Dreaming of Spring - Seasonal Eating

Who else is dreaming of spring (and rhubarb season!)? Fun fact - I love rhubarb - it's versatile, it grows in such abundance, it's the start of spring… It's vibrant in colour and flavour, it's just the best. This photo was taken on our first morning being open at Awn - I harvested rhubarb before heading in - for our delicious rhubarb muffins.

Eating seasonally and locally go hand in hand - but it's getting harder and harder to know what those two things mean. We live in a world of convenience - popping into a supermarket you can buy such a wide variety of fruit and veg throughout the year often with a sign above touting “farm fresh”.

Last night as I prepped raspberry jam for our doughnuts in the cafe today, I caught myself thinking how grateful I am for having a freezer full of berries. Berries I froze at the peak of their season that I can now use in the winter both at home and at Awn - as the berries thawed on the stove, I could smell summer.

Seasonal eating is about preserving the bounty of the summer and savouring it through the winter months. But it's also about enjoying it in abundance when it's in season. As the rhubarb pushes out of the ground in the spring, you can see it's almost creature like appearance, and within a day or two you see the vibrant pink stalks starting, it's not long before they're ready to be harvested. Pulling the first stalks of rhubarb is the start of so much - a wonderful season ahead. Using that rhubarb in the first tart or muffin - as you chop it you can smell spring as you bite into it once baked - it's pure joy.

It's not just rhubarb, the first spinach salad, the first taste of chives, the first spicy radish, you know it won't be long before asparagus are part of every meal followed by young carrots and beetroot, peas galore…!

Yesterday I was talking to a family friend - she'll be 95 in June, some of you will have heard me talk about her before - Mary. She lives in the UK, and she was chatting about how there is a shortage of lettuce and tomatoes due to some bad weather in Spain. As she said this she asked - “can't we go back to the old days where you simply didn't eat tomatoes in the winter?” We are lucky I suppose to have access to so much now - but there is an impact - we're disconnected from our food. How far is our food travelling to have abundance throughout the winter? What impact does it have on the environment? How was it grown? How was it harvested? What impact is there on the workers growing the food? What about - when it was harvested and how underripe it was? Eating seasonally takes effort and a commitment, but surely, it's worth it?

Living in Alberta this conversation is of course quite different than in the UK where they have forced rhubarb starting to pop up and lots of lovely flowers - spring is knocking on their door and not like it does here with cheats spring times fifty. Although the days are getting longer and we do know spring is coming, we still have a way to go before we are able to taste spring - our winters are long. We hit that point in late February where eating locally is tough - carrots, potatoes, squash, onions, garlic, beetroot… The storage crops are a bit sparce and let's be honest it's easy to lose inspiration in the kitchen when we've roasted, boiled, grated, pickled, all the roots! I find myself at this time of year starting to crave veg - I crave them all year, but I am drawn to the fridge at lunch to forage a salad from what's in there - and a salad is much more than lettuce.

With the seasons our bodies change too - I think there is truth to winter being a restful time, I think our bodies need different fuel even though we live in the monotony of our current society - the weather, seasons and light all impact us.

I have a hum and haw about how I feel about hot house grown crops and / or hydroponic - often grown in some tiny bit of soil (if that) and fed the nutrients they need to survive. Hot houses in Alberta aren't the most sustainable option - they require a fair bit of heat even with all the sunshine we get here to create a perfect greenhouse condition. I believe food should be grown in soil - the very thing that gives us life (it's not to say some hot houses don't grow in soil!). But the reality is - we live in Alberta - as I said earlier, winter is long, and I'd rather eat lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers etc., grown close to home than harvested in the US or Mexico (and likely grown in a similar manner). We do the best we can - and we are lucky in the winter months to be able to support local businesses and farms who are growing beautiful produce.

