to them. When they showed us their bistro we were able to eat some quinoa salad they make which was delicious and had mint and herbs from their “office garden”!

Overall it was defiantly an experience to remember, and I am glad we were able to share our experience doing the 100 mile diet and raise some awareness about local food.

Juliana's Spring Valley Middle School Reflection

I'm very happy with the way today's presentation at Spring Valley Middle School went, both the kids and us learned some great things. The kids got to learn about the 100 mile diet, local food, how far our food travels and how lucky we are to live in an area so rich in food production. We got to learn about how much middle school aged kids know about food and where it comes from. We also got to see their "greenhouse" closet and bistro.
Walking into the classroom, we knew right away this wasn't an ordinary room and there wasn't ordinary learning going on. One boy was standing on a table posting art t the wall, two kids sat upstairs in a loft area doing homework, one girl was working on a model for an outdoor classroom and another boy was mixing beats on a mixer. We were warmly welcomed and introduced to all the kids. Instead of having them all come to us we visited them in their stations and started talking about where we were from and why we were there. Eventually, once the kids were comfortable with us, they gathered around and we began a small group discussion about food. The kids seemed genuinely interested and gave us their full attention. We explained that the average meal travels around 2000 miles from the farm to our plates. Then we talked about what it means to eat locally from farmers in our area. Te kids shared about field trips they had been on to farms in Kelowna. We talked about their favorite foods and what foods they grow in their classroom greenhouse. The grew peppermint, kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, peppers, and parsley. The foods are grazed on by the kids in class and also used in their bistro. We got to try their quinoa salad with their peppermint and parsley.
During or discussion we gave the kids a map of BC with the foods that are grown in BC on the map in pictures. The kids loved the map and this sparked some more great discussion. One boy loved seeing that the Okanagan has Llamas and kiwis. The kids could see how lucky we are to live in such a rich area where local food is plentiful. We also showed them areas on the map such as Bella Coola that are food deserts.
Next we tried some local apples from Vernon which were a huge hit with the kids. We also showed them and let them try watermelon radishes, sunchokes, white radishes, and celeriac. None of the kids had tried any of these vegetables before and were pleasantly surprised once we finally convinced them to try them. We spent an extra half an hour after our discussion watching the kids run their bistro, they were so excited to show us what they work on everyday.
Overall, this experience was extremely positive and I feel that the kids took home a good message about how eating locally is good for the community, the environment and your own health!