The truth is...

The truth is, you don’t know what you can get in life until you start looking for it! For me this week, it was vegan food.

Fortunately, I am at the beginning of one week holiday. I’m not going anywhere so I’ve got a week to get my butt into the kitchen and find some food that I can eat. I love to cook. Five years ago I did a 6 month culinary program just for fun. However, even though I consider myself to be quite proficient in the kitchen, I have zero experience with vegan cooking. 

Seeking inspiration, I was looking through my cook books and came across a book I didn’t realize I had: refresh, contemporary vegan recipes from the award-winning fresh restaurants. It was a birthday present that I received in May 2007. I know this from the inscription inside the front cover. The sad part? In 6 years, it hasn’t been cracked. That is about to change.

My oldest friend is coming to visit me next week for a few days. She and I are fairly like-minded when it comes to food. I was talking to her on the phone this week about my ambitious new eating plans. We decided that we are going to try out some recipes from this book. She’s game and she can pick up whatever ingredients I can’t find here and bring them up from Whitehorse. I often stock up on so-called “specialty products” when I go to Whitehorse, which is 500 km or so down the highway. Whatever I can’t get, I’m sure she can. 

So... after much recipe perusal and menu planning, I’ve figured out what we’re going to make. Yes. Planning is good. I started off by making a list of all the ingredients that I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get here in our little town of 1300 people.  Many of the products, which I already use often, I know have been available here at various times but are not necessarily available on a regular basis. Other products I’ve never used and I don’t recall ever having seen them. I wanted to head to the store and check availability so that my friend has plenty of time to round up whatever we can’t get in Dawson.

Like I said, you don’t know what you can get until you start looking for it. I was flabbergasted to find just what I actually could get here! Yes, a little on the pricey side but still! The Whitehorse list is surprisingly short.

What I could get in Dawson:
spelt flour
soy milk
portobello mushrooms
bok choy
swiss chard
kale
tamari
dates
tahini
pomegranate juice
eggless mayonnaise
vegan butter
vegan shortening 
tofu
almond butter

Spoils of the day

Was very happy to find these staples!

What I couldn’t get in Dawson:
tempeh
yellow curry paste
durum atta flour
carrot juice
matcha green tea powder
cardamom seeds (but you can get ground cardamom)
fresh lemongrass (but you can get dried lemongrass)

Today was a great day! You can get an amazing variety of products here. What is even more exciting is that if our little stores are bringing these products to town, it means that there are a lot of other people out there who are eating similar foods! It also means that if I was really in need of a certain product that I couldn’t buy at the store, I could probably put a call-out on the Dawson Buy, Sell & Trade Facebook page and someone would be dropping it off at my house within 5 minutes. One of the advantages of living in a small, isolated town, people are always ready to help you out! Maybe this little project will be easier than I think...