Eat Out
February is the Unsung Heroes Festival at Blue Water Cafe. Started five years ago by Chef Frank Pabst, the festival functions as a delicious education in the lesser known delicacies of the local meroir (the special flavour characteristics bestowed upon seafood by geography). The menu runs all month and features the restaurant’s award-winning Sea Urchin Mousse, which won Chef Frank top honours at the 2008 Gold Medal Plates and an opportunity to compete in the Canadian Culinary Challenge,also this month. bluewatercafe.net [1]

Eat In
If you’re looking for that perfect ethical breakfast-in-bed for your sweetheart, check out the recipe section of the BC SPCA website. The SPCA administers a third-party certification program that identifies farmers committed to providing a cruelty-free life for their animals. Recipes feature ingredients from certified farms such as Little Qualicum Cheeseworks and Rabbit River Farms. If dinner is your preferred method of wooing, you’ll also find SPCA-approved B.C. poultry, pork, and beef suppliers. Look for the “SPCA Certified” label at grocery stores and farmers’ markets. spca.bc.ca [2]

Check Out
Though they haven’t yet achieved the notoriety of Lesley Stowe’s Raincoast Crisps, Terri Storey’s Ükko Crackers have taken their first step toward snack-aisle domination. Each of the three varieties focuses on a different landscape. Ocean features smoked sea salt and seaweed, Forest contains pine nuts, maple syrup, and spruce oil, while Field is flecked with hemp seeds and poppy seeds. What’s more, Ükko Conscious Foods is set up as a triple-bottom-line company, so each step, from ingredient sourcing to packaging, considers the well-being of the environment. ukkocracker.com [3]

Trish Kelly lives and eats in East Vancouver. She likes free-ranging fauna, culinary champions, and French suffixes that sex up natural environs.