local food

Best guacamole in town, Aji Gourmet Food Products

Submitted by saul on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 11:16

I love it when things land in your lap. When you're on a path, putting energy in a certain direction, I'm always amazed how things find you. Over the last 4 years I've been on a search for the freshest, best tasting food products made in British Columbia. I was recently approached by Dyana Biagi the creator of Aji Gourmet Food Products to learn more about her line of products to be included in our selection of our Vancouver gift baskets.

First impression = Nice label!

I'm a big believer that things need to look real nice for people to pick things up in the store. I know, its superficial, but it's true. If you're packaging isn't spot on, not many people will ever try your product, even if it tastes amazing. Back to Aji ...

So I sat down with Dyana and tried her products, and there's nothing ordinary about them. So this 'salsa' Aji that I tried tasted great on a chip by itself. Check, nice, I'm down with salsa, but wait .... she mashed up some avocados and mixed them with the Aji and voila ... a super tasty guacamole! Boooom! And that's not all. If you add ketchup to Aji you get a zingy cocktail seafood sauce and if you add a mayo or sour cream and get a flavourful tarter sauce. Definitely not ordinary!

You'll be able to find Aji products in our Office Party gift baskets in the near future.

Top 3 things we like about Aji

1) Tastes like its made from fresh vegetables. That's because it is.

2) Lots of ways to use it. Not just a salsa or condiment, Aji can be used to make guacamole, seafood sauce, tarter sauce, on ribs, etc. For more ideas see the Aji site.

3) Local. Local producers, local food and the local economy. That's how we roll!

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Friends of local food and econony, meet the locavores at Les Amis du Fromage

Submitted by saul on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 17:45

Locavores watch out! Les Amis du Fromage, a Vancouver based artisan cheese retailer/wholesaler has found some innovative ways to source locally while building community. Below is an article I wrote that was recently published on GranvilleOnline.ca

Local cheese retailer stands out not only for its vast selection of highly coveted cheeses but also its community outreach

I love talking with entrepreneurs and hearing their stories of how their business started, developed and grew. Sitting down with Allison Spurrell and Joe Chaput from Les Amis du Fromage, a Vancouver-based cheese and gourmet food retailer, I was immediately engaged by their passion not only for food, but also people and community.

Social interaction is a huge part of business, and building community in what we do and how we do it is key to success. Not only are all Les Amis products high quality but they also teach us a valuable lesson in how to live a good life.

Originally running a catering company with her mother, Alice Spurrell, Allison told me that she liked to include a considerable selection of cheese, with wine pairings, as part of their catering events. Their selections proved popular, and it wasn't long before word spread and other caterers started asking if they could buy cheese from them.

The cheese industry in Canada restricts the amount of product imported into the country to protect producers nationally. With the major cheese importers in Montreal and Toronto, it's not easy as a Vancouver-based business to get its hands on large amounts of specialty cheese.

But by establishing relationships early on with the importers, having great taste and setting herself up as a cheese expert, Allison was in a great position to help local restaurants and catering companies obtain a vast selection of high quality imported cheeses, besides servicing local consumers through their retail locations.

At any given time Les Amis could have anywhere between 400–600 varieties of cheese in their cellar. This has helped them build a great reputation in town as a leading supplier and resource for all things cheese.

Will trade for cheese!

Founded in 1886, Strathcona is one of the oldest residential neighbourhoods in Vancouver and, because of its age, is home to many heritage homes with mature fruit trees.

"I just put the word out," says Joe, and it was easy to find a neighbour with bushels of extra plums that they were willing to trade for cheese from the shop.

Joe went on to make his exclusive Strathcona Italian Plum Chutney a seasonal artisan product sold in their shops and also served in their restaurant, Au Petit Chavignol (843 East Hastings St), which serves tasty wine, cheese, charcuterie and other delicacies. On occasion I go into their shop on East Hastings to buy local cheese for my company Saul Good Gift Co.’s gourmet gift baskets and was instantly a big fan.

Their 2009 experiment was so successful they've decided to expand their product line this coming season. With figs, quince, pears and apples all being grown in Strathcona, I'm excited to see what else they come up with besides the plum chutney.

