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Blog #2

Downsview Farmer’s market is one of the main shopping places in the North York area. There are 4 big stands in the front where Farmers sell their products. Pricesare not that high for organic products. I also worked there for 4 years and the people around me were amazing people. All 4 farmers were Italian. I worked with a 40 year old guy name Rocco. Amazing person, great characteristic and very smart. Even though he is Italian he has 12 Turkish guys working with him. He has been working with Turkish guys for over 10 years and the sad thing is that he only knows how to swear in Turkish. I went back to my old workplace and have a conversation with my old boss, Rocco.

How did the idea of becoming a farmer come to your mind?

I was born in Italy and people love to do farming in Italy. When I say Italy, people think about the wine gardens/farms. I found that very classic, it is unique but I wanted to do something with food and I thought becoming a farmer was a better idea.

Oh great, How old were you when you thought about this idea?

I was 15 years old, I was in Canada and I was in school. I knew how the whole farm things work. My family wasn’t into farming but I always wanted to keep myself busy with something i would enjoy doing it. It was hard to start the business but then once people start buying your product and you earn money you want to do more and more.

You said it was hard to start a business, did you have a partner or somebody to help you get in the industry?

Like I said I was 15. I had a Turkish friend name Mustafa. I told him about the idea and he loved it. Since He is Turkish, he came up with a different idea :D. I don’t remember what he said but all the Turkish people do the same when you tell them something. They either come up with a new idea or they try to give you a better version of your idea. Mustafa had his driver license. We both saved up some money and bought a truck when we became 18. we bought 200 cases of mangos and in 2 days we sold all that 200 cases of mangos. We made a lot of money that week and now I own a farm and a place to sell my products, not a truck.

When did you get a farm?

I was 23 years old when I got my own farm. It cost me money but it was worth it. I have to use the market sometimes because some products grow up late, since they are organic they go rotten real quick. It is hard to manage these type of products. It costs more when I buy the products from the market but I sell my products with deals like 1 basket for 3$ and 2 for 5$.

Well great story thanks for sharing it with me I am pretty sure you will do better and produce better food. I would love to visit your farm one day!

You’re welcome anytime. You can come and visit my farm if you wanna do research about it Thank you too.

Rocco thaught me the financial ways and how the farming works. If I would describe it with one word it would be inspirational. From nothing to this point. It is a hard process.

That’s me with a black hat !!

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Blog #1 - Purchasing and Meat Game

Hey,

     Today I am going to talk about a cut from the beef and ways to cook it. Beef short ribs. There are many ways to cook it, depends on how you want to cook it. So the cut comes from the Chuck cut from the beef. Chuck cut is the part close to the neck. It is also the sub primal cut of the beef. It is usually grilled or braised. Also in UK it’s called the braising steak. The 100 g of the cut has about 277 calories, 20 g of fat, 25 g of protein. The reason why I picked this cut it is because this was going to be my first time trying it ever. I got the recipe from one of my chef’s from school. I always like to change the recipe, with this recipe I added wine vinegar instead of red wine. The meat was very tender at the end. The only problem with it was that the vinegar made it kind of sour. Its not an expensive cut, it cost me 13.30$ for 1 kg. If the person cooks it right the piece becomes very tender and tasty. 

Recipe:

- Quarter onion, med. cut

-Carrot med. cut

-Garlic, crushed

-600 g of Beef stock

-300 g of red wine vinegar

-Bay leaf, salt, pepper

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Nutrition #2

Hey, I will be talking about Vitamins today. We’ll talk about the vitamins we are avoiding and easy ways to in corporate these vitamins in our diet. I will give you guys my favourite 3 recipes that has eggplant in it! Since we’re in winter we are not getting enough vitamin D from the sun. I will share a recipe and make sure you guys get your Vitamin D even in winter! Let’s move on.

1-) People that are living in North America are missing some of the Vitamins in their diets. Even though most of the people who think they are getting all the nutrients they need from their diet, unfortunately they don’t. So People who live up in North they get their Vitamin A by eating lots of seafood but the south I can’t say the same thing for them. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble Vitamin n we store in our body. We can get it from animal sources and red vegetables and fruits. Vitamins that North Americans also missing are B12, C, D. B12 is a type of vitamin we store in our lungs. Helps our body to build red blood cells. It’s found in eggs, milk and yogurt products. That’s why most of the vegans are missing B12. Vitamin C helps your bones to recover, helps teeth and gums and also skin. We can get these by eating veggies and fruits but be careful poking can reduce some of the benefits. When it comes to Vitamin D it is also being stored in the liver just like B12. It’s good for muscle strength and it reduces heart diseases, prevents diabetes. We can get Vitakun D from Orange, fatty fishes and plant-based beverages.

2-) Now after reading the first part go back and check your diet. See what vitamins you are missing. Try to see what type of foods you need to consume by the type of Vitamin you need. Once you figure it out try to create recipes with those foods or add those vegetables or fruits to your diet program. If you don’t like the way it tastes, try a different cooking method or try it with another food that has the same nutrient in it.

