“I care sincerely what goes into your mouths; I’m not so careful about what comes out of mine.” The irreverent chalkboard sign of the Tomato Man is the first thing that greets shoppers at Vancouver’s Trout Lake Farmers’ Market, and it’s as good a summing up of the city’s farm-to-plate movement as any. This is great food, locally and organically grown; but being “worthy” doesn’t mean being dull.
Judging by the queues that soon form outside his stall, Milan Djordjevich, aka “the Tomato Man”, is something of a celebrity among local foodies, and it takes just one bite of a Sungold tomato to tell me why. You could stick these on a dinner plate ungarnished and win a Michelin star. “This is why we have a lineup of a 100 people in the morning,” says Djordjevich. “People get addicted to them. When parents give them to their kids, they think they’re candy.”
He knows how to work a crowd, too. “This is proof that power corrupts,” he grins, heading towards his faithful customers with his phone outstretched. He calls out: “I’m going to make you all sing happy birthday to my daughter. Again.” It’s 9am, and the whole crowd breaks into song.
The man who’s brought me here is David Gunawan, chef at the Royal Dinette restaurant in the Downtown area of Vancouver. He wants me to see first-hand how important it is to know all the farmers and their specialities, to find out what’s good and in season, and to build a menu around the produce rather than the other way round.
“We don’t have set recipes. We adapt depending on the produce we get,” says Gunawan. “For instance, kale from Pemberton is sweeter than kale from Cawston.” He gives me some of the Tomato Man’s grapes to taste. “See? Four varieties of grape, all of them different.”
We go from stall to stall, Gunawan greeting many of the farmers like old friends. There’s Steve from Oxford, who fell in love with British Columbia 10 years ago and now forages for wild mushrooms; a group of vegetable growers Gunawan recognises from Lytton Camp (“totally off-grid, all hippies”); Lissa from Sali’s Farm, who explains they have a network of urban farms in downtown Vancouver employing people from poorer areas, “using farming as outreach tactics”; and Walter from Harvey’s, whose fruit is second to none. He puts his success down to “biodynamic” growing techniques with crystals, minerals and herbs. Only a cynic would suggest that the sunny, dry microclimate and the deep glacier loam soil he grows in, five hours’ drive from Vancouver, may also contribute to the taste and sweetness.
The amazing thing is that this scene, or one very much like it, is being played out all over the city. Vancouver Farmers Markets, founded in 1995, also runs markets in several other venues; one for pretty much every day of the week. And even more than the palate-tingling tastes of the organic produce I try, I’m struck by the energy, the passion, the friendliness (one woman can’t stop stroking my fake-fur jacket while we’re talking). Chefs will say great dishes must be cooked with love. Evidently, great food must be grown with love, too.
Get more information about Vancouver Farmers Markets
For more on David Gunawan’s Royal Dinette and other Vancouver restaurants, see the Vancouver restaurant round-up
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