Tag Archives: Foodland Ontario

Grocery shopping with Michael Bublé

Grocery shopping is not the highlight of the week for most people. Usually it’s just thought of as a chore, something you have to do if you want to put food on the table – without ordering in!

But what if, while you were picking peppers and bagging broccoli at your local grocery store, Michael Bublé tunes were being piped over the sound system?  If you’re a Bublé fan like me, that would definitely help make the shopping excursion more pleasant.

Then, what if you saw the velvet-voiced Canadian crooner actually singing in the grocery store, say in Aisle 8, sitting above the shelves of pickles? Well, that would be quite lovely, but possibly a bit weird, although I have to admit I’d much prefer hearing him belting out tunes while I’m filling my cart with milk and eggs rather than the ‘good things grow in Ontario‘ guy (even though I’m a huge fan of Foodland Ontario and always try to buy locally-produced, seasonal foods!).

Since it’s highly unlikely Bublé is coming to a store near me or you anytime soon, his new video  – Haven’t Met You Yet from his latest album Crazy Love – will have to suffice. It will also help explain what you just read!

Enjoy!

Fines for use of non-seasonal produce in British restaurants?

Although I support the movement to ‘buy locally produced foods as much as possible‘ and to ‘eat according to what’s in season’, I think British chef Gordon Ramsay’s suggestion (as reported on The Daily Telegraph’s website) to fine chefs who use out-of-season, not locally produced fruits and vegetables in their restaurants is rather extreme. In fact, the idea is as outrageous as Ramsay himself. According to the article, he’d be among the chefs who would have to pay up as apparently he doesn’t always practice what he preaches.

Educating chefs, culinary students and the general public about the environmental and economic benefits of eating what is seasonally available, not to mention promoting the generally superior quality, freshness and taste of locally produced food, would be a more civilized and sensible way to encourage buy-in of this concept.

I suspect Ramsay’s idea was just Gordon Ramsay being Gordon Ramsay! Bold, brash and controversial.

Asparagus and rhubarb are two spring crops just coming into season here in southern Ontario. If you’d like to know what other produce is seasonally available right now, visit Foodland Ontario’s website.