Saturday Farmers' Market Vendor Feature: Bakerbreeze Farm

Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: Bakerbreeze Farm

By nicole ma on September 25, 2019

Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: Bakerbreeze Farm

This week’s featured vendor at the market is Bakerbreeze Farm. Bakerbreeze Farm sells a variety of delicious produce, from heirloom tomatoes to garlic! We were able to chat with Randy, the owner, so read on to learn more about Bakerbreeze Farm!

Where did the Bakerbreeze name originate from?

We live in Abbotsford, and at a certain time every afternoon, the breeze would come out of Mount Baker towards us, which is why we named it Bakerbreeze Farm.

What would you say your specialty is? And your specialty product?

Something we specialize in is that we search for heirloom seeds from around the world and try to grow them here in BC! I would say our specialty product is our heirloom tomatoes. Even in one plant, we can get all sorts of sizes, from a 4-ounce to a 4-pound tomato, which is something that differentiates them from GMO produce.

What’s your favourite to prepare and cook tomatoes?

I like my tomatoes sliced and grilled on the barbeque with mozzarella cheese, balsamic and basil- Caprese salad is awesome. I also like them just straight up like an apple!

Is there anything in particular you want people to know about Bakerbreeze?

Our families and our grandkids are at the farm as well and they eat right off the plant- we grow our produce with organic practices. We also supply many major restaurants in Vancouver with our produce!

Where else can you guys be found other than the UBC Farm Saturday Farmers’ Market?

You can find us at Haney Farmers’ Market, Port Coquitlam Farmers’ Market and White Rock Farmers’ Market!

For more details, find them at the market or shoot them an email at bakerbreeze@live.ca! Bakerbreeze Farm can be found at the UBC Farm Saturday Farmers’ Market on the following dates: Sept 28, Oct 5, Oct 12 and Oct 19.

Read More | No Comments

UBC Expert Views: Global Climate Change Action

By Salloum on September 19, 2019

UBC Expert Views: Global Climate Change Action

Photo Credits: Bob Blob/Unsplash

CSFS Academic Director and Prof. Hannah Wittman, and Associate Member Prof. Kai Chan are featured among UBC experts in a Q&A on global action on climate change. Stay tuned for more announcements, including our support for the September 27 UBC Climate Strike, ahead of the global week of climate action beginning tomorrow.

Read the full article here.

Read More | No Comments

Global News Video Feature: Kai Chan

By Salloum on September 19, 2019

Global News Video Feature: Kai Chan

Kai Chan, IRES Professor and CSFS Associate Researcher, was featured in a recent Global News video segment called For every benefit, there is a similar kind of cost. In this interview, Chan challenges some of the recent comments put forth by former Finance Minister, Joe Oliver, about climate change and provides a scientific perspective on how pressing climate change is and what needs to be done to reduce its effects in Canada.

Watch the interview here.

Read More | No Comments

Science World Feature: What Would it Take to Regenerate our Rainforests?

By Salloum on September 19, 2019

Science World Feature: What Would it Take to Regenerate our Rainforests?

sean smukler Sean Smukler, Land and Food Systems Associate Professor and CSFS Associate Researcher, was featured in a Science World article titled What Would it Take to Regenerate our Rainforests? Smukler addresses many of the issues inherent in current agriculture and deforestation practices and how these have contributed to large-scale disasters like what’s happening in the Amazon rainforest.

Read the full article here.

Read More | No Comments

Market Recipe Blog: Fall Fair 1st Place Pie (“Drunken” Forager’s Fruit Pie)

By noni nabors on September 19, 2019

Market Recipe Blog: Fall Fair 1st Place Pie (“Drunken” Forager’s Fruit Pie)

 

We look forward to our annual Fall Fair pie contest all summer long to taste the medley of flavors our community bakes up for the occasion! Folks enter their time- and taste-tested pies to be judged (kindly!) and sampled, and we get to reap the rewards of their careful work. This year’s winner, baked by Stacey Skoretz, is a Drunken Forager’s Fruit pie filled with BC bounty including pears, wine and grape juice. Delight your dinner guests with this recipe, and don’t be scared off by the two day prep period. It’s worth every bite!

