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To call it an addiction may be a bit much, but week after week my regular visits to a little stand in the Farmers’ Market “Real Food Court” suggests a certain level of infatuation with chef Salar Madadi’s bowls of hot rice.
Salar’s 20 different toppings ranging from purple kale, green mango and raw fish have got locals hooked since their early November open.
Pokeh is one of the first dedicated poké bars in Canada, serving the staple Hawaiian appetizer best described as “sushi in a bowl.” Salar, who also runs the Meatwagon food truck along with his wife Jeannie Crawford, brought one of their favourite culinary discoveries from their honeymoon in Venice Beach. The Pokeh team is extremely excited to bring to Hamilton a dish that Salar believes to be one of the next big food trends.
The appetizer gives customers the freedom to play with a variety of proteins and flavors ranging from the classic bowl of base ingredients, to complex and layered notes of spice, citrus, or a variety of Eastern culinary staples. Ordering the chef’s choice is not only an excellent introduction to this array of options, it also lets Salar and brother Shayne’s culinary proficiency shine.
Salar’s love for cooking is synonymous with his own love for building, learning and creativity. Prior to starting with Meatwagon, Salar worked in IT full-time for 13 years. “With IT and coding I never really felt like I got the same satisfaction of creating something or really building something. I build programs but there’s something about physically working with my hands that I like.”
Salar learned about Poke during his travels, but in true foodie form, he studied, self-taught, and was able to bring to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market what has now become a staple for many regulars.
“There’s so much to learn about food and so many different cultures, ingredients, it’s really like endless,” explains Salar.
“No one will ever know everything about food. I love learning, I love to read a lot of what I know is self-taught, like I read all the time: random cook books, stuff on the internet, and I always watch random YouTube videos.”
Salar’s culinary journey started with a gifted slow cooker purchased at a garage sale, and eventually transitioned to national level barbeque competitions, where he and his team was crowned the 2014 National Bacon Champions and competed in an international competition in Las Vegas. Barbequing and meat carts may be in separate culinary worlds from the Eastern inspired raw food dishes, but Pokeh’s excellence exemplifies the skill and flexibility that Salar and his team possess.
Pokeh is open in the lower west side of the Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. For more information visit their website at pokeh.ca and follow their Instagram and Twitter.
With our faces buried in our scarves, a close friend and I trekked towards what most people think of as the end of the James Street foodie strip. A colourful rustic sign invited us to walk further down James to reach our destination.
Walking past a few beaten storefronts and an old Pizza Select sign, we found ourselves in a small restaurant whose interior design could be described as a meeting of painted wooden interior and crochet. Hand painted plates and mugs lined refurbished wood shelves, alongside jars of pickled veggies and Korean cookbooks. A painted board reading “Home-Made with Love” and “Golden Brown” looks over the space.
Golden Brown is a Korean take-out restaurant that serves a variety of classic Korean dishes and contemporary favourites. Julia and Jake Park, the restaurant’s owners and mother and son duo, are the visionaries behind the latest addition to the James Street food scene, offering homemade kimchi, bulgogi, jeyuk, namul rice balls, gimbob and their signature Korean fried chicken. Despite the novelty of these dishes in Canada’s food culture, there is something distinctly cozy and comforting about each and every one of Julia’s dishes, which was no accident on her part.
“Just like how our catchphrase is ‘Home-Made with Love,’ I want to provide or make an area that can feel like home and try to make food that feels like moms made it, mom’s food. I wanted to have this area to be comfortable for everyone to share the home cooked food,” explained Julia, as translated by her son.
Julia is passionate about her Korean heritage and culture, and has consistently tried to preserve that culture through her career as an interior designer. During her undergraduate studies in Korea, she worked with a group of artists to restore old pieces of art for various exhibitions. Since she moved to Canada, she has had the opportunity to hold educational sessions and exhibitions across the country.
For this family, Golden Brown is as much a restaurant as it as an opportunity to showcase Korean food culture in a welcoming environment. The James St. area was a perfect fit for Julia who loves to explore local art culture. In the near future, Jake and Julia hope to host open educational sessions during art crawls highlighting different aspects of Korean food culture.
The maternal and nostalgic atmosphere of Golden Brown is one of the central parts of its spirit and charm. Julia and Jake have received a warm reception from the local community and fellow restaurateurs, and the design and art-oriented community has also taken notice of their unique presentation. Its truly rare to find a new restaurant that can appeal to a younger, trendier audience by bringing tried and true dishes that creates a longing for home-cooked meals.
“Everyone, when they grow up they go out exploring for their dreams, but when they’re alone, they will always miss mom’s food,” reminisced Julia. “I’m trying to provide that here. Even though I’m old, I still miss my mom’s food. All the foods we have here are like what my mom’s been making for a long time, what my grandmas have made for a long time.”