3-Most of the time people say that cooking vegetables kills the nutrients in the food. After some studies it’s shown that no single cooking or preparation method is the best and also eating them raw is no different. When researchers did a study on this they have seen that after steaming and boiling a carrot lost around 30 percent of its vitamin C. Microwaved vegetables retained 90 percent of it Vitamin C but if you already eating vegetables and fruits then you don’t have to worry about cooking methods.

4-) My favourite vegetable eggplant! Eggplant is very rich in Fıber, Vitamın B1 and copper. It’s also a good source of manganese, potassium and Vitamin K. Did you know that you can cook eggplant with lemon without using any type of heat. It’s the acid in the lemon that cooks the food! Before I show you guys my recipes my favourite method is roasting the eggplants.

A-) So on the first picture there’s a picture of the eggplants I’m preserving. We mix lemon and vinegar and add eggplants to it.

B-) On picture number 2 and 3 those are the pictures where I cooked my main dish. Eggplants and ground beef with sliced garlic for flavour. If I open a restaurant one day that would be one of my main dishes.

C-) Picture number 4 is a picture of roasted eggplant purée. We roast it add add diced cucumber, lemon and chopped parsley.

5-) Most Canadians are missing Vitamin D in their diets. Here is a recipe for people who are huge fans of seafood!

-Recipe-

150g of Salmon

125ml of orange juice

25g of sugar

Bread crumbs or crunched and roasted nuts

-Action-

Pour the orange juice in a pan heat it up

Place the salmon skin down in the pan

Cook it for 1-2 mins

Then put it in the oven for about 10 mins

While it’s cooking roast your nuts

Take the salmon out and put it on a paper towel

Get your orange juice mix with sugar and get the paste texture

Place your salmon on a plate, spread the roasted nuts and pour the orange juice paste

Serve!

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This is a well known pickled Anatolian appetizer. We do this every year at the end of summer for winter. It’s called Turshu in Turkish. We use it with beans, soups and rice. How to:

-large Dice all the veggies(cucumber,carrots, green tomatoes, cabbage)

-in a different cup get vinegar and lemon salt mixed

-put the veggies in one container and pour the vinegar mix in it

-leave them in a dark room for 20-25 day

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Food Theory Blog #3

Hey

     I wanted to try the fruit called Jack fruit, but I couldn’t find it. There was this one called winter melon. Sounds like watermelon. The taste is completely different. As you can see it is as juicy as water melon and it has seeds in it. The outside of the fruit looks just like watermelon skin. When I tried the fruit I got a sour and a juicy taste. I have never tasted a food like this before so I can’t compare it to any other foods. This food is being used in Asia to make soup. I don’t think you can eat it fresh/raw. I personally didn’t like the taste of it.

    What I learnt from this fruit is a new soup. When I asked the people around me they asked me if I tried to make a soup from it. Until then, I didn’t know I could make a soup from it. I don’t think I would eat it again because it has a sour taste and I’m not a big fan of sour. I would definitely try the soup version of the fruit to gain experience from it.

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Zucchini Soup

The reason why I selected this soup it’s because I love the flavor in it. The taste of zucchini is amazing I’m a big fan of it. In summer we would go to my grandmothers house to stay there for a week. When we do barbecue there’s always this soup comes before the meat.

Recipe:

2 Zucchini

1 Potato

1 Onion

3 Tablespoons of flour

250 mg of milk

2 tablespoons of butter

1 L of water (Depends on the thickness)

Sauce:

Tablespoon of butter

Teaspoon of red pepper powder

Zucchini, Onion and Potato small dice them. Boil them with 250 ml water. After boiling it put it in a blender. Blend it for a minute. Get a pan and melt the butter. Add flour and stir. After mixing the flour and butter add the milk and 750 ml of water. Then add the blended vegetables to the roux. Season and let it stay on the stove for about 10 minutes on medium heat.

I let my mom try it she loved it. She said it was smooth and not very thick. I added melted butter and red pepper powder after pouring it on the plate.The only challenge I had was when I rushed the sauce at the end. I learned that I don’t have to blend everything at once, that was a good experience and a new soup that I learned from my mom and my grandmother. My mom told me that her grandmother thought her this soup.

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Theory of Food

Future Chef

I love to eat and cook Steak and every type of meat

Want become a famous chef and want to be known with meat

Lit Expresso Bar and Café

Follow to see what's hot in the industry

Cooking calms me down. I love the things that keep me active and cooking is one of them.

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Nutrition

I love sports and I believe that every athlete should be fit depending on the sport they are playing.

In 5 years I want to see myself working in my own Steak House.

I think Nutrition will play a big role in my life in the future. I want to become a celebrity chef so people will hire me to give them a healthy food.

Eat Right Ontario: It's a page that is connected to the government

The author is trying to help us with healthy eating. Author thinks that everybody needs to be informed about healthy eating.

Author makes it easier to learn how to eat healthier by putting a phone number to call and ask question. The service is open from 9am - 5pm

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#charboard

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A Recipe has no soul. As a chef, you must bring soul to the recipe

Thomas Keller

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Funghi with a touch of chilli oil on top👌 #margerita #italianfood #chef #culinary #future (at LIT Espresso Bar)