All winter long, the refugee newcomers asked me for tomatoes and eggplants. They are in the grocery store, but the ones from Ontario greenhouses are expensive in January and the ones from Mexico or Chile are not the sustainable, local and affordable choices we emphasized in our lofty grant application.

Seasonal eating as a choice has not been easy to encourage, but rhubarb is the epitome of spring food and we have a lot of rhubarb at Cedar Haven Farm. When we took it out of the bag, no-one had ever seen it before. The translators, the case workers, and the refugees were all confused.

– “It is kind of like celery, but there are so many sticks!”

– “It is very sour. It did not taste good. We are going to put it in pie! – Why?”

– “Why not just make cake without the sticks?”

We chopped it small, and we measured the ingredients. Everyone tried their hand at rolling the pastry.

– “You are not doing what she said… let me do it. Let me do it. Give it here!”

And finally we put it in the oven. Meanwhile, we mixed the bean salad made the tabbouleh, heated the flat bread, and we set the table. The littlest chef stared into the oven as the pastry browned and the edges bubbled where the juice was forcing itself through.

We ate it fresh from the oven and it was amazing. When everyone was full and the kitchen cleaned up, there were two pieces left. One young woman took them for herself and her son for the next day. Her brother woke early to beat her to them… and rhubarb in any form has been a HIT ever since!

– Carrie Van Dorp

Project Coordinator of the Earth-To-Table program in Hamilton, Ontario.

*For more information, please email Carrie at earth.to.table@arocha.ca