Part of the SOLEfood Urban Farm community

Besides having a long list of interested families looking to trade their extra fruit this season for tasty cheese, Joe has made a commitment to be a distribution channel for SOLEfood Urban Farm, an exciting inner-city green jobs program training and employing inner city residents in horticulture. According to Seann Dory, the project manager employed by United We Can, the farm will operate as an enterprising non profit that will sell produce to create revenue to help finance the social enterprise.

Be on the lookout for locally grown, heritage salad greens being served on the plates in Au Petit Chavignol in the near future!

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Local is the New Organic in Vancouver BC -part 2-

Submitted by saul on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 15:41

What does local mean?

Local means different things to different people. It's important to define what we mean, in order to clarify what we are talking about and to determine where value is created.

It's important to have clear standards for things like organic certification, fair trade and sustainable wood products. Local is a classification that can easily lose meaning and be misinterpreted.

At Saul Good Gift Co. we use local products in our corporate gift baskets and promotional products. Our definition of local includes products that are sourced from within BC.

There are Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) that define local on the neighbourhood scale, helping their members purchase and support each other's businesses. The Strathcona Green Zone, an initiative of the Strathcona BIA (SBIA) is leading the way in Vancouver, attracting the top progressive sustainability minded businesses from across the city and developing systems for companies to easily support each other through purchasing, and exchanging waste materials within the community.

The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) defines local as having at least 51% ownership by someone who lives in the community and that the management is making autonomous decisions regarding purchasing. LoCo BC, an emerging Vancouver based organization in the BALLE network, is taking a more inclusive approach, wanting to encourage local and regional supply chains even if a company is owned by people outside of the community. Why discriminate against behaviour one's trying to encourage? Sure, sourcing products and keeping profits in a community is better than importing everything and leaking all the cash but we'd rather support business models that actually are models for sustainability even if sacrificing local ownership.

Transparency and assurance

Do you want to know where your food comes from and where the products you consume are made? Have you ever wondered if the people who grew or made the items we consume everyday enjoy the great standard of living as we do in Vancouver and across Canada? When you know your farmer and producers of products, the veil of trade is lifted. One of the main reasons why our farmer's markets are thriving is because you get to know your farmer. The field to fork story is a memorable one. Whether you're feeding your family or hosting a dinner party, telling your friends and family about where their meal came from drives values for health, community and environment.

Where's your shit from?

When looking at your business supply chain, its not always easy to understand the affect that one's purchasing decisions have on the environment. Local purchasing definitely helps to cut down on the distance products travel, which reduces one's environmental impact. However, it's not a black or white situation. Not every product can be efficiently manufactured locally. Trying to manufacture all products locally could result in a larger carbon footprint. The footwear industry is a good example. Many of the materials used in shoes are specialized for the industry and are manufactured in Asia close to where the vast majority of footwear manufacturing takes place. If one was to build high performance footwear locally, they'd have to import materials from overseas. Shipping containers full of raw materials will take up more space than shipping containers of finished products, thus having a larger impact.

I'm not saying that manufacturing shoes locally wouldn't create value for the local economy through job creation, but I do believe that we need to look at the whole picture of the business supply chain and the value it creates for all its stakeholders when developing and refining one's business model and corporate strategy.

It's a lot easier to grow a business in a centralized way, utilizing economies of scale in purchasing and production to minimize one's cost per unit. It's a lot harder to develop business models that create social, environmental and economic value in all the communities one operates in as a business grows. That's our goal and as the global market changes with the cost of energy and consumer preferences for transparency, community and assurance we'll see how the way business is done responds. I plan to see you there!

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German bakes 12,000 holiday cookies

Submitted by saul on Fri, 11/27/2009 - 16:08

With the holidays fast approaching we've been busy these last weeks and months working with our clients on their corporate gift holiday programs. One of our new products this year are hand made holiday cookies by One Planet Catering, a fantastic Vancouver based sustainable catering company. Today I went by their kitchen for a tour and checked out their production line for the 12,000 cookies we've ordered for our gift baskets. As you can see each one is hand decorated. The cookies are baked in a European tradition by Michael Kraus, the man with the vision to lead the green catering movement in Vancouver, BC. Cookies are packaged in biodegradable cellulose bags and 100% recycled stylish gift boxes for presentation, and just happen to be environmentally responsible as well. Let's hope some of these tasty treats end up in your office or stocking stuffer.

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