Love for the Locals: SPUD Edmonton

Yesterday, SPUD Edmonton (7039-68 Avenue) opened up its warehouse doors to the public in a free "Meet Your Farmers" event.

SPUD Edmonton's "Meet the Farmers" event!

Admittedly, neither P nor I knew what SPUD was all about before going to the open house. I honestly anticipated meeting some potato farmers, since spuds are sometimes synonymous with potatoes, and well, I love potatoes. Granted, I didn't read up on SPUD Edmonton more than just what was on their Facebook event.

Screenshot from SPUD.CA, an online grocery shopping service for organic, GMO-free, and locally-sourced goods.

For those of you who are as clueless as I was, SPUD stands for Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery. Essentially, it's an online grocery shopping service where all products offered are sourced locally, organic, and non-GMO. SPUD currently offers its services to Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria. SPUD Edmonton caters to those in Edmonton and surrounding areas including St. Albert, Spruce Grove, Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, Beaumont, and Leduc.

At the "Meet Your Farmers" event, regular and prospective customers were able to self-tour the facility, snack on free samples from from local vendors, and even shop off of the shelves in the warehouse.

Plenty of sampling from local vendors including Honest Dumplings, Noorish, Traditional Hutterite...

Prairie Mills Bread Co., NKD, and Glow Juicery.

The interior of SPUD Edmonton's warehouse is about the size of a smaller grocery store.

Lambtastic lamb shanks from Lambtastic Farms

Reclaim Urban Farm's various microgreens and sprouts

We even got a quick tour of the facility that walked us through the process of filling a grocery order. This was in the walk-in fridge with the dairy and produce.

They use these sturdy boxes to package and deliver their orders, and then collect them to be reused for future orders.

These foil bags are used for the perishable goods and are also cleaned and reused for future orders. Frozen goods are packed with dry ice, and others are packed with gel packs so that everything stays fresh for up to 12 hours.

SPUD is certainly an interesting concept for urbanites who are busy balancing work and home life, and at times, unable to do a full grocery run while also making healthy choices. It takes convenience to another level by having someone else look after gathering your groceries and dropping them off right at your door. Even better, is the sustainability piece where their packaging materials are recycled and reused. Everyone we met at the warehouse was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable, which is key for great customer service. I was introduced to some local vendors I was unfamiliar with, which I loved, and went home with some ginger beer and fresh sorrel sprouts.

However, SPUD is definitely targeted more towards the middle and upper class. One must recognize that a service like SPUD is not made to cater to students (especially those with loans and/or other debt), marginalized communities, and other individuals and families with potentially lower income. I'll be even more impressed when SPUD is made more accessible to a broader range of households. I am all for teaching our society to eat healthier and support local businesses, however, I recognize that as things are, indulging in SPUD and the like comes with a fair amount of privilege.

-M

Love for the Locals: Vi's for Pies

Hey there! It's been...a while. My desire to tell you of my food-filled life in the form of a blog entry has been revitalized thanks to my love for pie and consumption of such!

I finally made it out to the locally-infamous, Vi's for Pies (13408 Stony Plain Rd NW). I had made 2 other attempts to dine at this fine establishment, and both failed attempts were completely my own fault. The first time, I tried coming on a Sunday without checking their hours first - rookie mistake, living in the Internet age and all. The second time, I forgot that they were closed on Sundays, and tried coming on a Sunday. But you know...you live and learn.

That brings us to today. P and I were planning to visit a couple of thrift/antique shops along Stony Plain Road (i.e. Bibles For Missions Thrift Store and Blue Jar Antique Mall), and decided to have breakfast at Vi's for Pies since it too, is along Stony Plain Road.  The original plan was to have breakfast, and then go thrift shopping. However, we were unaware that savouries were not available until 11:00 when Vi's for Pies starts serving lunch on Saturdays. Since savouries are integral to how I start my Saturdays and the third time had to be the charm after my two failed attempts, we vowed to return for lunch. So return for lunch, we did.

Vi's for Pies is open! That's because it's not Sunday!

The interior is such a cute, little thing. It's not a huge space, but it's bigger than you anticipate when you walk in. There's also a patio to enjoy in the summer, with some prickly pear iced tea, I imagine. Vi's for Pies is very much a friendly neighbourhood cafe with a homey feel.

You know what's amazing? When they bring you the menu, it's in the form of a chalkboard on an easel. P and I were caught a bit off-guard by this, but it was kind of amazing. P admitted that he thought a couple at another table were discussing an art piece when we walked in. In a way they were, because the menu is great.

P opted for the Beef Brisket, which is barely in the photo, but I was very hungry and eager to dig into my lunch. I snagged a bite, and it was wonderfully moist and tender. P opted for the Spicy Cajun Dirty Rice and Coleslaw for sides. The biscuit had a good amount of bonus cheese in addition to the gooey cheese cavern on its interior.

I felt that for the sake of its name, it was very important that I had pie upon my first visit to Vi's for Pies. I opted for Shepherd's Pie, which conveniently satisfied a week-long craving, with a simple garden salad and creamy dill dressing. It was everything I had hoped for in a Shepherd's Pie, and that creamy dill dressing was just the icing on the cake! Yum.

On my way out, I caught a glimpse of the Banana Cream Pie, which is my favourite dessert pie in the world. Oddly enough, I am not particularly fond of bananas. But banana cream pie? Hand it over.

Given that I just devoured a healthy portion of Shepherd's Pie for lunch, I was pretty full, so I grabbed my Banana Cream Pie to go. I mean, just look at that slice of banana cream heaven. I will definitely provide an update once I have tasted it, and I am really looking forward to that moment in my life.

Long story short, this well-anticipated visit was very worthwhile! I've heard that the soup at Vi's for Pies is also to die for, so I'll have to come back to give that a try. I do love me a good soup!

-M

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