Marketplace
Check this site regularly for food updates: http://www.spendlocally.ca
Saturna
FISH
Tuna
A guy came by . . . in a boat . . . in the fall, October, I think. He anchored at the gov dock and then put up a couple of signs that noted his arrival with a whole lot of tuna for sale. Very good, very inexpensive. I hear he docks here every year, though he only comes if he thinks it’s worth his while. Watch for the 2008 date of his arrival.
Salmon
Every September , Rennie docks here with his boatload of salmon (cohoe and pink) and for a few hours we can buy the best wild salmon for the lowest cost just about anywhere. Does anyone know if he'll be here again this fall?
BREAD and PASTRIES
All that bread, all those cookies, all the granola and croissants you find at the Saturna General Store, other islands and specialty stores in Vancouver come from Haggis Farm Bakery. Drop by for a sniff and pick up some freshly baked items while you're there.
FRUIT
On Saturna, apples grow. Many at the Money Orchard, which is under new management.
HERBS
Those grown at Breezy Bay are organic and sold fresh and dried at the Saturna General Store, as well as off-island. Flo House kindly donated her cast-off baby basil and tomatoes to 31 Square this spring, which were sold for a few pennies that now sit in our coffers.
MEAT
Campbell Farm sells lamb and beef. Bulk sales only: 250-539-2470 or campbellfarm@saturnacan.net
Beth and Rick Jones sell lamb: 250-539-2641 or jonesco@sandybaysaturna.com
GARLIC
Sam Peramaki used to sell various kinds at the Saturday market in the summer but reports the plants have been attacked by a fungus this year. (Too much rain?)
PRODUCE
Buy greens, potatoes, herbs at the Saturday morning market, July and August. (And browse the craft stalls while you’re there.)
PRESERVES
Judy Tipple has been selling her jams and jellies for years at the market. Hubertus uses them at the Saturna Cafe, too.
VEGGIE BURGERS
Saturna Cafe's chef, Hubertus Surm, designed the Go Nuts Burger, sold at all the best food shops in western Canada. They are made and packaged on Saturna. Try one!
Saanich Peninsula
We all make regular pilgrimages to our few special places when we cross the sargasso sea to get to the Bigger island. Here are a few of my favourite spots to buy all that’s fresh and local; please send your recommendations to: saturnaeats@31square.com.
See www.islandfarmfresh.com for a complete list of Saanich Peninsula farms and their respective offerings.
Haliburton Farm
Four farms operate under the community-farm umbrella. Volunteers help year-round on the farms and with educational programs. Volunteers sell farm produce at a small stand from May through October on Wednesdays. Go for excellent quality and flavourful produce, and for lovely fresh-picked bouquets of flowers (and for service by friendly, knowledgeable people!)
Butler Hazelnut Farm
We love the farm's raw and roasted nuts that we buy at Dan's Country Market. The nuts are so fresh! What a treat. Call 652-2371 or 652-1699 to order, October to February. 6140 Central Saanich Rd, Saanichton BC
Sun Wings: Oldfield Road (just off Keating Cross Road, otherwise known as The Centre of the Universe); tomatoes and greens most of the year. Sooo beautifully fresh.
Dan’s farm: all sorts of vegetables, all local
Phil’s Farm: organic, pasture-raised chickens and pork
Sea Cider Farm and Ciderhouse: A selection of critically acclaimed, traditionally fermented ciders. Relax with a glass of cider paired with organic cheese and other local delectables. Enjoy the views of our organic orchard and the islands beyond. Take a complimentary tour and browse a selection of hand-crafted farm products.
Sea Cider is open year round for tastings, sales and tours, 11 am to 7 pm, Wednesday through Sunday (and holiday Mondays).
Victoria
Eric Akis has favourites
Below is a list compiled by Eric Akis, the food writer for the Victoria Times Colonist, of the best places in Victoria to buy good food. John Ward of Victoria noticed and kindly submitted the piece to 31 Square. John adds that "for many folks the best bagels in town are at the Mt. Royal Bagel store, off Cook Street a couple of blocks away to the northeast."
