I read this in slow 10 page increments each morning over a period of a few months, and it was a soul-satisfying read with my morning coffee.
Karen Anderson is a former nurse with a passion for slow and local food, as well as Alberta history. She is attempting to create a culinary scene in the province that extends beyond the major cities (she was running food tours in the major cities), and this book is a step towards that goal, as well as trying to teach more Albertans about where our food comes from.
I am a prime audience for this book, so its probably not a surprise that I loved it. I grew up on a farm (where my parents still live) so I really appreciate our province’s food producers and artisans and know how hard they work (often for diminishing returns in the days where small family farms face multiple crisis points- go big or sell out is often what it feels like the options are). Anderson is championing people who are trying to create or expand markets that still feel niche- ranchers raising organic, free-range cattle or poultry, small market gardeners, bakers trying to bring back heritage grains, butchers branching out into locally-sourced charcuterie, small distributors trying to keep alive the transportation networks to get these products into restaurant and home kitchens.
Anderson really tries to get the stories about why these producers/artisans are still doing what they’re doing in a world that doesn’t always recognize or compensate them for it. For many it’s a calling- the fundamental role that good food, or responsible livestock husbandry plays in their view of what the world can or should be. For some its tradition, or the chance to raise a family on a farm, or a way to connect with their heritage or the province’s history. Each story has to fit on a single page, along with a picture, so Anderson’s prose is matter of fact (and a little folksy, which feels appropriate for this type of book).
Immediately after reading this I started looking out for more of these products in a purposeful way, to middling success (many of them of are in town but a bit scattered, so in a usual Safeway run I won’t find the perishables, like the dairy products). I am a proselytizer though, so I’m not only passing on the book but passing on the butter- would you like salted or unsalted? 😉
Support your local growers, ranchers, bakers, butchers, whiskey makers! If we are what we eat, I want to be made of the good stuff.