Top 10 Local Food Vendors of 2021: Western Canada Edition

Welcome to the last day of the year 2021. I'm sure you're all thrilled.

Having been brought up in a family that considers force-feeding their way of affection, I wanted to go out on a high note and bring you a list of some fantastic food vendors that helped me get through another year of COVID-19.

To give you some background here, in late summer 2020 I had an incident in my local grocery store that resulted in me not wanting to shop in-store for groceries. It was right before Alberta reinstated the mask bylaw for indoor, public spaces and so the timing to limit my in-person shopping interactions also felt right. At the time I also worked right across the street from SPUD.ca Calgary warehouses and would see their trucks come and go all the time. The white panels of their vehicles, decorated with colourful produce naturally caught my eye and so one afternoon I decided to check out their website. 

How Does SPUD Calgary work? SPUD.ca is a grocery delivery service that provides local food and sustainable products to your doorstep. They are 100% online, offering pick-up from select organic grocers affiliated with SPUD Calgary. (See: Blush Lane Organic Market)

Immediately I signed up for an account with SPUD.ca because as a vegetarian, they offered some unique plant-based options and for my carnivorous husband, high quality local Alberta meats. It's free to join SPUD.ca and you also get a code to money to friends and family for them to spend. Depending on your community, SPUD Calgary gives you until 11:59Pm the evening before your delivery day to make changes or cancel your order. Check the map for SPUD Calgary delivery areas. No commitments/contracts/subscriptions whatsoever. Each delivery box from SPUD.ca contains cold packs to keep items cool and dry ice to keep frozen items, well, frozen. The deliveries arrive in cardboard boxes which you can easily recycle or reuse (thanks to sturdy handles) or Rubbermaid bins that will get collected by your SPUD.ca delivery driver the following week at your next delivery. The freezer jackets and dry ice packs will also be collected to be reused again and again. See sustainability at work here.

It was only within about the last six months that they extended the time you have to get your order in for delivery, which I thought to be a great help. Through COVID-19 I don't know about you, but my mind is just not the same - call it fatigue, hypersensitivity or straight up exhaustion. COVID-19 hit Albertans hard. SPUD.ca made it really easy for me to learn about great local food vendors and Alberta farms. SPUD.ca is also a certified B corp. 

Do you really need any more reasons to join? Signup SPUD.ca

Before we get to the moment you've all been waiting for I just want to say that I have in no way/shape/form been contracted to write this post for SPUD.ca Calgary. I am not being compensated by them, nor the local food vendors listed below. I'm just a (now pregnant) lady who loves sharing food and my experiences with it. Drumroll please.

Top 10 Local Food Vendors of 2021: Western Canada Edition

[In no order]

ANTOINETTE'S dips & sauces
Saltspring Dip & Sauce is the very first product. A classic, tried and true dip and sauce. 
From? Nelson, BC
Price? Approx. 6.29$ for 375ml

NoochPOP! Popcorn flavours include: KindaSweet, KindaCheesy, KindaNacho, KindaGarlic
From? Vancouver, BC
Price? Approx. 5.00$ for 120g

BLES-WOLD Sour Cream & Yogurt. 2% Plain or French Vanilla yogurt.
From? Coalhurst, AB
Price? Approx. 5.00$ for 500ml or 650g

BE FRESH LOCAL MARKET & CAFE is cultivated by SPUD.ca.
From? Vancouver, BC
Various Prices on Nutritionally-balanced good-for-you canned goods, dried fruits, baking ingredients, nuts & seeds, ready-made foods & snacks, juices and kombucha.

LAKEVIEW BAKERY
From? Calgary, AB
Various prices on fresh braking with a large selection of special dietary baked goods such as wheat-free, yeast-free, sugar-free and low carb. Recommendations include: Kamut sliced bread, Nunweiler bagels, Mountain Man cookies, Mega Flax squares

ROCK RIDGE DAIRY Cow's and Goat's Milk & Cheeses
From? Ponoka, AB
Price? Approx. 3.99$ for 1L or 6.99$ for 2L

The Village Flatbread Co. gourmet pizzas, salads, and sides. Pizzas are cleverly named after Calgary neighbourhoods. 100% Gluten-Free, Halal. Plus: Dairy-Free, Vegetarian, and Vegan options. 
From? Calgary, AB
Price? Approx. 24.00$ for 12" (Vegetarian)
Most tasty neighbourhoods: Kensington, Redstone, Britannia, and Maple Ridge

THE VERY GOOD BUTCHERS plant-based food tech company focused on building an expansive portfolio of plant-based meats and other delicious food products. 
From? Vancouver, BC
Price? Approx. 10.00$-13.00$ for 300g

