Yipee! The City of Vancouver plans to start collecting kitchen scraps for compost. This is great news, because that organic matter is useful stuff that should not get dumped in a landfill. About 35% of 'garbage' is actually compostable, so we should expect to see smaller landfills, and we'll help to rebuild good soil.

I realized this morning that I am never going to like tea. I've spent a few decades trying earnestly to acquire a taste for it. But as of today, I am officially bailing on Operation Like Tea.

If you want that morning cup of java to taste good and feel good, make it an Ethical Bean brew. Not only are the beans Certified Fair Trade, Certified Organic and shade-grown. Not only is their facility carbon-neutral. Not only are they a local success story. They're a local success story making great coffee and making a huge difference to disadvantaged kids in Guatemala. Because of them, 100 kids will get to attend school for the first time. They're also funding the development of a Village for orphaned and abandoned children.

I've seen wild fennel growing all over the Vancouver area. With its legginess and feathery green leaves, it looks a bit like dill. The seeds form in clusters that look like the ribs of upside down umbrellas. If you pinch one in your fingers it releases a fantastic smell reminiscent of black licorice, ouzo and Indian meals.

It's heartnut season in the Okanagan. And if you don't know what a heartnut is, or even a heart nut, you're not alone. In fact, you're probably in the company of 99.9% of the population.

One of the things I love most about my job as Editor of Edible Vancouver is that I get to meet truly inspiring people on a regular basis: passionate farmers finding a way back to a sustainable food system; the chefs who support and promote them; artisans making cheese and wine the small-batch, old-fashioned way; people who are teaching children about food and where it comes from...

Obviously, I could go on. But the truth is that I do that quite a lot. So I say enough of me droning on about this farmer, that activist, and the other chef.

It's time we heard from you.

I love this time of year in the Okanagan; you'd be forgiven for thinking those hills are brown, but in the sun they are actually so many shades of gold. Phil and I ate a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches (Dad's specialty; he makes them with his own cheesebread for extra cheesiness) and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies (Mom's specialty; they're fabulous).

As I write these words, I am more excited than any normal human would be. It's the breakfast I just had. To back up...

Last Saturday I became this person my mother would never have recognized.

First I joined the Canoe Creek Community (backyard) Kitchen for a tomato session. With the help of canning guru Alice and three other helpers, I canned 20 litres of tomatoes for our pantry. Alice bought about 100lbs of Okanagan romas (that's probably 500 or 600 tomatoes, not that any of us were counting), and we five blanched, peeled and chopped until we never wanted to look at another tomato. We stuffed jars, rigorously shunning air bubbles, and then processed them in boiling water. Between bouts of blanching, peeling and chopping, we snacked on homestyle bread with a dried-tomato-garlic and olive oil paste provided by the amazingly kind, knowledgeable and generous Alice.

An update from the BC Salmon Marketing Council

With the most recent news that the predicted Fraser River sockeye return is estimated to be well below original forecasts and therefore no sockeye harvests are expected, local consumers have some questions.

Grant Snell, General Manager of the BC Salmon Marketing Council, a non-profit generic marketing organization for wild BC salmon, says that the situation surrounding the Fraser River sockeye returns is very serious and everyone is anxiously following its developments and waiting for information to explain the cause.

•    Wear old shorts and a T-shirt you don’t care about.
•    Sit with your best friend, a large bowl of fresh cherries wedged between you.
•    If the cherries still have the stems attached together at the top, drape these over your ears and admire each others’ earrings.
•    It’s time to get competitive. Close your eyes in ecstasy as you suck every bit of flesh off a cherry. Draw the pit toward the back of your mouth, take a minute to focus, and then catapult it all the way to next week. See who can spit the furthest. (This is best done outdoors.)
•    Put two open tin cans at a fixed distance and see who can get the most pits into their can. One pit in your can = one point.
•    If you spit your pit into the wrong can, deduct two points.
•    Best out of 10 wins. The winner must treat the loser to ice cream. Or wine.
•    Do NOT insert any pits into your nostrils, no matter how amusing an idea this seems to be.
•    Do NOT insert any pits into your nostrils, even if you have been drinking.
•    Do NOT insert any pits into your nostrils, even if you are six.
•    Eat cherries until you have a slight tummy ache. Then eat at least five more.
•    Tell someone gullible that if they swallow a pit, a cherry tree will grow out their bum.
•    Your mouth should be stained very red now. Go kiss someone.
•    Don’t go very far from a bathroom for the next few hours.

