At the Duncan market. Photos c/o Salish Sea Salt

Born of a dream to live a sustainable life and contribute positively to her local economy, Jessical Abel has created a local BC artisan business worth its salt. Salish Sea Salt founder Abel and her partner harvest seawater by small boat from the Salish Sea and convert it into beautiful artisan culinary and bath salts.

Just how does one “make” salt?

It all starts with a day on the water collecting small batches of seawater. After the heavy lifting is through, the water is transferred into large pots to boil for a few days over propane burners. When the water is evaporated, the salty brine is infused with local herbs and ingredients. As the the briny water turns into salt crystals it is then roasted to remove excess moisture and add a soft roasted flavour.  Finally, the finished salt is packaged in reusable tins and is ready to season your next dish.

Why choose local salt?

Beyond the good feelings that local markets and sustainable products evoke, local artisan sea salt may actually be healthier for you.  “Healthy bodies need salt,” says Abel. “Just think back to Biology 12.”  Unrefined sea salt in moderation does not have the same effect on blood pressure as convention table salt. Sea salt may also benefit the skin due to its natural antiseptic properties.

But it goes further than biology.  Conventional table salt is heavily refined and this process results in the loss of health promoting micronutrients. Additionally, additives like iodine and anti-caking agents are included leaving the end product less pure, and – most concerning to foodies – less flavourful.

While you can easily replace your table salt with pure sea salt, Salish Sea Salts provides several infusions like: rosemary infused sea salt, chili garlic infused seas salts, smash peppercorn sea salts and new line of smoked sea salts.

Watch for Salish Sea Salts as your local farmers market this Spring or check out www.salishseasalts.ca

By Candice Suchocki Weir

Foe recipes using Salish Sea Salts check out the recipe section on their website

Bradford Boivert of Amuse Bistro. Kilrenny Farm

With Spring in full swing there’s lots to buzz about from land and sea, but first there are some congratulations in order for McLean’s Specialty Foods (250-754-0100) who are celebrating 20 years of bringing islanders hard-to-find cheeses and import products in Nanaimo’s Old City Quarter. All the best to Sandy and Eric – Twenty more years of cheese, please!

I love May since it kicks off the peak farmer’s market season but what is catching my interest this year is that more farms are welcoming visitors onsite with fantastic meals, events and activities. A good place to start checking this out would be in the Cowichan Valley at Amuse Bistro (250-743-3667) where Bradford and Leah Boivert recently held the grand opening for their new location at Unsworth Vineyards. This is a fantastic union that brings together winery, farm, outstanding cuisine and memorable events. Close by, Kilrenny Farm is offering cultural themed cooking classes throughout May and June. With notable chefs Don Genova and Heidi Fink at the helm these classes are bound to be inspiring and flavourful!

Flavours are definitely there for the tasting at the new Baby Salsa Mexican Restaurant in the University Village in Nanaimo. Owner Diane Babyak ran similar cantina style restaurants in Atlanta before moving to Nanaimo to open this family-run version. The menu has a variety of traditional and house-created fare including some great combination plates to choose from (250-591-8353). Perhaps it’s because it is tucked away in the Old City Mews that I only just discovered Bistro Taiyo (250.716.8861) in Nanaimo. Since opening last year this little restaurant has made a good first impression on Japanese food enthusiasts with fresh notable traditional dishes. Furthermore, they join what appears to be a growing sushi trail in Nanaimo. Nori Japanese Restaurant (203-6750 Island Hwy; 250-751-3377) continues please the most adventurous sushi diners who’ve discovered chef John’s talent for persuading diners outside of the every day bento box. The unique approach to sushi rolls at the Firehouse Grill (250-716-0323) is also worth checking out. Meanwhile Acme’s (250-753-0042) sushi bar now serves the much loved and cheekily named “Effing Oysters from Effingham Bay near Barkley Sound. These oysters were a big hit at the Parksville Uncorked event in February.

If prawns are more to your liking this is definitely your time of year with local spot prawns in season for the month of May. The real keeners will want to head to the 4th annual Cowichan Bay Spot Prawn Festival on Mother’s Day weekend May 12th & 13th. This is a chance to see fishers from Cowichan Bay Seafood in action and taste the freshness of the delightful crustaceans right off the boat. Chef and author Bill Jones of Deerholme Farm will head up a series of cooking demos.

