Welcome to Food In The Hills

When I was growing up in the Caledon Hills way back in the last century, food was an afterthought. Sure, my family had an overgrown vegetable garden that mostly consisted of a few raspberry canes, a rhubarb patch and some gone-to-seed asparagus. And sometimes my dad would actually make pancakes from scratch on Sunday mornings.

But we all knew that real food came from the supermarket in cans and freeze-dried packages. Convenience was everything in those days. Remember Tang? Instant coffee? Processed cheese? TV dinners? Powdered milk? Instant potatoes? Not only did we eat that stuff, we celebrated it. Cooking was considered passé, a ball and chain that had enslaved generations. Instant was the way of the future. And taste? A small price to pay for freedom.

Thankfully, times have changed. And nowhere more so than here in the hills, where as recently as a decade ago, finding a good restaurant was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. These days, the Headwaters region is a veritable Eden of farmers’ markets and organic growers, of food festivals and great restaurants. And far from being a community of fast-food consumers, we have shunned convenience in favour of all things seasonal, local and organic. Overnight, it seems, we have fallen in love with food.

So it seems like exactly the right time to launch Food In The Hills, a magazine devoted to celebrating everything that has to do with food in our own backyard. A magazine that promises to introduce you to the hard-working people who produce the things you eat, to the creative cooks who prepare it, and to the activists and policy-makers who care about it.

Twice a year, in the spring and late summer, these pages will be filled with stories focussed on the terroir (loosely translated as “a sense of place”) that the Headwaters region has become. We will honour the power that food has to bring people together in a fragmented world. And of course, you will find recipes, recipes and more recipes created by local chefs, food writers and home cooks too.

In this inaugural issue you will meet organic growers Brent Preston and Gillian Flies, you’ll sit in on two gorgeous country weddings. You’ll learn how to make the perfect omelette, visit a sleek new kitchen and listen in on Caledon’s first official Kitchen Table Talks. You’ll find out about organic honey and the delights of cold soup. And of course, we will feature the best of what’s in season, from rhubarb and strawberries to peaches and plums.

In between issues, you can keep up to date with local food news, events and recipes online at www.inthehills.ca.

I would like to thank all the writers, photographers and designers who worked hard to produce a magazine I am very proud of. And of course, toques off to In The Hills publisher Signe Ball whose idea this was. I hope you find enough to whet your appetite for more. Let us know what you think.

Bon appétit!