Golden Brown is located on 28 Barton Street East. For menu offerings and more information about take-out and delivery, follow their Instagram.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
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By: Allison Mizzi/SHEC
Does one of your New Year’s resolutions include an attempt at becoming vegetarian or vegan? This lifestyle has many potential benefits, but the change requires reflection and careful consideration of your nutrition-related needs. There are many types of vegetarians or vegans. These include lacto-vegetarians, ovo-vegetarians, lacto-ovo-vegetarians, pescetarians, vegans, strict vegans, or anything in between. You may identify with one of these labels and enjoy finding a community of others that share it. However, you don’t have to define yourself or how you eat; your relationship with food is yours, and that can change over time.
People often choose a plant-based diet for health-related purposes. Many vegetarian options tend to contain lower fat and cholesterol, and are associated with lower incidence of chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. They also contain more fiber and antioxidants, which promote digestive and cognitive health.
Others argue that vegetarian nutrition lessons strain on the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, chemical and animal wastes are the major sources of pollution in rivers and streams. Others feel that meat and animal products are unethical and thus their diet represents a stand against the use of animals as food. Others choose plant nutrition for religious, cultural and spiritual reasons.
There may be people who disagree with or stereotype you for your chosen diet. Luckily, McMaster is a very vegetarian-accessible and inclusive university: McMaster was voted Canada’s most vegan-friendly university in 2013. Bridges Café, McMaster’s all vegetarian restaurant, provides a plethora of veggie-friendly meals, and Hospitality Services has expanded their range of vegetarian meals and snacks across campus eateries.
It is important to replace meat with nutritionally equivalent alternatives. As a major source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, eliminating meat without replacing it with plant-based options may lead to protein and nutrient deficiencies. Luckily, there are several nutrition and delicious vegetarian protein sources to fill up with. These include tofu, tempeh, beans, seitan, eggs, milk and milk alternatives like soy and rice milk, high protein grains like quinoa, wild rice and amaranth, lentils, edamame, protein powders and nutritional yeast. It’s helpful to make a conscious effort to include protein with each meal and snack you eat throughout the day, paired with healthy portions of carbohydrates, to set you up for a balanced and healthy vegetarian diet.
In the initial transition, it might be particularly beneficial to connect with others, for support and to gain insight into their tips and tricks. Be prepared for some trial and error, and listen to your bodily needs.
Photo Credit: Bettaveg
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I will preface this review by saying I come from a Caribbean family and therefore walked into Caribbean Flavah with higher than normal expectations for a take-out restaurant.
Most students who have lived in Westdale-Ainsliewood for the last few years are already very well-acquainted with the restaurant, as the signage for the store went up roughly two years ago. While its presence has been looming, the restaurant itself only opened two months ago, towards the end of November.
I went to the restaurant in time for their take-out lunch specials. From 11-4 p.m. they offer five dollar lunch specials that include your choice of meat (jerk chicken, curry chicken, fried chicken, stewed chicken or jerk pork), served with rice and beans and coleslaw.
I ordered the jerk and curry chicken, and they both had good flavour. The jerk was definitely the better of the two, but both seemed to have a lot of pieces of broken bone floating in the rice, a sign of poorly cut and prepared meat. It is understandable that the meat didn’t have the best cut because of the low price, but a more sustainable business practice could be to offer fewer options of better quality food for a slightly higher price. Encountering pointy bits of cartilage in my meal was off-putting and deters me from returning again, even if it is a great deal. The rice on the other hand had great flavour and consistency and made up for the sketchy bone cutting.
The lunch deals also came with a canned pop or bottled water. I really wanted to upgrade my canned pop to bottles of Ting (a Jamaican grapefruit drink), but they unfortunately had no way to pay for an upgrade, and the one person working there forced me to take the pop either way. I really wanted that Ting.
Caribbean Flavah has had a long start-up, and they seem to still have some planning to go. They do offer a wide range of dishes though, and are a unique addition to Westdale’s restaurant scene.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
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Hamilton is no stranger to high-quality bakers. Locally-sourced ingredients, vegan options and small batch from scratch preparation has become the standard for any new small business looking to start up in the local food industry. Yet, there is still something incredibly novel about taking these standards, adding a bit of creativity and applying it to the beloved donut. Donut Monster is one of the most creative and delicious new offerings in the city. You haven’t had a donut until you’ve tried one.
Donut Monster made its debut in July of this year, and since then has offered its expanding line of goods through a variety of local retailers. New flavours are announced every week via Instagram, often incorporating unorthodox pairings or drawing inspiration from other popular sweets. Notable favourites have included double chocolate brownie, mango cacao, blueberry basil, fig and brandy, honey mustard and rosemary, watermelon lavender, roasted plum and cranberry.