Mother’s Day is of course a perfect time to talk brunch. Brunches just for the special day are planned at the above-mentioned Amuse Bistro and at Terrain Kitchen (250-715-1000) in Cowichan Bay. Lantzville’s Riso Food Inc. now serves brunch every Saturday and Sunday (250-390-0777). I just paid my first visit to the recently opened and fantastically located Bistro at Westwood Lake where Gaetan Brousseau and Linda Allen formerly of Wesley Street Café have embarked on their newest venture. The well-appointed dining room is bright and the lake view awe-inspiring.  The small but well thought out brunch menu is perfect for any special occasion or just a pleasant Sunday. The bistro is also open for lunch and dinner Tuesday thru Sunday (250-753-2866). The patio will soon open for the upcoming summer season.

It’s time for dining alfresco wherever you are!

 - By Karma Brophy

Carly Wintschel. Photography by Joon Koo

Carly Wintschel grew up with a dedication to beauty and love and with a passion for food, and cooking has always been a big part of her life. She has fond memories of cooking with her mother, a fascination that followed her through the years and inspired her to launch Kitchening with Carly.

Carly describes the growth of her company as organic. What began as a casual love for baking beautiful treats quickly progressed into a successful business. She had been teaching elementary school for several years when she began to feel pulled back into the kitchen. As much as she loved teaching, she felt that she was missing a creative outlet. Traveling to France with her husband, she took a variety of courses and fell in love again with baking.

Carly notes that she hadn’t planned macarons to be her most successful product, but had always loved making them during her studies in France. They were the most difficult to make, and her pursuit for excellence drew her to the delicate beauties. When she returned from France, she had no idea she would be thrown directly into the booming business world right away, but “demand outweighed supply” and soon she was working full time in her kitchen creating beautiful pastries and filling special orders.

As Carly’s business grows, she still remains true to her roots, and to her passion for using food as a medium to bring people together. Appreciative of the ability of a meal to bring people together, she aspires one day to own a community hub peppered with musicians, poets, and other artisan chefs – a place where people can come for good food and better company.

By Kelsey Vicars

Produced by CASSIA Creative.  

Photo Editing by Jongki Jeon 

Make-up by Elie Sehwang Kim 

Kitchen Supplies by Gourmet Warehouse

Shooting Location is at Vancouver Urban Winery

Victoria has just gained another brewery: Hoyne Brewing, with the motto: “Drink Hoyne for Smarts, Strength, and Stamina.” Sean Hoyne has had the dream of opening his own brewery for a very long time. “I put my dream on hold while I was raising a family”, says Sean. “Meanwhile, I was perfecting my brewing craft at Canoe and Swans brewpubs. I figured it was now or never!” Sean started with a science degree specialising in biochemistry and microbiology. Along the way he also did a one year business degree, and then switched to a MA in literature at the University of Victoria. “I’m quite liberally educated”, laughs Sean. It was while he was at UVic that he met legendary BC Brewing guru Frank Appleton. Frank was setting up the brewery at Swans Hotel in Victoria, and interviewed Sean for the job of brewer there. Sean recalls that he brought a six-pack of his homebrew with recipes to the interview, but “Frank and I just talked about literature.” New-hire Sean worked with Frank for a few months before Frank left, leaving Sean on his own. After his time with Swans, Sean moved down the street to open Canoe Brewpub, where he remained for 13 years, establishing their beer program and distinctive style.

Sean’s goal now is to have a sustainable, environmentally responsible, financially viable company, one where he is surrounded by great people. Sean goes beyond the company when he mentions the latter – he says that he loves just hanging out with other brewers. He was renowned for inviting the brewing community to regular Friday afternoon “safety meetings” during his tenure at Canoe.

Hoyne Brewing will have a significantly large number of beers in the future. There are nine on the planning board, with four currently in production. Down Easy Pale Ale is made with Superior Pale, Golden Promise, and Thomas Fawcett Marris Otter malts, with some Crystal and Carastan added to get the lovely round mouth feel. Northwest hops used are mainly Willamette and Cascades. This reminds one very much of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. For the Hoyner Pilsner Sean went for a strong malt character using tons of Vienna and Munich malts plus some German Carapils and Aromatic malts. The bittering hops are primarily Saaz, with Hallertauer Mittelfruh, and German Select for the finish. This beer pours with a beautiful thick white head, a hint of the excellent full body that this authentic Pilsner has.

