A food lover’s tour of Canadian farms

“I am continually shocked by how little most industrial farmers think about the taste or nutrition of their crops and livestock, how little they know or care about what might seem a fundamental aspect of their work. Clearly, they have become as divorced from their groceries as consumers.”

This is an excerpt from the introduction to Margaret Webb’s book, “Apples to Oysters: A food lover’s tour of Canadian Farms.” She visited 11 farms, chosen for their special attention to detail on production practices and on taste. Parts of this book will make you mad, especially if you’re a “conventional” farmer. But in general, I liked the book, and if you read it, you might find it inspiring.

In the chapter about a fish farm in Newfoundland, Webb paints a positive picture of fish farming, the practice, and farmed fish, the food. She also admits that she prefers the taste of farmed salmon and farmed cod over the wild versions. This is “something foodies consider a travesty,” she writes. “Yet, when I admit this to my food friends, they usually agree.”

She writes about pork production in Manitoba, focusing the chapter on Ian Smith from Argyle, whose practices were certified as “humane” by the Winnipeg Humane Society. Smith sells his pork direct to consumers, and because he doesn’t have a lot of marketing training, growth of his business is slow. Webb quotes Erin Crampton, who runs a food market in Winnipeg, which sells Smith’s pork: “Ian’s a super honest, upfront guy, but he’s a typical farmer, a producer first. Agriculture departments should be helping guys like these with marketing.”  

In her Saskatchewan chapter, Webb describes Cecil Werner, a flax grower and processor from Regina. Werner figured out a way to roast flax that makes it easier to chew and digest. “It also gives the oilseed and rich nutty tang,” Webb writes. At one point, Werner says the government is doing little to help farmers diversify. In that same paragraph, Webb writes that “Cecil believes the Canadian Wheat Board has stymied innovation by forcing farmers to sell directly into the wheat pool, rather than, say, keeping their own grain and processing it into pasta, as one group of farmers attempted.”

I could go on, but I’ll close with one last excerpt about Alberta beef. This is a perfect example of how our quality parameters have little to do with taste, which is probably the most important characteristic of food. Webb writes about going into a “very upscale” restaurant in Calgary that serves AAAA beef. She is less than impressed. “Clearly the industry, by creating a fetish around beef grades, has distracted us from looking at how that beef is raised. For, predictably, this top-of-the-class strip loin arrives on my plate perfectly grilled rare, as ordered, but like most beef these days, wet and flavourless. Tender, yes, but tasteless.” For that, she paid $45.