1 Seven Valley’s Fine Food and Deli, 2506 Douglas St.
This well-established store is aptly named; it’s packed with Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and European foods that could have easily come from seven valleys or more. Among the hundreds of items they sell are an incredible array of spices, pomegranate molasses, rose water, housemade dips, Iranian tea, exotic dried fruits, halal meats, the largest selection of Turkish delight on the Island and the freshest and best walnuts I have ever tasted.
2 Food Shops of Chinatown, Fisgard St.
Canada’s oldest Chinatown, maybe small, but it’s tall when it comes to housing a wide variety of food shops (too many to list here) dedicated to Chinese and other Asian-cuisines. The question is not what can you get in Chinatown? But what can’t you get? Exotic fruits and vegetables, sumptuous barbecue duck and pork, noodles galore, curried beef buns, all sorts of sauces and ready to cook dim sum are just a few of the items you’ll find on Fisgard Street.
3 Italian Food Imports, 1114 Blanchard St.
This is a bustling, family run Italian food store with a lot of heart. They have one of the best selections of dried pasta in town and also offer a bounty of other Italian foods, such as cured meats, cheeses, tinned tomato products and vegetables, olive oils and vinegars. If you don't feel like cooking they also make some of the best-tasting sandwiches in town and also offer hot and tasty pasta specials.
4 Blair Mart, 924 Pandora Ave.
If this friendly store did not have a roof it would fell like it is part of an outdoor Middle Eastern or Mediterranean market. From the moment you walk in your eyes don’t know which way to look, there are so many beautiful displays of fine food, such as artichokes, stuffed grape leaves, flat breads, olive oils, tea, sweets and much more. If you’re hungry, the smiling owner will happily make you a Mediterranean-style wrap or other tasty treat that you can takeout or enjoy there.
5 Choux Choux Charcuterie, 830 Fort St.
This quaint and busy store offers Victorian’s a taste of France. Fans of Choux Choux say they make the best pate in town (or any town, for that matter) and also offer a fine selection of sausages and other European-style cured and smoked meats, such as speck and smoked Cornish game hens. Choux Choux’s shelves are also stocked with things to serve with the above items, such as French pickles, mustards and cheeses.
6 Plenty Epicurean Pantry, 1034 Fort St.
This downtown store with a country feel has the most eclectic array of fine food products in the city. To give you a short example, Plenty offers the city’s largest selection of dried chili peppers; Cowichan Bay red fife wheat flour; a mountain of beautifully crafted BC preserves; Vij’s garam masala; Denman Island chocolate; local cheese; and wholewheat filo pastry.
7 Sakura Japanese Grocery, 1213 Quadra
Whenever I walked into this store it always to seem to be full of visiting Japanese students in search of a taste of home, a good sign for a cook looking for authentic ingredients. Sakura stocks everything you’ll need to make a fine Japanese meal, such as seafood, rice, soy sauce, noodles, tofu and a wide range of other items, including ready to eat ones such as sushi and miso soup.
8 Charelli's Deli & Catering, 2863 Foul Bay Rd.
This petit, 300 square feet store has a little something for every fine food lover and has built and loyally following thanks to exceptionally friendly customer service. A unique offering of over 100 cheeses, European preserves of all kinds, smoked fish, French marshmallows and a wide range of other delectable delights await you at Charelli’s.
9 Wooden Shoe Delicatessen, 2576 Quadra St.
This well-stocked store offers a wide and interesting range of Dutch and Indonesian groceries. These include Dutch cheeses, cured meats, over 50 varieties of licorice, Dutch cake mixes and cookies, cocoa, preserves and Indonesian sauces and spices.
10 San Remo’s Deli & Café, 2709 Quadra St.
Although this attractive deli sells a range of Mediterranean food products, the focus is here is on those from Greece. Greek olive oils, cheeses, filo pastry, sour cherries, hand picked oregano, baba ganouche (eggplant spread) and taramasalata (a dip made from the carp roe), spinach pie and moussaka are just some of the items you’ll find for sale.