When I first came home from culinary school in Ireland I remember feeling almost at a loss - I lived in a bubble on an organic farm, what wasn't from the farm was sourced close to the farm, from fish to chicken to other veg, and sure we used ingredients that hadn't been grown in Ireland, but they were sourced with thought and intention. The entire time I was there I stepped foot in a supermarket twice. I came back and I felt like I was breaking rules in some ways - but quickly realized how lucky we are to live in a province like Alberta - with four distinct seasons, and with that comes four distinct seasons in the kitchen, it comes with new inspiration, such exciting times and plenty of time to get creative in the kitchen. At Awn (and at home) I work hard to source our ingredients from producers and growers close to home, in Alberta, or into BC and Saskatchewan. When we can't source Canadian, I work hard to source from local shops who are doing wonderful things - and I truly believe it's about doing the best we can. Working with local businesses and working together - this goes for the way I cook at home and of course what we do at Awn.

Year after year we know the rhythm of the seasons - fall turns to winter, winter to spring and spring to summer - we know in that the basics of seasonality too - the Taber Corn trucks parked on the side of the road, or the “FRESH BC FRUIT” trucks filled with peaches, nectarines and cherries. But do we know that asparagus grow in Alberta for 4 - 6 weeks, a perennial plant that needs plenty of rest before it heads into the dormant stage. Do we know that garlic is planted in the fall to be harvested next summer or that local garlic is strong this year because it was harvested early last year due to a dry summer? Do we know that certain varieties of carrots store well or that brassicas range from great storage crops to crops we need to eat sooner? Do we know that a head of lettuce grown in soil in the sunshine will taste of all things summer?

What does eating seasonally mean to you? I am working on a “seasonality” in Alberta document? Blog? Instagram series? Not quite sure - but it's been enjoyable to put together and I can't wait to share it with you all soon.

One of the best ways to be more connected to our food is to eat in season - as we become more and more disconnected the big supermarkets that pitch us asparagus, rhubarb and radish all year play a role in the question of - how do we know what's ins season question. And sure - asparagus, rhubarb and radish may be in season somewhere in the world today, but that doesn't mean they are in season here today - or that we need to be eating them. And as for “farm fresh”, don't even get me started, a blog for another day. As we eat seasonally it brings value and appreciation to the abundance of the warm seasons, it also brings gratitude to the farmers in the winter - a restful period for them as they work so hard to bring us so many delicious ingredients through the spring, summer, and fall. Cooking and eating are so much more than cooking and eating - they are routine, they are ever changing - from cravings to inspiration and I really think it's so important to think of it as such.

I encourage you to pop into an Alberta Approved Farmers Market and ask questions - the people growing our food have the answers, be your own advocate - you can learn so much from farmers. Veg growers are well into planning and seeds will soon be sown, it won't be long now before market tables are bursting with colour, inspiration, flavour and new beginnings. I encourage you to think about what local truly means.

It came up recently in class that we are losing big box companies like the Bay - and sure the Bay is a great department store - granted ever changing. But in that - we are losing small businesses too - the very backbone of our communities and cities - farmers and growers are in that conversation. It's so encouraging and exciting to see young people staying in or moving into agriculture - the more we support our local farmers the better we are. I hear it regularly - it costs more to shop local. Buy less, use what you buy, value the ingredients, watch how much longer they last (and better they taste), cook from scratch and be mindful of how you spend your food dollars. It matters!

I say this often in classes - I eat asparagus every day when they're in season - they're truly one of my favourite vegetables. I cringe if an asparagus is served to me out of season - which is maybe taking it a bit too far, maybe it's a bit too pure or too elitist - but here's the thing - those asparagus taste so damn good every day when I eat them from the first to the last, by the last I've had my fill, and it makes the first next year so much better. Who's ready for spring?

Fridge Forage (local!) Winter Salad

• a good handful of Vertical Roots lettuce
• 1 Sundog Organic Farm beetroot, peeled and grated (raw)
• 1 Sundog Organic Farm carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 small Lacombe Fresh cucumber, cut into small pieces
• 1 small piece Sundog Organic Farm rutabaga, cut into small strips (or grated)
• leftover roasted Sundog Organic Farm spuds (that had been dressed with sour cream, celery and Irvings Farm Fresh Bacon)
• 1 small piece of Sundog Organic Farm cabbage, shredded and tossed with a pinch of salt
• ½ a lemon, juiced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• leftover grilled Sunworks Farm Chicken

Pop the lettuce into your bowl, add the other layers of veg including the spuds - make this part appealing to the eye, whether you layer them or create heaped individual piles, keep it tidy. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Top with chicken. Enjoy!

Happy seasonal eating, friends!