Fall Fair 1st Place Pie (“Drunken” Forager’s Fruit Pie)

Recipe

    Filling
  • 12 lbs. nearly ripe pears – peeled
  • 3 cups BC red wine
  • 1 cup BC grape juice
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 3 star anise pods
  • 1 vanilla bean – split
  • 4 tbs. cornstarch mixed with 2 tbs. water
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
    Crust
  • 1/2 lb. shortening
  • 3 cups pastry flour
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tbs. vinegar
  • Water
  • Ice

Instructions

    Day 1
  1. Combine wine, juice, sugar, cinnamon, star anise and vanilla bean in pot. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add pears to mixture, ensuring they are covered. Poach for approximately 15-15 minutes. Cool and cover in fridge overnight.
  2. Combine flour and shortening until mixture resembles pea size crumbs. In a separate bowl, combine egg and vinegar. Add enough water so total liquid volume is one cup. Add ice to cool. Combine just enough liquid to combine flour mixture into dough crumbs. Roll into a ball and refrigerate.
    3. Day 2
  3. Roll out crust, and use egg wash on edges. Blind bake at 400F and cool.
  4. Remove pears from poaching liquid, and slice. Set aside.
  5. Remove ~1.5 cups of poaching liquid, and add to a separate pot. Add cranberries and boil until soft. Drain cranberries and set aside. Once cool, add them to pears.
  6. Boil cranberry wine liquid and reduce to one cup. Add cornstarch mixture, and boil until thick.
  7. Pour cranberry & pear mixture into baked pie shell. Add the thickened liquid. Use pastry brush to glaze the top.
  8. Chill and serve!
    9.  

Pick up produce at any of our three weekly markets: Tuesdays 4-6:30PM at the UBC Farm, Wednesdays 11:30AM-1:30PM at the UBC Bookstore, and Saturdays 10AM-2PM at UBC Farm. Learn more about our produce and browse other recipes in our Market Recipe Blog. Recieve regular market recipes from our newsletter here.

Read More | No Comments

Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: Dageraad

By carissa kirk on September 17, 2019

Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: Dageraad

This week’s feature is Dageraad! “Dager-add,” meaning “daybreak” or “sunrise” in Dutch and named after Dageraadplaats- a square on the east side of Antwerp. They sell a Belgian-style beer, brewed right here in BC. It looks great (truly, such aesthetic labels) and tastes even better. Be sure to stop by to see what types of ales they have with them this week, and to give their products a try.

What kind of products do you have?

We are a Belgian-style brewery based out of Burnaby, so we make the beers with Belgian yeasts and they are unfiltered.

What beers did you bring to market today?

Out for the summer, we had the “Brightside” which was a tart table Saison, brewed with lemons. We also have some mainstay beers- “Rainshine” which is a hoppy blonde ale with grapefruit peel and the “Blonde” which is a medium-dry blonde ale which has been brewed with a blend of spices and caramelized sugar. But we have plenty more varieties, which you can on our website.

How long has Dageraad been around?

We just had our 5th year anniversary back in May, and on an exciting note, we actually won Canadian Brewery of the year in 2018!

What was the motivation in this company being started?

The owner went to brewery school and also visited Belgium and fell in love with the style of beer there, so he wanted to open a brewery and bring that back. We are the only Belgian-style brewery that I know of, and this makes us quite unique locally.

What would you like customers to know about Dageraad?

Come visit us and check us out! We are in Burnaby by the Production Way SkyTrain station and we are open until 9 most nights of the week so you can pop in and try the beers. Our product can also be found in the local BC Liquor Stores, and a number of wine stores near you. You are able to bring food into the brewery if you do decide to visit, as right now we just have a couple of snacks on our menu.

Authors note: these beers have lovely labels! Be sure to check them out online, because they don’t only have great flavor, but they look great in your fridge.

For more details, check out their website, their Facebook, or their Instagram. This is their last week at our market, so be sure to stop by and check them out!

Read More | No Comments

Lobby Gallery Exhibition: Nature & Nourishment

By melanie kuxdorf on September 12, 2019

Lobby Gallery Exhibition: Nature & Nourishment

Friday, May 24 to Friday, September 20, 2019 from 8:30AM-5:00PM

At the Liu Institute Lobby Gallery the CSFS presented Nature & Nourishment: The Agrobiodiversity and Food Security Nexus.

