Support the local Girl Guides by indulging in some delicious cookies.

Vanilla, chocolate and a few (if you're lucky) chocolate mint boxes are on offer.

For information in Gibsons call 604-886-6511

A lone potato rolls out of its bag in a dark cupboard.

Months later it is found, with horns growing.

This year marks the anniversary of fish and chips, 150 years after it became a regular dish in Northern Europe.

These days fish and chips still reigns as tasty fare, but will we continue to eat fatty fried foods for another 150 years?

ahhh, snails.

Not everyone enjoys the slimy, squishy texture, but the French, among others, do appreciate them. They are known to feed snails fresh thyme, in part for flavour, but also to cleanse the flesh of impurities.

This topic came about because I was offered a snail today by a little boy who kept his gathered in a pail, amidst a nest of bright green ferns. He was feeding them ants.

In BC snails are raised to be eaten. This process is called heliciculture.

Wild snails can be edible too, though there are many varieties to be aware of. Toxins in our environment can end up as snail food, so this is something to be aware of too. I looked up snail types to see if the one offered me is edible. Apparently it is, it is a Common Brown snail.

Working at a French Bistro in Montreal, I was responsible for the snail dish on the menu. It was actually pretty good, if you like snails: handmade mini potato gnocci formed a bed, which got tossed with a spinach foam (spinach and cream whizzed in a machine), bits of sundried tomato and shallot sauteed with garlic, and the snails of course, which got seared in garic oil at the last minute and then floated in the bowl with lots of fresh parsley.

An early spring and uneven melting and freezing is helping sap collectors in my home province of Quebec.  My Mom snapped this photo of her neighbour's tree, set up to catch precious drops with Folger's coffee cans.

It takes approximately 40 litres of sap to produce one litre of syrup. This is one tradition that I hope remains in our changing world. I am so very lucky to have parents willing to send this liquid gold West so that I can continue to savour the flavours of my childhood. I don't have a sweet tooth, but fresh maple syrup, so pure and light, is more than sugar, it's a true taste of terroir. It is also a significant source of the minerals zinc and maganese...continue reading to find out about all of the health benefits of maple syrup, plus facts and recipes (sorry, it's too $$$ for our classroom kitchen).

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/dining/03milk.html

Revisiting sweetened condensed milk, a long lasting dairy product with many ingenious uses.

Click on the link to see the designer jello molds.

We've been discussing culture in class, using the Chinese New Year as an example of how tradition, religion, climate, geography, population, economics, and art find their way into the foods we eat.

In Vancouver on Saturday I walked past a sign posted in front of a barbeque selling "wild smoked BC salmon, 5$".

Is this not the quintessential example of local culture expressed by the edible?

Kefir is listed as a dairy product in The Canada Food Guide. Many students ask what it is so I thought I’d give this delicious and nutritious drink some exposure.  Recently I was told about a kefir maker on Vancouver Island.  Kefir is made on the Sunshine Coast in Powell River too.

Kefir is made from pasteurized milk and “seeds” which are left in the milk at room temperature for approximately one day.  The milk ferments, turning a little sour and thickening somewhat. The seeds are then removed, rinsed, and used to turn a new batch of milk into kefir.

Click here to see a picture of the kefir seeds before they are strained out:

with guests Michael Elliott and Tandy Sean Arnold

Students in Semester 1 of Foods 10 ended their class with a bit of play.  Playing with food to make it look good could turn into a real career.  Mr. Elliott discussed the need to be flexible; to be ready, able and willing to adapt to changing client needs and demands with plenty of ideas. Creativity and honed chef skills were two of the qualifications he mentioned that helped bring him success. Of course, the portfolio he showed us wouldn’t be what it is without advanced computer skills and quality photography. We witnessed how the teamwork of a food stylist and photographer came together.

Take a look at the ice-cream sundaes here. Can you tell the ice-cream is not real? The recipe is a take-away bonus for all participants. Not all food used for professional photography is fake, but it is certainly enhanced, and probably handled a little more than you would want your food to be: remember food safety? This ice-cream does look good though…the third sundae won the majority of votes for being the most appealing looking in our class poll. 
Congratulations to creators Cole Nadelko, William Owen and Morgan Wynne!