HUG A FARMER

I went to a market near Dundas west, which was Sorauren Farmers' Market, there was a maple syrup festival at that day. I tried a new style to taste the maple syrup, which was poured on the clean snow, and then use a stick to roll the syrup into a ball, it tasted so funny and just liked eating maple syrup smoothies. It was a fresh tasting experience during this winter.

After tasting the syrup, I was interested by a store which was selling wild foods. I talked with a food producer for a while, and I knew something about wild foods from him. His job is collecting the wild foods from whole Canada, such as in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. Moreover, the main products are maple syrup, dried mushroom, jams, and wild rice. Also, if people want something but can't find, they can contact them. He doesn't have a farm, all his product are harvested from the Canadian wilderness by trained pickers who practice sustainable harvesting methods, which is sustainable for that particular plant species, but also sustainable for the pickers, whose livelihood is supported by a thriving source of wild foods, and sustainable for other wildlife. The pickers are usually residents of rural or remote communities who respect the lands that support them. They are Aboriginal people, women, youth, and farmers.

He also said, only the best ingredients and most delicious recipes are used in his wild foods products, and they  don't use foods that grow in parklands, conservation areas, near where people live, work, drive or farm commercially so as to ensure they have had minimal contact with any potential sources of pollution.

I bought a bag of wild mushroom, called Lobster Mushroom, which because of their distinct seafood-like taste and aroma, and it was from the forests in Quebec.

Normally, wild foods have rich flavour and rare. From this experience, I knew there are a lot wild foods in Canada, and we can buy safe wild food in some local market. However, we should be aware of the danger of wild foods, and buy them from certificated places.