By Mallory Johnson
There are more options than meet the eye for local food from Kamloops and the surrounding area. Finding what’s available only takes a closer look in the right places. It’s easier than it sounds!
Sandy Chadwick, store manager of Old Town Farm Market, shows off some local Kamloops produce—in this case onions. Old Town Farm market is one of many places to find local produce and products in Kamloops.
Eating local food has a wide range of advantages that benefit the local economy, the environment and a healthy personal diet. But the most convenient and abundant food choices in most grocery stores tend not to be from Kamloops, B.C. or even Canada. Many fruits and vegetables from popular grocery stores come from places like California, Mexico and Peru, as their fruit stickers indicate.
To start eating local is to ask what’s available in the stores you already frequent. Most grocery stores have at least a few local options, especially as the movement becomes more and more widespread.
A great way to start thinking about eating locally is to adopt the 100 Mile Diet. True to its name, the diet, which is less a diet and more a way to think about food consumption, encourages sourcing food from within 100 miles or 160 kilometres of your home. Putting a clear distance limit on the locality of your food helps distinguish what is local and what’s not. A hundred miles is a large enough area to include outlying farms and small communities outside the city, but it’s small enough to feel local.
Store owner Dave Burgess sits in front of Grinders Organic Coffee Bar, where he serves food prepared with local produce whenever possible.
In the summer, one of the best places to pick up fresh produce is the Kamloops Farmers Market. Every Saturday and Wednesday morning from April to October, the Farmers Market provides a venue for local farmers and merchants to sell their wares – everything from fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers to honey, meat, salsa, jewelry and dog treats is available for purchase.
The Kamloops Regional Farmers Market Society has a list of regulations in place to ensure vendors produce 100 per cent of the crops or products they sell and that the produce is grown only in British Columbia. The only exception is if local supply is non-existent and, even then, the society has the final word on what’s allowable in the vendor stalls.
In addition to the selection of local produce and products, patrons of the market will find a lively, culture-rich community spirit. The market is held outdoors and downtown –at 200 block St. Paul Street on Saturdays, and at 400 block Victoria Street on Wednesdays—so the atmosphere is engaging and the location is central and convenient for Kamloopsians and tourists alike.
For those seeking fresh and local veggies on the North Shore, a farmers market takes place Friday afternoons from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at McDonald Park from mid-May to the end of October.
While the Farmers Market is an ideal setting to buy locally-grown products from the spring to the fall, it is limited to the warmest months of the year and is not an option druing winter.
Old Town Farm Market, located in the Summit shopping square, faces the same climate-related challenges. A wide range of fruits and vegetables are available year-round at the market and manager Sandy Chadwick says “whenever we can buy local produce, we do. Anything that’s available that time of year.”
During the winter months, when local produce supply is low, Old Town Farm Market brings in produce from California and Mexico. All produce is labelled with its region of origin, whether local or not, so there’s no mistake about what customers are buying.
Chadwick says the market opts to bring in non-local items during the wintertime to provide a one-stop grocery shop to customers.
“We like to have everything, and carry whatever we can.”
When the regional climate permits, Old Town Farm Market buys from local suppliers: Dhaliwal Green Acres Farm in Rayleigh supplies English cucumbers, potatoes and onions; Craig’s Bakery from Chase brings in breads, buns and other baked goods; and a few small suppliers from the Okanagan are the source of the market’s apples, just to name a few.
Non-perishable local food items are also available at the Old Town Farm Market, like Little Creek salad dressing from Kelowna and Fresh is Best chips and salsa.
Fresh is Best Salsa & Company is a Kamloops-based business with two locations in town and a new location on Broadway Street in Vancouver. Fresh is Best makes itsr own products, which includes chips, salsa, guacamole, spinach dip, black bean dip and layered dips, many of which are also available at the Farmers Market and at most grocery stores in Kamloops and around B.C.
Another major player in the local food scene is the Heartland Food Co-op, which aims to support local sustainable agriculture and is committed to building stronger grower-consumer relationships in the Kamloops area.
Working in co-operation with local farmers and livestock producers, the Heartland Co-op provides local produce year-round at its Laval Crescent location.
“We offer a complete range of food: meat, dairy, eggs, cheese, baked goods and produce,” says Co-op co-ordinator Andrea Gunner.
During the winter months, the Co-op continues to offer “storage vegetables, like carrots, onions, potatoes and apples,” she says.
The Heartland Food Co-op makes getting local produce even easier by providing a Grocery Box program through local organic produce supplier Thistle Farm, located in the North Thompson Valley.
The Grocery Box program allows customers to order a box of produce to be delivered to their door on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Thistle Farm, which occupies a stall at the Kamloops Farmers Market, runs the Grocery Box program independently, in addition to partnering with Heartland food Co-op.
Shop-owners like Dave Burgess, who runs Grinders Organic Coffee Bar on Victoria Street, support the buy-local initiative even if their wares don’t include whole produce. Grinders specializes in coffee and edibles, so Burgess opts to purchase what he can from local vendors to make his prepared food.
“I support the farmers market when I can. I don’t go with the big organizations. I try to support local independent organizations, local farmers (and) bakers. I try to mix them in when I can.”
Even during winter, businesses in Kamloops are making the effort to provide what they can when they can for customers seeking local food. Get out there and take a look at what’s right outside the back door!