Ocean Wise approved salmon rolls from Albion's chef

Today at noon, Ocean Wise made a major announcement. Albion Fisheries has just joined them as a founding supplier partner in making sustainable seafood more widely available to a huge customer and consumer base.

Ocean Wise is an initiative of the Vancouver Acquarium to certify restaurant menu items for sustainability, so that consumers know they're making a sustainably caught seafood selection.

Forming a partnership with a wholesale supplier like Albion is a big deal. The volume they're capable of supplying now makes it possible for large chains like Panago to source Ocean Wise approved shrimp—something that has previously been a challenge. With 170 locations across Canada, the decision for Panago to use only sustainably caught shrimp will make a significant and positive impact on the world's oceans.

As the largest seafood company in Western Canada, Albion Fisheries supplies to many high-profile restaurants from BC down to California, and to a number of supermarkets in BC and Alberta. When a company of this size makes a commitment to sustainbility and decides to provide its customers with ocean-friendly products, it's a giant step—not a small step—in the right direction. And that's good news for the health of our oceans.

Related topics:

For Chowder Hounds. Good-Chowder Hounds.

John Milobar, Albion Fisheries President

Has anyone else even heard of a Kingover contest?

This was a big part of our Easter tradition when I was a kid, but I haven’t heard of it since. It was great fun, the adults and kids all got into the game.

Here’s how it goes down: Everyone comes together after their morning egg hunt with their booty, and each person pulls out a single egg, holding the lower half in their fist so one of the ends is sticking out. One egg is then tapped against another, end-to-end. The end of one egg will crack, but one egg will not, and the person with the unbroken egg holds the temporary title Kingover One. They then knock their winning egg over the next person’s, and whoever is holding the unbroken egg is named Kingover Two. This continues until all eggs have been tapped, and the person holding the last unbroken egg is declared Kingover. In our case, the coronation included the presentation of a most regal trophy, consisting of a large plastic egg (of the variety used to package hosiery—remember L’Eggs?) nailed to a wooden base, filled with Easter candy. Quite an honour. The Kingover tradition was good clean fun, but the best part was the ongoing competition between many of the adults, who put way too much time into trying to discreetly cover the tips of eggs with various glues and epoxies, shellacs, some were wrapped with wool or covered in tissue (both disqualified) and one year someone even tried spot-welding the tip of an egg. This simply will not do when the eggs have been dyed with non-toxic food dyes, but perhaps that could usher in a whole other Edible Experiment: how to fortify a boiled-egg-end using all-natural foodstuffs. Ever try to get hardened oatmeal off a wooden spoon? That seems like a natural place to start. Get cracking.

We walked over to The Whip (6th and Main, Vancouver) yesterday afternoon. I've always like the ambiance of the place; that old building oozes charm. It especially oozes charm on Sunday afternoons, when local brewmasters show up with casks of ale on their shoulders and the whole place starts to hum with an enthusiastic crowd of those who love BC beer. Yesterday's drinks featured brews from Central City, Howe Sound, Phillips, Driftwood and Storm. And the yam fries were piping hot, crispy, and sprinkled with chopped scallions. We left with full, happy bellies and hardly even noticed the downpour that we had to walk through to get home again. Check out The Whip for Cask Ale Sundays next time you want a cozy, lively place to drink in the afternoon.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit...

Alas. They do sometimes lead to a bit of embarrassing intestinal wind. The undesirable effects usually diminish as you make them a regular part of your diet and your digestive systems gets used to breaking them down. Start gradually by eating them once or twice a week, then more often as your body adjusts. In the meantime, here are a few tips to taking the toot out of the fruit:

1. Soak for at least 8 hours.

2. Discard the soaking water. Yes, it's flavourful and nutritious, but it does contain about 80% of the gaseous compounds.

3. When cooking, start with fresh, cold water. Add an orange, unpeeled, bring the beans to the boil and remove the orange after 5 minutes of simmering.

5. Add fennel, bay leaves, epazote, mint, cilantro, cumin, kombu or ginger to beans during cooking to help break down the offending compounds.

6. Don't add salt until the beans are almost cooked; salt added to early will make beans tough.

7. Make sure you cook them until soft and tender.

VANCOUVER FOOD POLICY COUNCIL

Candidate Information Sheet

The Vancouver Food Policy Council (VFPC) is seeking nominations for new members.   Members are appointed by Vancouver City Council. However, we attempt to find candidates who are best qualified to meet our current needs and forward those names to City Council.

