I had a super delicious Day 1 of my Local Food Challenge. In case you're unfamiliar, I decided to take on the Local Food Challenge in support of the local non-profit organization Growing Chefs! so they can continue going into classrooms giving students hands-on experience growing and cooking healthy food. In this challenge, you're free to interpret "local" however you'd like, and to me that will be:
1. Eating all produce, dairy, and meat products within about 100 mile radius.
2. Eating local food products to support independent businesses.
I'll be sharing the highlights of the food I eat during this challenge, so without further ado, onto the food!
Let me just preface this by saying, damn are we ever lucky to live in BC. The access we have to fresh and tasty local food is ridiculous. Pictured above are some of the local goodies you can find in your neighbourhood that I used to make myself brunch. I used greens from Local Garden, North America’s first ever VertiCrop™ farm located on the roof of a downtown parkade, local cherry tomatoes, Dysfunction Ale bread from Purebread, (lifechanging!) Smoked Sea Salt from Vancouver Island Salt Co, Rabbit River Farms eggs, and Fromage Frais from one of my favourite cheese vendors Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. Not pictured was the bacon from Two Rivers Specialty Meats already frying on the pan. And below is the final product of a slice of the loaf with cheese spread over it, greens and the tomatoes, topped with a poached egg:
I had to stock up a bit more for some other meals I have planned so I went to Organic Acres Market located on Main and 20th. Aside from farmers markets, I buy most of my groceries from here.
And I never noticed before that they label everything that's local. It's the perfect place to shop for the challenge! I needed to hunt down some local yogurt to make my breakfast with and went with Island Honey Cream Top Yogurt from Tree Island. The honey flavour in this one is subtle but adds just the right amount of sweetness to the tartness. Plus I'm all over their dedication to quality as you can see from their description below:
I put the yogurt in with some fresh blueberries and strawberries and voila, breakfast!
You guys are so awesome that I decided to double my goal because my original was almost reached in just a few days. If you believe in the great work Growing Chefs! is providing I would appreciate any donation towards the cause.
See you tomorrow for a recap of Day 2!