This exhibit took you around the world through the eyes of food systems researchers to explore the agrobiodiversity-food security nexus. In photographs from Asia, Africa, and the Americas, two key messages emerge from the images. The first is one of concern and warning. Agricultural biodiversity is critical to food production and the ecosystem services that agricultural landscapes provide, and loss of this diversity will have significant and far-reaching negative consequences. The second is hopeful and courageous. People globally are working diligently and enthusiastically to understand, conserve, and increase agrobiodiversity to create a more resilient and food sovereign future.

This exhibit featured the work and research of the CSFS and the Diversified Agriecosystem Research Cluster, including CSFS grad student Amber Heckelman, CSFS Postdoctoral Fellow Matthew Mitchell, CSFS Research Manager Laura Morillas, and CSFS Academic Director Hannah Wittman.

This event was co-sponsored by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, Liu Institute for Global Issues, and UBC VPRI Research Excellence Cluster Program.

Date and Time

Friday, May 24 to Friday, September 20, 2019 | 8:30AM – 5:00PM

Location

Lobby Gallery at the Liu Institute for Global Issues | 6476 NW Marine Drive

Read More Here.

Read More | No Comments

Market Recipe Blog: Leek Fritters

By noni nabors on September 12, 2019

Market Recipe Blog: Leek Fritters

 

If the first gusts of crisp fall air have you reaching for cozy blankets, hot tea and dreaming of squash season, this recipe is for you. We are looking to warming fall foods to tide us over this week, starting with this recipe full of autumn alliums. These versatile fritters will shine on a fall brunch menu, or round out your dinner plate as a great side. You can make the batter ahead and store up to three days in the fridge, and customize the sauce with whatever greens you have on hand!

Leek Fritters

Recipe (adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi)

    Sauce
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2.5 cups chopped greens, such as parsley, cilantro, celery leaves or sorrel
    Fritters
  • 3 large leeks
  • 5 small or 2 large shallots, finely chopped
  • 2/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 fresh red chile, seeded and sliced
  • 1/2 cup greens, finely chopped
  • 3/4 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 egg white
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp self-rising flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 4.5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

  1. Blend all sauce ingredients together in a food process until uniform. set aside for later.
  2. Cut the leeks into 1-inch thick slices; rinse and drain. Saute the leeks and shallots in a pan with half the oil on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until soft. Transfer to a large bowl, and add the chile, greens, spices, sugar and salt. Allow to cool down.
  3. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold into vegetables. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, whole egg, milk and butter to form a batter. Gently mix it into the vegetable mixture.
  4. Put 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil in a large frying pan and place over medium heat. Spoon about half of the vegetable mixture into the pan to make four large fritters. Fry them for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden and crisp. Remove to paper towels and keep warm. Continue making fritters, adding more oil as needed. Serve warm, with the sauce on the size or drizzled over.
    5.  

Pick up produce at any of our three weekly markets: Tuesdays 4-6:30PM at the UBC Farm, Wednesdays 11:30AM-1:30PM at the UBC Bookstore, and Saturdays 10AM-2PM at UBC Farm. Learn more about our produce and browse other recipes in our Market Recipe Blog. Recieve regular market recipes from our newsletter here.

Read More | No Comments

Eating Tomorrow: The Battle for the Future of Food

By Salloum on September 11, 2019

Eating Tomorrow: The Battle for the Future of Food

Thursday, October 24, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Join author Timothy A. Wise in a conversation with Dr. Jennifer Clapp and Sophia Murphy about concentrated economic power in the world’s food systems.

In his book, Eating Tomorrow, Wise makes a convincing case that increasing the industrial production of agricultural commodities does almost nothing for the 850 million people in the world who live with chronic hunger. Industrial agriculture can even make their situation worse. Wise argues that agribusiness and its well-heeled philanthropic promoters are using food policies to feed corporate interests. In the process, they are destroying the natural resources—land, air, water, climate—we all will need to eat tomorrow, while farmers and farm workers are left with precarious livelihoods.

Attendees will get an opportunity to buy Timothy Wise’s book, Eating Tomorrow.

When and Where?