Our practice is to solicit applications from as broad a base as possible amongst individuals, groups and networks working on food security concerns.  Please forward this to others you think might wish fill in a candidate information sheet.

For more information, please go to www.vancouver.ca/foodpolicy

The deadline for this application is Feb. 27th.  You may fill this in on your computer and reply to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or mail to Carole Christopher, 4506 West 8th Ave, Vancouver, BC V6R 2A5

Name: ___________________________________________________________

Phone: ______________    Email: _____________________________________

What type of position are you running for?

Check either at-large or sector (not both) and indicate sector that applies

At-Large _____   (3 positions available)

Sector ________  (4 positions available as show below.  Please check one only)

Production                       _____ (0 positions available)

Processing                        _____ (1 position available)

Access                               _____ (0 positions available)

Distribution                      _____ (0 positions available)

Consumption                   _____ (1 position available)

Waste management         _____ (2 positions available)

System-wide                     _____ (0 positions available)

Please respond to the following questions to help us better assess your qualifications:

1.  What is your experience and involvement with the local food system?

If you are applying for a sector, please describe your experience in that sector.

2.   What specific communities do you work with? *

3.      What skills will you contribute to the Food Policy Council?

4.      What is your vision for food policy in the City of Vancouver?

5.      What do you hope to gain from the experience? What areas are you interested in?

6.      What other information would you like the Food Policy Council to know about you?

*We are presently seeking more equitable representation from Youth, First Nations and Retailers.  However, we will carefully review every application to find the best candidates.

There's good coffee, and then there's really good coffee. Ethical Bean roasts a great coffee, but their goodness extends well beyond the cup. You might already know that the company purchases Certified Organic, shade-grown, 100% Certified Fair Trade coffee and ensures that the farmers they buy from are able to enjoy a decent standard of living.  You might know that the beans are roasted in a 100% carbon-neutral Vancouver facility built to LEED standards.

But did you know that Ethical Bean has launched a program to help Guatemalan children? Every December, the company donates $1 from every unit of coffee sold to their Kids to School program. This year, thanks to the enthusiastic support of ethically minded coffee drinkers, they raised a record $21,949 that will be split between Child Aid's FUNDIT and Project Somos. By providing FUNDIT with $11,840 for school tuition, uniforms and supplies, they're giving 100 Guatemalan children the opportunity to go to school for the first time. They're also giving the Vancouver-based organization Project Somos over $10,000 towards building a village for Guatemalan children who have been orphaned or abandoned. The village's seven houses will be home to 49 children, and there will be organic gardens and orchards, art and music rooms, playgrounds and a library. The 2008 figure is well up from 2007, when USD $14,500 was raised.

Ethical Bean also sells Certified Organic, Fair Trade teas. Personally, I'm hoping they'll eventually get into the Certified Organic, Fair Trade chocolate business too. But you know I'm a bit of a dreamer.

It sounds like an accident. As if maybe I tripped while carrying a jar of jam, and spilled the sticky contents into the bread machine with disastrous consequences. But no. I am more than capable of such kitchen disasters, but this was intentional.

You will have gathered that I do have a bread machine. I'm not entirely comfortable coming clean with that confession, but in my defense let me say that it gets used mostly for making pizza dough. It's a marvel at that task, soooo easy, and it gets put to use at least once a week. As for bread, I prefer the aesthetic of making bread the traditional way, using a large ceramic bowl, my hands, and a hot oven.

I also have a bread machine cookbook, and I was thumbing through it the other day looking for a recipe for mushroom pate (which isn't made in the bread machine, but as well as bread recipes, this thoughtful cookbook author has included some excellent recipes for things that are delicious on bread). So there's a section for jam, and I had a eureka moment when I discovered one for kiwi jam. Because it happens that our kiwi harvest this October was quite plentiful, and I had a whole box of kiwi in cold storage. Some of them were beginning to resent being left so long.

And yes, you can make jam in some bread machines, mine included. I'd never tried this before, but yesterday I decided that jam was the solution to my kiwi surplus. Once I got them peeled, it was a ridiculously simple process with wonderful results. (Although I suspect that jam-making is just another way to sell bread machines, and a bit of a gimmick. It would have been just as easy using a pot and the stove.)

Still, gimmick or no gimmick, I've just sampled the jam, spread thickly over 12-grain toast. Really delicious. Tart and lemony. So if you find yourself with a pound or so of kiwi fruit, I suggest that you get Beth Hensperger's The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook and make the jam on page 574.