Devils Dream IPA was brewed with seven different hops including the big citrusy NW varieties: Amarillo, Simcoe, Citra and Centennial. Sean did not want to discuss IBU’s as he considers that a poor way to describe a beer. “It’s all about hop character,” he said. When I visited the brewery in early January, Sean was just adding the hops to the boil for the first batch of Big Cock Bock. “This is going to be a malt bomb. I’m adding just enough hops to give this beer balance” he said. The main malt is Superior Pilsner malt, together with Chocolate, Carastan, Crystal, Vienna, Munich, Carapils, and Aromatic malts. The hops are German Hersbrucker. If these beers are typical of this brewery then the future looks well for Hoyne Brewing.

by JOHN ROWLING

DRINK Editor Treve Ring contributed her tasting notes & bottle shot above:

Hoyner Pilsner 5.3%
Bright, pale yellow gold in the glass, with crisp citrus and mild cereal notes, opening up to honey aromas. Bright and refreshing, with grapefruit rind finish.

Down Easy Pale Ale 5.2%
Tangerine orange in hue and aroma, with easy-drinking mild hop character.

Devil’s Dream IPA 6%
Golden tones, with assertive toasty earth, grass and hop characters. Quite smooth with good mouthfeel, and a touch of caramel on the lengthy finish.

Big Cock Bock 6.5%
Amber-brownish pour, with a subtle roasted malt, cocoa powder nose. Creamy, mouth filling midpalate, so smooth it deceptively tricks you into thinking it’s lighter than it is. Cocky Bock.

*Read about EAT’s experience at Oak Bay Bistro’s Hoyne Brewmaster Dinner here

Terri and Michael Surdzis. Photo by Scott Trudeau

When Terri and Michael Surdzis purchased what is known as Opus Cafe Bistro in Penticton they wanted to offer their customers a cozy and comfortable setting and a mix of affordable cultural delights. Terri was working for the previous owners when she met her husband, Michael. With her background in catering and entertainment and Michael’s ties to the restaurant industry beginning when he was a teenager, one might have speculated their future together. In fact, the couple was married there in 2006 when it was known as The Cannery Coffee House.

Because they already own and operate a mobile food concession service, they questioned taking on an ambitious endeavour at their ages (Terri is 53; Michael is 50). But when an opportunity came along for them to purchase the business, they couldn’t let it slip away.  They signed the lease on the business their fourth wedding anniversary.

In addition to his kitchen duties, Michael oversees the daily business, promotions and specials while Terri takes care of items such as menu ideas and desserts. Their signature menu item is the Gyros Donair, stacked with lamb, chicken or beef that’s been slow-cooked to a tasty tenderness on a vertical rotisserie.

Customers can choose from a menu with Mexican, Hawaiian, Asian, Italian and Greek dishes all prepared with from-scratch sauces plus homemade soups and baking. Their decor is friendly, warm and relaxing—a purposeful decision on Terri’s part. “It was going to be my living and dining room—that comes from the heart of wanting to entertain,” she said. “We wanted to show people that hospitality wasn’t dead. There’s a lot of heart and soul here.”

Opus is fully licensed offering up drink features amid relaxing candlelight dinners. Soon they’ll resume featuring regular entertainment. “I think people are looking for a rustic, village-style dining experience,” said Michael, who admitted the busy, pressure-packed pace of restaurant ownership is fused into his character. “I’m in it because it’s my passion,” he said. “Until I retire, this is what I’ll be doing.”

Good food. Good times. Good company.

By SCOTT TRUDEAU

Opus Cafe Bistro is located in The Cannery on Duncan Avenue.

Hours are Mondays and Tuesdays from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Opus offers a Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

www.opuscafebistro.ca

Andalucía is known for its sun-drenched whitewashed villages, olive groves, Moorish architecture, flamenco music and Mediterranean cuisine. Who wouldn’t want to visit this wonderful region of Spain?

Flavour of Spain is an Vancouver-based tour company that provides culinary vacations to Spain. All stays take place at the Powell’s beautifully renovated farm house nestled in a rural valley surrounded by a trout stream, olive groves and white villages. It is one hour equal distance from Malaga and Granada. Guests have the opportunity to explore Spanish culture, while nurturing their culinary talents at a leisurely pace in a small group setting.

The days are set up to provide plenty of time for cooking classes, personal time, and relaxation. There is always time to linger over lunch, tapas, and dinners; to swing by the stream or rest in the hammock under the pomegranate tree; to swim in the pool and watch the sheep being herded on the hillside; to walk to the nearby villages or hike in the hills; and to finish your days with an evening stroll on a quiet country road that winds through the olive groves.

