Blog courtesy of cheeselover.ca
If you live in Toronto, here’s a new opportunity to support regional growers and artisanal food producers—and buy Canadian cheese.
Canada's 'Big Cheese' Gurth Pretty. Photo Keith Beaty of Toronto Star.
Starting this Thursday, Regional ‘n’ Artisanal Food Market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Barbara Frumm Atrium at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre, 250 Front Street West at John Street.
It’s all thanks to Gurth Pretty, cheese guru and author and owner of Cheese of Canada, who lobbied the brass at CBC to obtain use of the indoor space. Other confirmed dates are February 25, March 25 and April 22.
“During the summer and early fall, the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is awash with outdoor farmers’ markets,” says Gurth. “There is at least one each day of the week. Consumers are able to purchase local ingredients directly from the growers or from their representatives. But once the leaves change colour and fall, the outdoor market season shrivels up until (the following) June.”
Vendors confirmed for opening day include:
- Cheese of Canada (Canadian cheese/dried apple and pear crackers),
- Kawartha Ecological Growers (vegetables/preserves/eggs/meat)
- More than Pies Baking Co. (biscotti and bars)
- Toorshi Foods (savoury pickled vegetables)
- Warner Farm (Niagara fruit products)
- ChocoSol Traders and Chocolatiers (cocoa and coffee)
- Nieuwenhuis Meadows (frozen lamb)
- From These Roots (flower & fruit jam/salsa)
- St. John’s Bakery (sourdough organic breads)
- Evelyn’s Crackers (organic crackers)
Parking is available at nearby parking lots.
Cheese of Canada will have a variety of cow, goat and sheep milk cheeses on sale, including Alpindon, an organic raw cow’s milk cheese from British Columbia, Smoked Gouda from Thunder Oak in Thunder Bay, and award-winning Isabella, a goat’s milk cheese aged for 12 months at Fifth Town in Prince Edward County yet still offering delicate flavours.
The photo of Gurth Pretty appeared in The Toronto Star when they interviewed him on the benefits of raw milk.
Tags: artisan cheese, Cheese Makers, Cheese making, Eastern Ontario, Fifth Town, Gurth Pretty, National Cheese Association, Ontario Cheese Society
Posted in Cheese |
No Comments »
As part of my Christmas week marathon of cheese meetings, I met with Gurth Pretty “Canada’s Big Cheese”. Gurth is a chef, author, runs his own cheese business and heads up the Ontario Cheese Society among other things.
My mission was to talk about our invest in cheese initiative and discuss how we could work with Gurth under the various hats that he wears to cross promote each other, drive traffic, membership, investment attraction leads and sales. Gurth was keen to work with us and his cheese counterparts in Toronto on our up coming brainstorming session.
Gurth has some exceptional and ambitious plans around the possibility of expanding the Ontario Cheese Society coast to coast and make it a National Association as well as being very interested in seeing an accredited cheese making school establish in (Ontario) Canada. While our invest in cheese initiative doesn’t see a direct role in realizing these dreams we are very interested and supportive of these exciting ideas.
I can see this topic coming up in our brainstorming session and I can see each of the stakeholders at the table having a vested interest in seeing the visions realized.
Should a national association and an accredited cheese making school become established, we will all win and become stronger and more successful in our individual missions. It may very well behoove us to collaborate to assist in realizing some of the dreams…
It is really easy to maintain a myopic view of one’s mission, but if we open our minds up to the possibilities of working together great things can be happen. It’s hard to argue that a strong National Cheese Association and an Accredited Cheese Makers school wouldn’t help us tap into potential cheese making start ups and new investments in our region, especially if we play some sort of supportive role.
These cheese folks are a really creative and collaborative crew, I am looking forward to working with these folks in the new year and seeing where things go.
My final “cheese collaboration blog” will address some exciting cheese promotion ideas starting to take shape.
Tags: artisan cheese, Cheese, Cheese Makers, Eastern Ontario, Gurth Pretty, National Cheese Association, Ontario Cheese Society
Posted in Cheese |
No Comments »
The Results are In
How to Start a Cheesemaking Business – Free Presentation
