I was about 11 years old when my parents got divorced, and I lived with my father until I left for university. When my Mom left, she gave my father a binder with seven recipes in it. My brother, father and I ate those seven recipes for the next seven years of my life.
Because I know you’re wondering, the recipes were for hamburger soup, pork chops, Shake ‘N’ Bake chicken, spaghetti, pizza and the much-hated sole. His seventh meal was flank steak, reserved for special occasions.
I went off to university, and cooked for myself for the next few years.
So, for some critical formative years, I ate in a kind of culinary desert.
The result? As an adult, I’m ambivalent, if not downright anhedonic about food. There are foods I moderately prefer to other foods, but, beyond health concerns, I’m not somebody who really cares about what I eat.
I used to not eat red meat for ethical reasons. Now I don’t do it because it simplifies my eating decisions. When my wife is away, I’m happy eating the same food for two or three meals in a row. When faced with a restaurant menu, I scan it until I find something that appeals, and I stop there. I also don’t drink alcohol, coffee or tea.
I’m not critical of people who find great joy or comfort in preparing and eating food. Well, I do think a subsection of foodies has a misbegotten sense of moral righteousness around their eating habits, but they’re the exception.
But now I have to constantly think about food. I have to rigorously contemplate my every buying and eating decision. And you know what? It sucks.
With this in mind, will I miss anything over the next four months? I do drink Coke quite often, so that’s a non-starter. And who doesn’t like chocolate? I’ll also miss the convenience of grabbing some sushi (or nearly anything, for that matter) for lunch.
The Rules
If I eat it at home, it has to be sourced in Canada. That’s everything, from cooking oil to sugar to any processed food. I’ve been hosting some informative discussions on the One Year, One Canadian Facebook page which has helped me discover promising sources of Canadian bread, sugar and flour.
I’ve also been spending a lot of time at farmer’s markets, asking irritating questions about Colin the chicken. I’ll also spend some time this fall going right to the source to get food. I went snorkeling with a friend to catch the red rock crabs you see in the photo.
I don’t plan to eat out that much, but when I do, I’m going to require that the main ingredients be sourced in Canada.
If you had to eat all-Canadian for a year, what would you miss most?
I might be missing something here, but what would be wrong with drinking Coke? I’d be surprised if there weren’t any Coca-Cola bottling facilities in Canada. Or would that not count? I’d think the syrup would be produced locally as well; despite what the company would have folks believe, Coke’s “magic” at this point is more the brand than the “secret” recipe.
(Sorry if you’re trying to wean yourself off of Coke and I just ruined that plan.)
Darren
Good luck on your food ventures this month..Reading your post, it may actually not be as challenging a month as some of your earlier months but very tough all the same..
bobby
The only things I would really miss are herbs, spices & citrus. I don’t tend to buy a lot of oranges or grapefruit but I use lemons, limes & their juices frequently and since I don’t know of any lemons or limes produced in Canada I guess I’d be out of luck there. During the summer I have my own garden so I don’t need to worry about locally sourced veggies and I live in a area where I can buy meat & poultry directly from the source. In winter months I try to only purchase produce that is produced in Canadian (Ontario for me) greenhouses. That leaves herbs & spices which I can grow in summer but are hard to come by in winter. Potaoes & rice too I guess. Canadian potoatoes through spring, summer & fall ore easy but not so much in winter. I guess I’d have to eat a lot of wild rice, which, although delicious, is rather prcey! Good luck and keep us posted!
Definitely would miss coffee and tea. Tho if a run to Tim Horton’s counts…
We also live near this place https://www.speervilleflourmill.ca/ and the fours and grains are in all the grocery stores here.
I think I would miss avocados the most. I buy at least two or three every week.
I would sorely miss avocados too!
First – I LOVED that “colin the chicken” video – so funny!!
Second – I find tomatoes – out of season – the hardest thing to avoid buying (without tomatoes I would lose at least 3/4 of my fall meals!!). And then, at some point, even the apples aren’t from BC anymore and you either have to eat no fruit or buy the closest (sourced) you can get.
As far as chocolate goes, obviously you can find lots of BC/Canadian chocolatiers but is anyone growing the actual bean in Canada anywhere?
I try my best.
Meghan
I think about food a LOT: I’m a self-proclaimed glutton, vegetarian, wine-o (now I could find THIS very interesting in Canadian terms!) I’ll be interested to hear how the limitations – particularly cost and ingredients – determine what you eat. So far – anything new that you’re actually enjoying and/or looking forward to? …I’d have happily helped with the crab-eating project
If I were sticking to a Canadian-only food diet, I’m just thankful there is a Canadian source of salt (Windsor salt apparently).
Coffee. Definitely coffee.
[...] Month #8 – Food [...]
100% sourced in Canada…like Janet, I’d miss citrus, spices, coffee and chocolate as well. My husband and I try to eat as locally as possible, I even bought an indoor lemon plant that didn’t really fair well under my black thumb. I gave the plant to my mom, where it has flourished. It took 4 years, but we ate our first 100 mile (I guess 30 mile) lemons this year, they (2 of them) were good, if not a bit extreme in effort.
Have you people not heard of a freezer??? Tomatoes freez e wonderfully and make great recipes(Cooked) throughout the winter, herbs also freeze , minced in water in icecube trays. Don’t even get me started on frozen fruits, canned fruits etc. AS for Sushi, if you are willing to experiment there is ahull less oat grown in Manitoba which can be substituted for rice, You would have to find a binding ingredient as it is not as sticky as sushi rice.Lemon balm (herb) will give you a citrus hit through out the year.
[...] Month #8 – Food [...]