The dynamic menu and unique pairings of different ingredients are thanks to the innovative and culinary mind of Reuban Vanderkwaak. Vanderkwaak took inspiration from some of the many quality donut shops he encountered in his American travels, and began developing his own recipes. Despite the donut service being his first venture into professional baking and small business, Vanderkwaak was able to make experimentation and collaboration a fundamental part of his work.
The difficulties associated with finding affordable and sufficient space brought Vanderkwaak together with the owners of Willard’s Ice Cream, Hero Coffee Roasters, Sweet & Simple Candies and Real Food Kitchens to start the Kitchen Collective.
The Kitchen Collective is a co-op, non-profit, and state of the art commercial kitchen that offers members and the public access to a significantly more affordable means to start a small business. The kitchen was funded via Kickstarter last year, and is home to a total of 34 permanent, professional members.
The extra set of taste buds naturally lends itself to some great collaboration. Espresso Chocolate donuts made with Relay Coffee roasts, an Oatmeal Stout donut using Brimstone Brewery’s own Midnight Mass, as well as several other ingredients from fellow Kitchen Collective members have been used to create some fantastic collaborative flavours. “Part of what I love about Hamilton is the community aspect and the collaboration behind small businesses. It happens in other communities but it feels really strong in Hamilton,” says Vanderkwaak.
“A lot of people, they have an idea, and they wanna try it out . . . it’s a space to experiment. It’s a space to really see if you can take your dream to the next level and you can do that in a safe way and not have to invest a lot of money into it.”
While Vanderkwaak and other small businesses involved in the local food industry are excited by its rapid growth, the barrier of entry and competition has also predictably grown.
“It starts to price people out of the game and that’s what the Kitchen Collective is trying to combat as well,” says Vanderkwaak. “Let’s keep an opening for people that are not necessarily millionaires or have access to a large amount of funds or have such a history in the industry that they can easily find access to those funds. Keeping it experimental, keeping on a smaller level, keeping it fun. That’s what we’re doing.”
Donut Monster is carried by The Canon, Pinecone Coffee Company and the Relay Coffee stand at Hamilton Farmers’ Market from Thursday to Saturday. Butcher and the Vegan, The Mustard Seed Coop and Cafe Oranje provide donuts on Saturdays. Announcements and other news can be found via Donut Monster’s social media. For more information about the Kitchen Collective and its members, visit their website at www.kitchencollective.ca.
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If bacon is bad for you, then I don’t want to live, and if the WHO is right, that won’t be a choice for me. The other day the aptly named organization (as in WHO do you think you are, destroying my world by telling me that the most delicious meat is carcinogenic?) tweeted: “Experts concluded that each 50 gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal #cancer by 18%.”
The first thing to say is, “What part of my body exactly does colorectal cancer affect? Can I live without it?” The second thing: people forget that there’s an 82 percent chance of not getting cancer (I don’t think that’s how statistics works, but whatever), and a 100 percent chance of having foodgasms for the duration of your life if you consume pig fat.
The fun hating “experts” from the International Agency of Research on Cancer examined over 800 “scientific studies” to determine that bacon belongs in the dreaded “group 1” of noxious substances that negatively affect human health. Other fearsome substances in this group include asbestos, alcohol and cigarettes. I fear that one day, my child will need to use a fake ID to buy bacon with a picture of a dying baby’s lung on the package.
So what’s our alternative? Dulse, a strain of red algae that apparently has a strong bacon flavour. These people are probably the same people who claim chickpea cookie dough tastes like the real thing (it doesn’t). Somewhere in an American grocery store, Ron Swanson is tossing all dulse samples into the garbage. When asked about the bad news for bacon lovers, Ron called it, “total f**king bulls**t.” He emphasized that we should not panic, and instead procure as much bacon as humanly possible and hide it in as many locations you can. Wise words.
Taking a step back, I quickly realized that 50g of bacon is approximately equivalent to six medium slices of bacon. If you’re eating that much bacon everyday, we have bigger problems to deal with. Also, cutting down on bacon consumption to a reasonable amount is not difficult. Instead of using two strips to wrap your scallop, use one. Get your Double Down from KFC without bacon. It’s definitely okay to eat it once you replace the carcinogenic bacon with dulse.
Remember, these “scientists” have been wrong before. Margarine isn’t better for you than butter–and it definitely doesn’t taste the same. Egg yolks, once shunned for its cholesterol content, also turn out to not be bad for you.
Bacon, you’ve been under a lot of heat lately, but know that I will always love you. Everything about you is perfect. Your smell gets me out of bed everyday. The sizzle you makes when you hit a hot pan. The crunch you make when you’re bitten. The grease that coats my mouth and the warmth you spread in my body. Bacon, you make everything better. Never change (but I’d prefer it if you didn’t kill me).
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