Words and photo by Stephanie Dunn.
A lot of parents describe meals as a battle ground. For us, it’s more like an extensive contract negotiation.
My middle child, age three, is a shrewd and relentless negotiator. The issue on the table today: breakfast.
We’re mid-way through #RichmondEats: A Local-Eating Challenge. We’ve pledged to eat only food grown or raised in Richmond and seafood sold on local docks, so our usual meal, porridge, has been replaced by kale, potatoes and eggs.
It makes no difference to her that her meal was grown locally at small-scale family farms less than 10 minutes from our home. She’s bypassed her usual “how many bites do I have to take” tactic and any pretense she’ll actually eat. She’s after a better meal tomorrow.
“I like pancakes. Tomorrow for breakfast we’ll have pancakes and maple syrup right? Right?” She persists until she gets the answer she wants. I’m feeding the baby and carrying on a conversation with my five-year-old. I’m easily distracted. I’m tired. I agree.
“Wait, no,” I correct myself. “Not tomorrow, next week. Next week, I promise.”
A local-eating challenge is certainly the right way to describe what we’re doing. It’s certainly a challenge.
In a perfect world we’d have a food hub to bring together local food from across Richmond. Instead we’re trekking across the city.
We discovered an amazing abundance of local produce but getting a variety of food means multiple stops at small farm stands. We’ve found chicken on the North East side of Richmond and beef that’s raised locally and fed locally-grown crops on the far, far East side of the island. We rarely make it out this way; we live in the South West corner of the city.
Without prepared foods of any kind, everything we eat is cooked from scratch. I’m without my usual weekday meal shortcuts like pasta or sausages. And we’ve had to relax the local eating rules when it comes to the kids. Foods that are eaten reliably and without complaint, like crackers, cheese and bread, have snuck into their summer camp lunches.
These challenges are short term; #RichmondEats isn’t a lifestyle, it’s a symbolic act. It’s about discovering what our city has to offer, appreciating local food and talking about it with family and friends. I’ve learned so much, met so many people and I’ve had the chance to go live on both television and radio, to share what we’re doing.
It’s tremendously rewarding. Through #RichmondEats, we’re raising the money the Richmond Food Security Society needs to continue their programs aimed at building our local food system and giving people in need access to fresh, healthy food.
Personally, I’m hoping this week gives me and my family good local-eating habits. Once my pledge to eat local for a week is done, I’ll make some new pledges:
- I’ll start our meals at the farmers market and local farm stands, and base them around what’s fresh, abundant and in season.
- I’ll plan ahead so one drive across town for local beef fills our freezer and makes meal planning easy.
- I’ll preserve where possible. A little now and more in the years to come as the kids get older and are able to help.
We’ll also pledge to keep doing the things that have made this week so special. We’ll keep talking about our food, where it came from and how it was grown. We’ll keep sharing that food with the people around us and celebrating it. We’ll have the pancakes my three-year-old so craves, but we’ll have them with a rich compote made of local berries. We’ll have pan-fried potatoes from the garden instead of hash browns from a bag in the freezer. No negotiation.
Today’s Recipe: Little work, lots of time Pumpkin Soup
- Assemble your two key ingredients: beef bones and a sugar pumpkin. Realize you don’t know what you’re doing. Sigh deeply. Consider having a nap. Instead, email Emily Wight, author of Well Fed, Flat Broke: Recipes for Modest Budgets & Messy Kitchens. Get ideas and encouragement. Postpone your nap.
- Heat up your oven to about 230°C or 450°F. Into the oven goes your pan of bones, your pumpkin and a small ramekin filled with fat cloves of Russian garlic and olive oil. Lots of garlic.
- Pull out the bones when they smell great and you’ve read at least one magazine. Put them in a pot with carrots, onions, parsley, and, yes, more garlic.
- Reduce the oven’s heat to about 165°C or 325°F, and continue to roast the pumpkin and garlic.
- Bring the pot with the beef bones to a boil, then reduce your heat to medium and let the whole thing simmer for 3-4 hours until your kitchen smells amazing. You are nailing this.
- Check on the pumpkin and garlic. When the garlic is soft and golden, pull it out and put it aside. When the pumpkin is soft and easily pierced with a fork, set aside it to cool.
- Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the flesh. If you were feeling ambitious you’d save the seeds to roast. But today you’ve done enough.
- Strain the broth and put it into a pot with the pumpkin flesh, the garlic and some onions sautéed in olive oil. Let it all simmer until your kitchen is once again fragrant and inviting. Add fresh thyme.
- Purée using an immersion blender or a food mill, or in a blender (working in batches). Serve. Your work is done. Eat, then go enjoy that nap.
– Heart On –
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