The 8,000 Mile Meal

Many pieces of my meal - the heart and soul of the dish I might add - came from delectable places far from Toronto although I didn't import these items at great environmental cost. No. They were brought back to Toronto in a suitcase from the alleyways of Paris and the historic towns of Czech Republic. It's August and the only month I believe fit for eating vegetables and fruits from entirely local sources. You can't avoid local produce. It's everywhere in the grocery stores and farmers markets - budding cauliflowers heads, green string brings, the first of the peaches and cream corn crop, the last of the raspberries. Some people however are still confounded by what our local produce looks like. A recent conversational exchange in my kitchen: "oh hey, I bought a dozen apricots too today" "Um, those aren't apricots, those are ONTARIO PEACHES!!!". They may look diminutive compared to their southern obese cousins but they taste much, much better: sweeter, juicier, riper. Apples too get that same abuse. People think the average apple is supposed to be the size of an adult fist. When really, Ontario apples that are not crossbred and coated in insecticide are on average the size of large plums. I remember talking to apple growers up around Meaford and Thornbury summers ago and how they kept stating that the grocery stores wanted larger apples because the consumer had placed quality on size of fruit. And we all know, size doesn't really matter...

This meal is a combination of whole wheat fusili with sauteed fresh corn and cumin, chopped fresh parsley and mint, diced tomatoes, green mammoth olives whole, Pate d'Olive noire from Les Delices de France, salt encrusted capers, Cereal Terra pesto vegetale from the Czech Republic, crushed herbes de provence from Paris and some swirls of extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Diced pieces of a perfect avocado made its way into the mix as well.