Mike and Hilary teach their culinary vacations in English. They customize their private cooking holidays, so if your wine club, culinary group, group of friends, family or business associates want to create their own cooking vacation in Spain, Mike and Hilary will customize every detail to suit your group. As well they host several art vacations each year.

Along with hands-on cooking sessions where guests discover the joys of Mediterranean food and local wines, Mike and Hilary also organize visits to local food and fish markets, wineries, the Rute Museo de Jamon (ham museum), and the Baena organic olive oil mill.  The Powells love to share their knowledge of Spanish culture, art and history and encourage their guests to explore Southern Spain.

Mike was trained in hotel management in England and did his culinary training in France and Switzerland. After managing hotels in London, they moved to Portugal where they ran their own restaurant before Andalucía’s charms lured them to Spain where they built and ran the highly successful “La Cascada Verde” restaurant on the Costa Del Sol for several years.  The Powells, originally from England, now spend half of their year in Vancouver and the other half running their cooking and art vacations in Spain. To book your own culinary vacation to Spain with the Powells, please visit their website: http://flavourofspain.net/

By Tina Baird

By Alyssa Belter

A chef once told me “you are what you cut,” and Cindy Dreger of Ingredients Health Food Store and Apple Cafe shares this philosophy. Aware of the link between cooking and good health, Cindy and co-owner Deanna Danychuk’s newly opened store focuses on high-quality, sustainably-sourced, whole foods. The wide selection offers something for any diet, whether raw-food, gluten-free, vegan or regular ol’ omnivore.

Since “good-for-the-environment” practices often result in “good-for-you” ingredients, Cindy favours organic products. Sourcing local items is also a mandate. As a former market gardener, she wanted nutritious fruits and vegetables to form the backbone of the store. Currently, SunTrio Farm, Saanich Organics, and Makaria Farm supply produce and there are plans to include more local farms in the future.

Cindy is especially excited to carry a variety of superfoods, spices, tea blends and herbal medicines from Harmonic Arts, a Courtenay-based botanical dispensary. This conscientious, family-run business searches close to home for their supplies, even recruiting local farmers to start growing herbs not currently available in the area. Promoting sustainability, they provide information on how to use their products economically, and which are rare, to be employed sparingly. Cindy also thinks Mumm’s sprouting seeds are “the coolest thing – nothing is more nutritious.” And she praises TeaFarm for their experimentation in growing tea locally.

Inventive ice-cream sandwiches from Cold Comfort, artisan sausages from Szasz Fine Foods, vinegar from Spinnakers and the oft-mentioned Feys + Hobbs Number Three Crisps are some of the offerings from Victoria businesses.Other local products include seaweed from Dakini Tidal Wilds in Sooke, Kilreeny pasta made in Cowichan Bay, sea salt from the Vancouver Island Salt Company, The EDGE energy bars from Qualicum Beach, Drumroaster coffee from Cobble Hill, Salt Spring Gelato and dried wild mushrooms from Untamed Feast. From Gathering Place on Cortes Island come spices, salts and tea blends. Other parts of the province provide raw crackers, trail mixes with sprouted seeds, kale chips, olives and chickpea miso (Organic Lives in Vancouver), organic tea (Two Hills Tea located in Nelson), spice blends, soup and bread-baking mixes (Made with Love from Kamloops) and plenty of alternative flours and whole grains (Anita’s Organic Mill in Chilliwack).

A substantial bulk food section stocks everything from black chickpeas to Bhutanese red rice to vegan chocolate to Zuni heirloom beans. Over 90% of the items are organic. Customers are encouraged to bring in their own plastic bags or containers but empty mason jars and compostable plastic bags (made from non-GMO corn) are also available for sale. Gentle Earth, another Victoria company, offers fair-trade, 100% natural and organic shampoo, body and dish soap at the bulk bar.

The store aspires to be a model of environmentally and socially responsible business. Partnering with refuse, they will be the company’s first flagship store to pursue a zero-garbage goal. Everything from tin foil to soft plastic is separated into bins, picked up by bike, and recycled. The cafe even started making its own almond milk to eliminate packaging waste.

