ANCESTRAL FOOD. MAGICAL COOKERY. SEASONAL CELEBRATION.
Picture a patch of grass three feet by three feet beneath you. Then imagine you are a Greek Granny with basket in hand, who is foraging for the over eighty kinds of wild greens that appear in the hillsides and fields each spring. You fill your basket with the young leaves of dandelions, dock, mallow, […]
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I am standing on the edge of a forest, my gumboots wedged in mud, the sun dappling the ground before me. There, standing in a warm mist, is the object of my foraging quest—spring nettles. But I’m not here because nettles currently grace the Instagram pages of every hipster from Portland to Copenhagen. Nor because […]
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Juniper Berry is simply divine. Aromatic and perfumey, it is just the perfect spice for a buttery cookie. Growing on Vancouver Island, and all over the world, common junipers gorgeous blue-black berries (actually tiny cones) are best known as the taste ingredient of gin. For those who have never encountered the juniper berry, imagine the […]
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Okay, so let’s start by going back to the very beginning – women and wild food. Because once upon a time all food was wild – and it was the women who gathered it. And from harvest to preparation to consumption, no aspect of food production was left untouched by magical ritual. Many ecofeminists see […]
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Yes, the cold snowy nights of winter may seem a long way off, but you can be sure, they’re coming. But if you get picking now – I guarantee this boozy, dark, thick wild berry compote will bring the heady luscious flavours of high summer back to your winter table. Using alcohol and sugar to […]
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“Be cheerful knight: thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house” William Shakespeare, Hamlet Dating back to the middle ages, the posset is making a comeback. Like a custard crossed with a pudding, it’s perfect when you want to whip up a special dessert with minimal effort. It’s made with three ingredients, honey, lilac-infused cream and lemon juice – […]
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If you live in the Pacific Northwest, violets are likely popping up their lovely blue, pink or even white little heads somewhere near you – right now. And if you’ve left your Valentine treat to the last possible minute (as I have) well, violet sugar is the perfect solution! No fussing, no cooking, no baking, […]
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It’s no secret that baking confections, cookies and fruit cakes have long been part of feminine customs surrounding the winter holidays. But one beautiful baking tradition is now almost entirely forgotten, and it served as the inspiration for this fruity, dense Mother’s Night Honey Cake. And while it may be a bit rustic, I tried to […]
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This investigative series follows my personal exploration into a big question – is the toxic chemical war we are waging on invasive plants doing more harm than good? To see my introduction to this series click here. In Part One and Two I explored evidence suggesting that, in the long run, invasive plants may be doing more […]
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This investigative series follows my personal exploration into a big question – is the toxic chemical war we are waging on invasive plants doing more harm than good? I’ve had it. On a recent dog walk into Uplands Park, I was horrified to discover the landscape literally dotted with notices of herbicide applications of Glyphosate […]
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This year our warm and early summer not only brought us an abundance of Osoberry but unusually luscious ones. Trailing branches over every roadside, every forest path, and every park trail, were hung so fat with plump blue-black clusters that they practically begged to be picked. But the big question – how to preserve the […]
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Today top restaurants are lauded for making wild food into “high cuisine” – but I am inspired by a much older (and heartier) gastronomic tradition. One in which dishes like Veloute aux Sorties (Nettle soup with Potatoes, Cream and Butter) and Poulet au Bon Join Sauce Meliot (Chicken in a Sweet Clover Sauce) were just […]
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“Mystery glows in the rose bed, the secret is hidden in the rose.” 12th Century Persian Poem Don’t underestimate this demure little cupcake. Much more than an overindulgence in either sugar or the New Domesticity, this divine rose confection is a direct connection to a feminine spiritual heritage thousands of years old. And they offer […]
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Transforming dollops of rich yogurt, colourful blossoms and wild herbs into beautiful rounds of fresh cheese is more magic than food science. The process is as old as the hills and requires nothing more than yogurt, cloth, gravity and time. According to Andrew Curry’s Archaeology: The milk revolution: During the most recent ice age, milk […]
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I live smack in the middle of what was once a Garry Oak Grove. Oak trees twine thick above my roof and gnarled branches curl before every window. This fall a literal avalanche of glossy brown acorns fell everywhere, spreading over lawns and side-walks like a veritable carpet. And it was my guilt at their […]
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There’s a lot to know about dandelions or Taraxercum, a large genus in the Asteraceae family. They’ve been around forever or at least a good 30 million years and for most of that time they’ve been revered, first by animals and then by people, all over the world. Okay, well I don’t actually know if […]
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