MotherMayi Hummus is vegan, Gluten-Free hummus with No Preservatives in four "AH-mazing" flavours: Original, Roasted Beet, Spicy Sriracha, Sweet Potato
From? Calgary, AB
Price? Approx. 7.00$ for 283g

GULL VALLEY is a GMO-Free farm. Produce is grown without pesticides and herbicides. Coconut Fibre growing medium.
From? Blackfalds, AB
Various prices for Tomatoes including: Beefsteak, Tomato & Cocktail on the vine, Roma, Cherry, Grape, Yellow, Orange, Heirloom, and Mini Roma. Variety of Peppers, plus Italian Roma Beans and Living Lettuce

Late entry honourable mentions include:

VEGHAMMER, Calgary AB

Daniel's Dill Dip, Medicine Hat, AB

#COVID19AB Suburban Update 21/12/21

Here we go again. 5th wave's a charm?

I don't know what to really say at this point because as an Alberta, I've always taken things with a grain of salt. We don't have much of a choice when the country has benefitted from our successes for so long without giving back. I heard that Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta blamed Prime Minister Trudeau earlier for the 5th wave of the novel coronavirus we've all come to know and loathe as: COVID-19. More specifically, the integration of the Omicron variant to our lives. Thankfully the rapid antigen test or RATs were made accessible through Alberta Health Services (AHS) last week.

One thing I can tell you with absolute certainty: I'm sick of all these fucking acronyms and English was my favourite subject in school. 

Today there was #BreakingNews with regards to booster doses for 18+ year olds who received their second of the COVID-19 vaccine at least five months ago. Jason Kenney held another one of his famous press conferences earlier to talk about the impact of the latest variant on Alberta. The numbers are up again it seems. Yesterday Alberta identified more than 780 new cases of the variant bringing the total to 4,318. I might be wrong but it sounded like Dr. Deena Hinshaw admitted COVID is airborne - did I get that right? Unsurprisingly the website crashed immediately after the news that booster doses for all Albertans 18+ were now available. Oh! And the pharmacists weren't made aware of all this either. If you work in a pharmacy, you found out when your phones started ringing off the hook today.

We received new restrictions today from Jason Kenney to "protect the health care system." Albertans are being asked to reduce their number of contacts by half and starting Christmas Eve, businesses participating in the Restrictions Exemption Program (REP) must have either a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination from any patron of 12 years or older.

I seriously wonder if the government of Alberta is doing all this on purpose and intentionally trying to make it difficult to live and work in this province...

We won't even go there.

Today is also significant because of the 1's and 2's.

You'd think it would be a fairly straight-forward day - now 21 months into the global pandemic, but nope. People are still as dumb as they ever were! Let me give you an example:

My husband works in retail and for the most part his scheduled shifts are six days on, four days off. Last weekend he was off Friday-Sunday and worked yesterday from 08:00Am to around 4:30Pm. Today he went into work at 08:00Am and was again scheduled to be off around 4:00Pm. At mid-day I receive a text message to update me that he will likely have to work late to close the store (8:00Pm). Why? The Assistant Manager showed up to start his shift, not wearing a mask, with a cough and other cold/flu-like symptoms. This guy went into work, proclaimed he is sick to his colleagues and acted like it was a big surprise to him when Human Resources got pissed off. Are you stupid, or are you fucking stupid? I fail to understand how some people are this inconsiderate/oblivious/dumb AF after 21 months of this. TWENTY-ONE. Again with the two's and ones...

After hearing my husband wouldn't be home to eat dinner together I was naturally bummed out. But then I read what Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek posted to Twitter about the Calgary Flames' intention to pull the plug on their new event centre deal with the city... And it was as if fuel had been added to the flames that surrounded me. I'm not even a huge fan of the Calgary Flames but still felt like this news was a slap in the face to those who have supported the team since they moved here from Atlanta. The audacity of rich white men is truly incomparable. Now I'm talking 1.5B (USD) rich, rich - in case you were wondering.

I didn't want to make this post about me, however I am starting to realize my child won't know a world without COVID-19 and #COVID19AB is going to be here for a very long time. People are going to come and go in this province but we aren't done with it yet. Not even close. I am still somehow thankful to have the opportunity to create life here. There are too many humans I have yet to connect with. Between my hard-working husband and myself, we own four properties in Alberta. I couldn't dream of leaving behind the support of my family and close friends. From time to time my mind wanders and I imagine starting a business here. Something that would bring people together, or perhaps a podcast to share stories. I wonder often if I can pull it off.

Then I remember, tomorrow is a new day.