  • Thursday, October 24 2019 | 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
  • FNH Room 40 | 2205 East Mall, Vancouver BC

About the Presenters

Timothy Wise – Author, Senior Researcher, and Fellow

Timothy A. Wise is a senior researcher at the Small Planet Institute, where he directs the Land and Food Rights Program. He is also a senior research fellow at Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute, where he founded and directed its Globalization and Sustainable Development Program. He previously served as executive director of the U.S.-based aid agency Grassroots International. He is the author of Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food (The New Press) and Confronting Globalization: Economic Integration and Popular Resistance in Mexico. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. Jennifer Clapp – Professor and Canada Research Chair

Jennifer Clapp studies the flow of money nobody sees: the investors who own the agribusinesses that profit so handsomely from the world’s food systems. How to make sense of the hidden power in food systems, and how to understand their interests and hold them accountable? She is a Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability, and a Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies International Visiting Research Scholar from the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She has published widely on the global governance of problems that arise at the intersection of the global economy, the environment, and food security.

Sophia Murphy – PhD Candidate

Sophia Murphy works on the rules needed to manage the global dimensions of our food systems in an increasingly interdependent world. What do we need from the rules that govern the space where governments are obliged to cooperate? Governments have made a lot of commitments to protect food systems for tomorrow—understanding the challenges created by concentrated market power in food systems, how can we make the rules more effective?

This event is co-hosted by: The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA).

Read More | No Comments

Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: The Masala Shop

By nicole ma on September 11, 2019

Saturday Farmers’ Market Vendor Feature: The Masala Shop

This week’s feature is The Masala Shop! They sell hand-mixed spice mixes that are sure to spice up your life (and your food)! We interviewed Susheela, the owner of The Masala Shop, and asked her some questions about how she started her business and how she makes her spice batches. Cumin to the market this week and chat with her about her favourite recipes and how to use different spices!

Susheela at her booth!

How did you start selling spices?

People would come over and eat at my house and then they would ask me for the recipe. When I started rattling off the list of spices, they would kind of glaze over and say that they don’t have those or that they haven’t heard of those. So, I started making little batches of spice so they can take it home and make it. Then people told me that I should start doing this!

How long have you been selling your spice mixes for?

I started in 2013 but I took a break because I was here at the UBC Farm Practicum at the time. I got sidetracked by farming but then people kept wanting my spices so I started again last year.

What are your most popular spices?

The two that I’ve got here: the Butter Chicken and the South Indian Curry because they’re the most versatile.

Can you give us a rundown of the different spices you sell?

I’ve got around 20 on a list I’m going to create at some point. But the ones I have now are the South Indian Curry (which can be used on anything), the Bengali Potato Masala, the Kofta Kebab (for meat like ground meat, grilling meat, etc), the Susheela’s Butter Chicken, the Jimmy’s Feast Biryani, a Souvlaki one, and Masala Chai (and even the chai has like 8 different spices within)!

What’s your favourite dish to make?

Right now, seasonally, we do green moong bean with dill (and we use so much dill we end calling it “dill vegetable” or “dill bhaji” or Shepuchi bhaji – Maharastrian Style instead of moong)! It’s soaked, cooked moong, dill with green chilies, lime- I’m salivating as I say this- and I use the South Indian Curry. It’s really nice for the summer because it’s hot and cool at the same time and it’s also vegetarian!

There’s more ways to use the spices on her website here as well!

Is there anything you want people to know about your shop?

It’s like having a Spice Mistress working directly for you! I roast everything myself and mix everything. Hopefully I’ll be growing a lot of these myself on my own farm soon but I try to source organically and make sure the spices are ground within a week of market.

How long does it take for you to make a batch of spices?

Sometimes it takes me a long time- I try to get whole spices as much as possible because it’s fresher. With things like ginger, I like to keep whole dried ginger instead of ginger powder so I can control how fine or coarse the spice is ground as well.

Where else can you be found other than the UBC Farm Saturday Farmers’ Market?

At Granville Island and soon to be online. I’m also hoping to set up a little business shop over on Granville Island as well!

For more details, check out their website, their Facebook, their Instagram, or shoot them an email at masalamistress@gmail.com! The Masala Shop can be found at the UBC Farm Saturday Farmers’ Market on the following dates: Sept 14, Sept 28, Oct 12, Nov 2, Nov 23. Remember to stop by before you run out of thyme!

Read More | No Comments