11 Cook n' Pan Polish Delicatessen, 4-1725 Cook St.
Being of Northern European decent, I was happy to discover this store after moving to Victoria. The sell great perogies, cabbage rolls, kolbasa, sauerkraut, pickled herring, soups, pickles, preserves, rye bread and a host of other items designed to cure any cravings you might have for hearty Northern European-style food.
12 Mediterranean Specialty Foods, 3948 Quadra
This very clean and ultra friendly store has an owner so passionate about what he does you want to buy everything he sells he makes it sound good - and it is. A beautiful selection of olives, divine feta cheeses, walnut spreads to die for, dried fruits, nuts, amazing olive oils, flat breads and much, much more will having you returning to this store time and time again.
13 Fujiya Foods, 3624 Shelbourne
Vancouver’s Fujiya Foods opened their Victoria location in 1991. Fujiya offers fans of Japanese cuisine all the essentials, such as miso paste, soba noodles, dashi, nori and sushi-grade fish, such as salmon and tuna. If you don’t feel like cooking, you can buy sushi and other ready to eat items to take home. They also sell the cookware and dishes you’ll need to make and plate a Japanese meal.
14 Maria's Deli & European Imports, 4080 Shelbourne St.
Most people I’ve talked too about Maria’s say they feel at home in this cheerful shop that has been opened for more than two decades. Indeed, the wide selection of well-priced Mediterranean-style meats, cheeses, pastas, olive oils, sauces, sweets and crusty Portuguese-style buns will make you want to ask the owner for a table so you can sit down beside her and eat.
15 Korean Food Market Hodori, 213-1551 Cedar Hill Cross Rd.
This store was hard to find, tucked away in a strip mall off Cedar Hill Cross Rd., but that didn’t stop it from being busy with customers the weekday morning I visited. Awaiting you hear is an interesting selection of Korean foods, from thinly sliced raw beef ready to be added to a recipe, such as rib-eye steak for bulgogi, to a wide variety of kimchi, dumplings, sauces, tofu and noodle soup mixes.
16 Aubergine Fine Foods 2579 Cadboro Bay Rd.
This stores does a great job of supporting local farmers by selling a wide range of local produce when in season. The other side of the store is dedicated to a world of interesting foods products and they include kosher foods, such as matzo ball mix, potato pancake mix and clear chicken soup, and items from South Africa, such as Durban curry sauce and tropical fruit drinks, that I have not seen anywhere else.
17 Ottavio Italian Bakery & Delicatessen, 2232 Oak Bay Ave.
This is Victoria’s one-stop shop for lovers of Italian and other styles of European food, whether made overseas or down the road. Cheeses, cured meats such as wild boar prosciutto, fantastic lasagna, wonderful breads, pasta, sauces, splendid olive and truffle oils, beautiful cookies, gelato and coffee are just a few of the items available for sale. Did I mention that you could also have a nice lunch there…
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Plenty: The small shop carries spices, herbs, teas, mushrooms, cheese, and confections as well as soaps, household goods, pottery, cookbooks and magazines
Wildfire Bakery: Standout woodfired-oven baked breads and pastries made from high quality, local ingredients. Stop in for coffee.
1517 Quadra Street 250-381-3473, email: wildfirebreads@shaw.ca
Mainland
Vancouver
MEAT
Sebastian & Co., Fine Organic Meats
Here is the best of butchers, Toronto’s loss, our gain. Sebastian Cortez founded and ran The Healthy Butcher in Toronto for X years, but was wooed to West Vancouver, where he opened his specialty butcher shop about a year ago.
Unlike most butchers today, Sebastian receives whole animal carcasses from producers. This allows him to custom cut and supply all animal parts. No waste here.
His meat is all organic, he makes delicious sausages, bacon and even prosciutto—aged for more than a year.
Find Sebastian in West Vancouver at 2425 Marine Drive:
sebastian@sebastianandco.ca
ph: 604-925-1636
fax: 604-922-6327
cell: 604-506-1636
GROCERY
Famous Foods
FF stocks organic and antibiotic-free meats. Standout pork comes from First Nature Farms in the Peace Country (yes, Alberta, but only 13 miles from the BC border).
1595 Kingsway
Vancouver, BC V5N 2R8
604-872-3019