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Found an Asian Bistro! In the Townships???? Awesome new restaurant, Homei Bistro, a chef from Bronte and a chef from Blue Ginger in Boston and from Tri express in Montreal, the chefs are using Quebec products with asian flavors, amazing!!!! Lac Brome Duck spring rolls, Angus vietnamese subs, "Peking" pork belly. Quebec wines abound and seasonal produce from local farms. Just thought I'd give them a plug

Another great reference book for a quick fix is, "La route gourmande des fromages fins du Quebec", this is a free brochure that you can get at most of the cheese shops. It basically informs you about the quebec cheeses and contact information of the farms that produce these cheeses. By no means does it go into great detail, but like I said it's a quick reference book.

sf&m I agree with you 100%, on having a heading for quebec cheeses, speaking of which I bought a fantastic sheeps cheese, I beleive its called bercail, from a vendor at Jean Talon market who is only there on the weekends. I think the farms called la moutonniere, really worth it to check it out if you haven't already. I have to say that our cheese really is a success story, our variety and quality can only make me think of our cheese ancestors in italy, france, and switzerland. we really have come along way to make such a fantastic product. I'd really appreciate any highlights and info you may have.

The point of all this is not to alienate any particular cuisine(asian or any other) as you might have implied, but rather to expand on it. Cuisine as we've learnt from our mothers, grandmothers, and now the superstar chefs is cooking is regional. What these innovators did was adapt to their local ingredients to supply future generations with the food we know and love. So maybe a confit is not native to quebec , nor is cheese, but through the years we've learnt to adapt to the climate change and geographics, and many dedicated farmers have through trial and error made these things work here. Now for asian ingredients their are many farms, some in quebec, but mostly in parts of BC who specialize in asian vegetables like wasabi, edimame, ginger and so on. I don't think that many people are opposed to buy within the country(although it's probably more expensive for some reason), but the fact is that unless your a top restaurant like the ones mentioned earlier your not going to go out and get them. there is little access and unless we as food industry workers or foodies(which I'm assuming most of you are), go out and inform the people and co-workers we know, there will be little change. Unfortunately I'm not aware of all the statistics that some of you have brought to the table but I've appreciated all the information I've received, and therefore have become even more aware of my surroundings. p.s jaimie, I thinkg tipping should be abolished or at least a percentage should go to the kitchen, I know that's how it's like in BC, but not here.

Well I was worried there for a second, I thought that this topic was going to turn into a how to use my computer debate. but I'm glad to see the discussion went back on topic. Now I've worked at Area, and yes they would have 2 bins seperating the local products and the imports. Ian was, in the time that I worked for him, very careful to buy from local farmers, and he even had a farmer bringing fresh root vegetables and many herbs that we had no idea of how to go about using them, but we did, we read up on them, learnt about them, and used them, of course it takes time to understand many things that are new to us, but unfortunately that's what it takes to make them the "norm". Quebec has many products to offer that most people won't think twice about buying. but the fact is that it is more expensive, we don't have a long growing season, animals need to feed in the winter, they don't have the luxury of eating grass all year round. So it's understandable that alot of the population will go to loblaws, or IGA. But in the end it's about informing the customers that pesticides, and other chemicals will go into our bodies. yes it looks like a tomato, but don't you think it looks a little too much like a tomato. Anyone who has grown vegetables will know that they all don't look the same, but they taste like what it's supposed to be, and I'd love to see the stats on their nutritional value. British Columbia has EAT magazine, which is a free journal on local restaurants, markets, food, farms, and everything related. I remember montreal had one that didn't last very long(I wonder why). We're still behind, but at least we're talking about it, and before you know it we will catch up.

Well sf&m, I agree with you, we are going more towards local, our cheese is vey much a success story, and our beers are fantastic, but there still isn't as much exposure to these products as many of us would like to see. And as for this forum making a point to expose and support local is an excellent idea, it is very rare that members write about these things. I would also like to know if there are any restaurants in town who base there menu around seasonal ingredients like Sooke on Vancouver island and l'eau dans bouche in mont tremblant.

excellent articles in the Gazette this week. It's good to see someone bringing to light the fact that Montreal and Quebec are not doing there part for supporting local and organic produce. nor are we recycling in any meaningful way. Compared to some parts of Canada and the united states we rank very poorly. Why is that. Is our culture that differnt that we don't care about the produce we are eating. Are we not that proud to be quebecers that we refuse to support our local farmers. Does anyone know of any restaurants who specialize in or base their menu around local products. I understand the growing season is over, except for green houses, but at least for the rest of the seasons. In other parts of Canada you can hardly walk into a bar or restaurant without seeing the words local or organic. Starting from local beers, to wine, to food. Try buying molson anywhere else, chances are there's going to be a small selection, or they may not even carry it at all. The beer and wine stores, since being privately owned, have their own choice on what to bring in, so they choose local beers and local wines. Yes we don't have the best wine in the world but I'll take a l'orpeilleur over a cheep bottero or colli albani, which many family restaurants choose as their house wine.