by André LaRivière
This Month’s Recipe: Scapes
Among my favourite farmer-direct finds are garlic tops (scapes), at their tender best picked young, thin, and curly. Taste-wise, think garlic cloves crossed with asparagus. They’re great tossed in a stir-fry or stuffing, and perfect for a delicious update on classic onion rings.
Set up your deep fryer, or pour three inches of oil in a large, deep saucepan. Target temperature is 375 degrees.
Make a quick tempura batter: Beat a large organic egg yolk with 1.5 cups of ice water. Add 1 cup of rice flour (or regular flour), 1/4 cup of cornstarch, and a pinch of sea salt and mix until just blended, ignoring any small lumps. Set up another bowl with a cup of flour.
Trim a bunch of scapes into large bite-sized curls. Dredge one at a time in the flour, dip in the batter, and lower into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, then drain on kitchen towels. Serve immediately as a garnish for grilled meat or fish, a topping for a sandwich or salad, or as a cocktail snack with your favourite dip.
(And, a correction to May’s recipe: that’s 1/4 cup [not one cup!] extra-virgin olive oil.) (AL)
I recently came across a report on the expansion of genetically engineered (GE) crops that gleefully called the billionth acre planted last month a “huge milestone for the world.” Millstone would be more appropriate.
The disruptive, divisive effects of the introduction of GE-food technology have slowed progress on other urgent matters, such as the amount of fossil fuel consumed, and too often wasted, in moving food around the globe. However, a sure way to take the chill off that tidbit of news is to spend a sunny afternoon in the company of your local food community, where the freshest flavours are GE-free and always low-mileage.
“Local” doesn’t necessarily mean “easy to find,” though. Supermarkets entice consumers with door-buster prices on local seasonal treats like strawberries or cherries, but then offer primarily imported produce, along with a few B.C. items like potatoes or apples. Specialty organic markets do what they can to stock B.C.-grown items but generally stick to garden-variety products.
However, for an extra hour a week, and maybe a bit of elbow grease, you can certainly eat better off the grid. You’ll get exactly what you like and may even save a few dollars.
The easiest, most direct option is to grab your canvas shopping bag and hit the street. You’d never guess that the entire province of B.C. is only five per cent agricultural land when you see the quality and variety of food now available for sale in select Vancouver parking lots every summer weekend. During the decade that farmers’ markets have been allowed within city limits, they’ve become prime shopping destinations for foodies and the chefs who feed them.
Tara McDonald, executive director of Your Local Farmers Market Society (East Van, West End, Nat Bailey) encourages consumers to talk to growers about what they’d like to see on offer. “Our markets exist to support local, sustainable agriculture and nothing would make us happier than to see customers develop supply lines based on direct relationships,” McDonald says.
She suggests that most growers are receptive to special requests and reserve or bulk orders, but are typically too busy to discuss them during market hours. Her advice is: “Grab their phone number, book a chat, and you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised at what you can arrange.” Shy shoppers, she says, are invited to place their requests in the markets’ suggestion boxes or with on-site managers.
Regular market vendor Kevin Klippenstein grows a wide variety of organic tree fruit and ground crops on Klippers Acres (17 of them) near Cawston in the Similkameen Valley, and says he usually has room to grow more. “Talk to someone who’s already growing a range of crops. We’ll often be interested in planting requests, even from individuals,” he says. Klippenstein refers to one customer’s demand for poblano peppers: the squat, green, fruity ones ideal for Mexican dishes such as chile relleños. He says that he truly appreciates dealing directly with eaters rather than distributors. “The benefits are definitely mutual, especially in the off-season,” says Klippenstein, who keeps the conversation going year-round with monthly deliveries of organic eggs, apples, juice, and dried fruit to regular Vancouver customers.
McDonald’s house is one of Klippenstein’s stops. She has found a group of like-minded people in the Vancouver chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a U.S.-based organization that promotes natural foods, traditional cooking, and buyers’ group purchasing of family-sized quantities of mostly organic local products. “The East Van farmers’ market also started out essentially as a buyers’ group wanting to build direct connections with local farmers, and now they’re with us at the board table to help plan our future,” she says. You can join in this endeavour as a member of the Market Society.
Another alternative is buying clubs, which pool purchasing power to bypass middlemen and get lower prices. But accommodating members’ taste is tricky, which is why next-generation offspring such as Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD, spud.ca) have proven popular.
Grant Watson has been involved in all kinds of projects focused on building a localized food system. With fellow shareholders of the Glen Valley Organic Farm in Langley, he’s developed a new web-based system de-signed to remove some of the legwork and hassle of buying clubs while leveraging the buying power of a growing network of clubs.
Like SPUD, Watson’s Neighbours Organic Weekly (NOW, nowbc.ca) allows club members to place orders and pay online. They can choose primarily local organic produce, prepared foods, and groceries with imports filling the gaps in the off-season. Prices are competitive and generally lower than retail.
Joining the club system at NOW means organizing six to 10 people, with one providing the delivery and pick-up location. Watson says the system has been working smoothly since its launch in January and he’s hopeful other communities will use his software to build their own club networks. “We’re all going to need new local food models to carry us through when the conventional system finally runs out of gas and hits the wall,” he says.
Another model, which originated in Japan, offers the most direct farm/city connection. With community supported agriculture (CSA), individuals or groups pre-pay for shares of a farmer’s entire crop, then pick up their weekly bins of fresh-picked products at a central depot. It’s perhaps the most effective system in providing income stability and security for farmers, particularly for those investing in organic production methods, but it’s definitely the no-frills model.
Stephen Gallagher, of Nathan Creek Organic Farm in Abbotsford, is one of the few CSA farmers in the region. He’s leery of even being mentioned in this article, saying, “I don’t want any potential shareholders believing they’re getting a home delivery service when what they’re getting is a farmer.” Not everybody remains committed to the CSA concept when they first see what Gallagher describes as “the kind of grubby, unwashed vegetables they’ll get loaded up with every week for 20 weeks, and with no guarantees either, save one: Everything in the box is something I grew.”
What you also get from a full or half-share of Gallagher’s CSA are 40 kinds of fresh-picked organic produce at what works out to be a very good price. What you don’t get is any choice, selection, or limits on quantity. “Most people tell me their primary wish is for less food, even with two households sharing a half-share,” he says. “Bumper crops are actually a problem for us.”
The best aspect of the CSA experience is found in what Gallagher offers with “encouragement, not requirement”: the opportunity to spend time on the farm.
“I tell shareholders to come have a picnic, pick some vegetables if they must, but simply come visit and connect with their food,” he says. “That’s what’s transformative about a CSA, and transforming our food system is really the only thing I’m interested in.”
From the Farmer to Your Table
To establish a local farmer-direct supply line, start with a visit to any of the three Vancouver farmers’ markets listed at eatlocal.org or drop by the markets’ new office upstairs at 1163 Commercial Drive.
Nathan Creek Organic Farm’s Stephen Gallagher will gladly reserve a share of his bounty for you via members.shaw.ca/nathancreek.
You can set up a buyers’ club through Neighbours Organic Weekly at nowbc.ca.
For more background on the Weston A. Price Foundation buyers’ clubs visit westonaprice.org or contact Vancouver chapter leader Rachel Adler ( [click to e-mail] ). Her group also produces a free guide on where to find natural, unprocessed, and mostly organic food, grocery, and household items.
