Huron Expositor, 2004-01-28, Page 3News
Food to Table Network says Huron
can benefit from demand for fresh food
From Page 1
restaurant industry are other
examples of marketing the
tastes of Huron.
Wayne Knox, manager of
the Grand Erie Business
Centre in Caledonia, talked
about the potential in agri-
tourism. He highlighted a
new website
freshfromthefarm.com which
is being developed to
promote events, tourism and
local producers across
Canada.
"There's a growing trend
and demand for rural
experiences - in foods and
organic produce. Urbanites
are interested in getting back
to the freshness and
wholesome goodness of
farms," Knox said. i
Mary Wiley,, a home
economist and consultant
from St. Catharines, has
worked in surveying the
interest and response to
programs like the monthly
Good Food Box, which has
some 300 customers in Huron
County.
"Good Food Box is an
excellent program to promote
local food. It's a valued
program," she said, noting a
47 percent response to the
survey, with high marks given
to the food content and
healthy choices.
She encouraged local
producers to utilize
opportunities to market and
promote their food, noting,
"Community pride and great
taste are what drives
restaurants to buy locally."
Alun Elias, chef and owner
of the Riverboat Restaurant in
Wingham, promotes and buys
local products, noting in the
panel discussion, "People are
more health conscious and
quality conscious not as price
conscious."
Elias has a variety of local
produce on his menu -
including a field tomato salad
with seven varieties of
tomatoes, including four
heirloom types, grown locally
on his farm.
As a fruit and vegetable
producer, Tyler Papple of
Seaforth considered
supplyingrestaurants, but
determined that delivery time
and expenses were
drawbacks.
In the panel discussion
Papple said that he has geared
his produce to the home
market by establishing a fresh
food stand in Seaforth.
"Young producers like Tyler
are models for the future,"
encouraged Dick Burgess of
Seaforth, a 40 -year area
resident and supporter of the
Good Food Box.
Burgess noted that some
young farmers have a
"crushing debt load" and may
be tied in with huge multi-
national companies. He
encouraged small,
independent producers,
noting, "Price can't be used
as the sole measure of
efficiency. We have to sell
quality and be awarded
appropriately for our
labours."
Burgess encouraged more
people to get on the Good
Fox Box program, "The
Good Food Box is not a
charity, this may be a
misconception. It's not a food
bank and not targeted at the
low income consumer."
"It promotes health eating
and fresh produce. We take
for granted."
Jackie Rowe of The Garlic
Box in Hensall knows that
her company can't supply
garlic to grocery giants with
quantity and consistency, 12
months of the year.
However, The Garlic Box
has achieved success in the
speciality food market with
over 1,000 customers in
Canada and the United States.
Rowe to the audience that
Ontario garlic producers were
looking for value added w rys
to use yields of garlic.
Rowed to follow the
harvester to pick up the
missed or misshapen bulbs of
garlic, then sought out recipes
that used garlic. Today, the
wholesale business sells
garlic seasonings. sauces and
preserves.
"Ontario garlic is like a fine
icewine compared to other
offshore varieties," Rowe
noted.
"Baby boomers want quality
food, information and they'll
pay for the product."
Audience members, many
of whom are producers and
agri-food stakeholders
wholeheartedly agree.
Shelley McPhee Hoist photo
Participants at the Field to Table workshop in Clinton,. including
right, Nancy Hislop, an herb and sheep farmer in Auburn, put
their tastebuds to the test with a lunch featuring a selection of
Huron County products.
Mason Bailey, apple orchard`
owner of Blyth, noted,
"Producing natural food from
the land needs more attention,
especially in a society that
has concerns about obesity
and children."
Food safety was discussed,
particularly the restrictions
placed on producers who well
from the farmgate.
Goat producer Garry
Claassen of Teeswater,
noted, "I believe that our food
is inherently safe," adding
that it's how the food is
handled and processed that
causes problems.
The audience also heard
from Antony John of
Sebringville, an organic
farmer and host of the
television show The Manic
Organic (Food Network and
HGTV).
He noted that urban
markets, especially, are
looking for farm fresh foods.
"It's a quality of life that
you can't buy in Toronto," he
said.
The show's producer Craig
Thompson added. "We're
jumping out of our boots with
excitement (to promote agr-
tourism in Huron County).
The key is to spread the
Police seek driver in hit and run
collision on Seaforth's James St.
Huron OPP are
looking for the
driver of a vehicle
that collided into
a car parked on James Street
on Jan. 24 at 12:30 a.m.
A citizen walking on the
street saw a large light-
coloured vehicle going too
fast for road conditions slide
into the side of a silver 2003,
Hyundi parked at the side df,
the road. The vehicle then
fled the scene.
The vehicle involved in the
hit and run should have
extensive damage done to the
right passenger side and a
broken rear right taillight.
Anyone with related
information is asked to call
the Huron OPP or Crime
Huron OPP
McTaggart
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Snowmobile stolen
in Seaforth
A snowmobile, valued at
$11,000, was stolen from
behind a Goderich Street
business on Jan. 25 between
midnight and 1:30 a.m. when
The
black 2004 Arctic Cat 700
with licence plates 924192.
Anyone with related
information is asked to call
the Huron OPP or Crime
Stoppers.
its owner was
visiting a local
tavern, reports the
Huron OPP.
snowmobile was a
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word."
Whether producers are
selling apples at the local
market, eggs from their farm,
preserves at a gift shop, or
culinary creations in the
restaurant business - it
appears that there's great
potential and excellence in
Huron County foods.
e
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