Cindy envisions the store as a community meeting place that educates, supports and connects people empowered in their health and the health of the planet. Guy Dauncey recently shared his ideas about creating a “green” economy during a lunch-time lecture, which Cindy plans to make a regular occurrence. Upcoming speakers include an osteopath knowledgeable about digestive health and a local market gardener. Sheila, the Apple Cafe chef, will teach a raw-food “cooking” class and workshops on canning, fermentation and cheese-making will be offered in collaboration with LifeCycles. And Cindy has been posting “how-to” videos on YouTube which explain how to sprout rice or make hemp milk. All of these resources aim to unlock the “why” behind the “what” of shopping for food and the “how” of cooking, strengthening a cycle of good health.

Ingredients radiates vitality. A chipper, cheery apple sign welcomes customers inside where staff are refreshingly genuine, helpful and pleasant. They greet each other with hugs at the start of a shift. Cindy believes some of this energy emanates from the Apple Cafe kitchen where almonds and mung beans are sprouted and used in different raw, gluten-free and/or vegetarian meals and treats. Just like the first ingredient in a package of granola from hOMe Grown Living Foods in Lake Cowichan, the most important element of this store is love.

Ingredients Health Food Store and Apple Cafe

2031 Store Street

(North of Capital Iron)

Victoria, B.C.

(250) 590-6177

By Melanie Tromp Hoover

Old MacDonald may have had a farm, but his namesake nursery rhyme—for all its charm and livestock noise-making—doesn’t really tell you how to make one.

Indeed, in the complicated landscape of modern Canadian agriculture, how-to instructions for starting a viable small-scale farm from nothing are divergent, repeatedly tested and rare.

And so, on the heels of losing his own family’s land, filmmaker Steve Suderman takes up the plight of modern agribusiness from a distinctly human perspective in his second documentary To Make A Farm, one of three food systems-tinged offerings on the table at this year’s Victoria Film Festival.

A visual feast of pastoral Canadiana, To Make A Farm follows the trials, victories and philosophies of five young farmers on three pieces of land dotting rural Ontario and Manitoba.

Leslie and Jeff, who fell in love while interning at an organic ranch, are growing produce at Cedar Down Farm and making it work financially by selling advance shares that equal a year’s supplies of fresh veggies for a few hundred local families. Over the course of the growing season, the pair grapples with extreme weather, soil deficiency and the all-consuming, isolating-yet-rewarding reality of this livelihood.

Tarrah and Nathan—world-saver and computer animator, respectively—are raising a combination of livestock and produce to make Green Being Farm pay the mortgage on its own. They’ve been at it for almost a decade, balancing part-time work with pasture-raising sheep, pigs and chickens. Tarrah is the real star of this farm, with an almost awestruck love for her animals that even a health scare in the flock and butchering day does nothing to offset.

And Wes, last but not least, is on the biggest learning curve of them all: he’s just returned to his hometown after 10 years of vagabonding and is borrowing a patch of land to both work and live on in a cozy tent for one. Everything that can go wrong does (everything), but Nathan is quick to ask questions, adapt and ultimately come out ahead after year one.

“The film was (originally) going to have a strong political focus,” explains Suderman in a statement accompanying the film.

“However … I discovered a much more human story. I was inspired by the participants that I found, and their dedication not to political protest but to living every day with a soulful conviction to their work.”

To Make A Farm is less a husbandry manual than a love song to a generation of young people who had all but disappeared from traditional pastoral occupations only to find their way back to the land through deliberate choices, creativity and a commitment to stay put for a while.

The documentary is presented as part of the film festival’s “Feast and a Film” event combining a three-course dinner at Spinnakers with the screening on Monday, February 6 starting at 6:30p.m.  To Make A Farm will also be screened as a matinee on Sunday, February 5; visit the festival website for tickets.

If you want to sate your palate with even more politically-minded food films, check out:

The Ailing Queen

Saturday, February 4 at 7:15p.m. – Capitol 6

Moving beyond the doom-and-gloom look at colony collapse that so many other films have covered, Pascal Sanchez’s documentary follows the work of a young Quebecois beekeeper as he spreads the news about his innovative technique for breeding bees that are naturally resistant to disease.

A venerable celebration of agriculture, work ethic and of bees themselves, this documentary is a beautiful exercise in the subtlety of good storytelling.  Watch the trailer or buy tickets online.

Sushi: The Global Catch

Saturday, February 4 at 4:30p.m. – Capitol 6

What began as a simple but elegant food sold by Tokyo street vendors has become a worldwide phenomenon in the past 30 years.  This documentary, shot across five nations, explores the growth and future of this popular cuisine that has popped up in Warsaw, New York and even at football games in Texas Towns.  Can this growth continue without consequence?  Watch the trailer or buy tickets online.

