The Walleye Magazine

Add Some Local Flavour to Your Holiday Meals

By Karen Kerk, Coordinator, Thunder Bay Food Strategy

In the blink of an eye, the ter holiday season is upon us. This includes International Human Rights Day, Chanukah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, and Christmas, to name only a few. For some, there’s a lot of hustle and bustle and social gatherings; for others, it’s a quieter affair. But the one thing everyone has in common is preparing and sharing delicious food as the centrepiece.

Whatever religious or cultural traditions your community celebrates, why not incorporate more local and sustainable food this holiday season? The Thunder Bay region is home to a committed community of farmers, food producers, and food processors dedicated to growing, raising, and preparing delicious foods for you to enjoy. There’s also an abundance of wild harvested forest and freshwater foods.

So, who’s using local foods in what ways this holiday season?

Jessica is from Long Lake #58 First Nation and loves the winter holiday season as it gives her family a chance to use some of the foods they’ve gathered, foraged, and processed in the summer and fall seasons in their holiday menus. Some of these foods are manoomin (wild rice), cranberries, blueberries, moose, geese, teas, and some medicines, all harvested together. "It's the absolute best feeling to be able to use seasonal harvesting and storing to feed our entire family during the winter months,” she says. “The experience of harvesting, processing, and eating together brings our family closer and provides us with a conduit to reclaim and relearn some of the ancestral food teachings that we lost during colonization.”

Charles is excited to celebrate Chanukah with his friends and family. The eightday festival of lights marks a rededication to traditions, communities, and justice, and the celebrations involve music, stories, sharing gifts, and, of course, food. Treats include fried foods like potato latkes (or pancakes) and doughnuts. “I love frying up latkes with my kids,” Charles says. “They are especially delicious with local potatoes and stone-ground flour and topped with applesauce. We always need to make extra because the smell attracts all our neighbours.”

For those celebrating traditional Christian-based Christmas gatherings, consider a local ham, roast, or chicken as your main serving instead of turkey. There are so many amazing options in the region to surround the main dish with sides, like local potatoes, squash, carrots, parsnips, and sourdough bread stuffing. How about homemade pumpkin pie for dessert (with gelato)? Are you getting hungry yet?

Along with ingredients to make your own meals, there are some fantastic local processors whipping up everything from cheese and bagels to prepared meals, preserves, hot sauces, honey, and so much more. Whether you’re a total newbie to local foods or consider yourself a local foodie, there is always something new to taste from our region. You can find all the local food goodies at local retailers and markets including the Thunder Bay Country Market, Superior Seasons Farmers Market (online and inside Goods & Co.), and many local shops. Share the love of local food this season.

For a complete directory of local food producers, processors, and retailers, check out tbayinseason.ca.

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