Also worth checking out is Sips ‘n Cinema (After the screening participants will move to the Wild Saffron Bistro at Swans where they’ll be indulged with lovely appetizers and a sommelier from Cascadia Liquor will lead you through a wine tasting. After the tasting, Festival Programmer Donovan Aikman will open up discussion of the film presented.)

And

Bon Appetit (Cineplex Odeon Victoria Cinemas 7:00pm Feb 1) An ambitious and talented, Spanish chef Daniel arrives at
world famous Zurich restaurant “W” intent on becoming
 star chef Thomas Wackerle’s protégé.

Frizz is not your typical vodka. It’s fizzy, it’s distilled (not infused) with a blend of BC fruit, and it’s delicious. With virtually all other vodkas coming from potato or grain and then filtered with charcoal to remove the harsh taste, it is no wonder that the Frizz experience is effortless in comparison.

Why make a fizzy fruit based vodka? Well, the idea came to Rick Pipes, co-owner and cider maker at Merridale, while driving down the Coquihalla after acquiring an entire inventory of high quality still and equipment from an Okanagan craft distiller. Hoping to create a spirit mainstream enough to appeal to the community, yet unique enough to fit Merridale’s existing list of craft ciders and spirits, Pipes took on the challenge of fizzy fruit based vodka.

Costing ten times as much as conventional potato or grain based products, it is no surprise that only a handful of fruit vodkas exist internationally. “Even fewer carbonated vodkas exist,” says Pipes, solidifying Frizz’s position in a category of its own.

Frizz bubbles gently in your glass without overwhelming. Though it took a few failures, Pipes now creates the lovely frizzante in Frizz by pressurizing small batches of vodka in sub zero temperatures for 20 days. Frizz is then bottled in clear French champagne bottles, specially ordered to highlight the purity while holding in the bubbles.

How does the fizz affect the flavor?  “…It’s kind of like S&M for your mouth…” says Pipes, explaining further “…the carbonation gets your pain receptors to respond which changes the way your taste buds experience the flavour…and when it goes flat it is still vodka.”

Frizz can be enjoyed just as you would any other vodka but Pipes suggest trying Frizz in a champagne flute to best maintain carbonation. The fave Frizz cocktail of the moment is the “fizzy martini” made simply by pouring Frizz over cracked ice in a champagne flute and adding a splash of vermouth (or cranberry for a “fizzy crantini”).

Currently, Frizz is sold exclusively at Merridale, but watch for it soon on the shelves of your favorite spirit purveyor. Picking up a bottle of Frizz is a great excuse to visit Merridale’s authentic cider house, bakery, bistro, distillery, and spa.

By: Candice Suchocki Weir

www.merridalecider.com

Merridale Ciderworks Corp.

1230 Merridale Road

Cobble Hill, B.C.

1-800-998-9908

Penticton’s new Wild Scallion has succeeded in offering its patrons fresh and healthy meals at affordable prices. Opened last September at 75 Front Street, owners Al Box and Hong Lac serve lunch and dinner boxes, and a gluten, ovo and lactose-free menu priced between $7 and $9. Al was committed to providing simple and delicious food options to customers without putting a big hit on their pocketbook. When he met Hong, a Saigon-born nutritionist and globetrotting cook with years of extensive experience utilizing fresh spices and quality ingredients, they decided to open a restaurant together.

“I’m doing this for the reason of food awareness activism,” said Al. “I get him (Hong) the best quality ingredients I can and he puts it together and makes it taste good.”

Hong refers to their food as “intercontinental fusion” where customers can experience “grandma’s home-cooking” while consuming food with nutritional value.

Featured items include salad rolls, jasmine rice, seasonal grains and cabbage salad, though choices “morph and evolve” depending on what ingredients are on hand. Tofu and chicken are also available. The menu offers ingredients produced organically and prepared shortly after they’ve been harvested rather than using processed foods. Hong prepares handmade soups, stews, curries and uniquely crafted sauces made using fresh spices shipped from around the world and prepared in his 80-square-foot kitchen. They’ve been pleased with the response in the few short months since they’ve been open, which they believe is an indication they’re heading in the right direction. “I want to take away people’s ability to say they can’t afford to eat something that’s healthy because it’s too expensive,” said Box.

—By SCOTT TRUDEAU

Wild Scallion offers eat-in and take-out options. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to  6 p.m. on Sunday.

(250) 486-8117

75 Front Street , Penticton, BC