A Life, Lived: The Lengths We Go For Food . . .

I know good food. I appreciate good food. Because of this I have no qualms at all about hopping in the car and traveling great lengths in a quest for good food.

Today Paul and I were on the road at 7 am and we returned 320 km later at 4:30! It was all in the name of food.

We started off at the St Jacob's Farmer's Market (which is really two markets, one on either side of the road). St. Jacobs is located in southwest Ontario, just north of Waterloo in Woolwich Township, Waterloo Region. The area has a strong Mennonite heritage and rural focus. This makes the market so interesting.

The vibrant agricultural heritage of Waterloo Region has helped make St. Jacobs Country's authentic Farmers Markets popular attractions for local shoppers and visitors alike, all year around! The markets are located on the east and west side of Weber Street, and you will find more than 600 vendors both indoors and out, in a colourful rural setting. The picture above was taken during a visit in February, then there were very few outdoor vendors. Today there were many vendors set up outside so our visit took much longer than our whirlwind visit in the winter.

St. Jacobs Farmers' Markets are a unique and lively place to shop. You will find aisle upon aisle of fresh produce from across Ontario and from local farm gardens. Plus, you will find meats, cheese, baking, crafts, home decor, furniture, clothes, tools and more. Enjoy international favourites, and local delicacies, including summer sausage and pure maple syrup sold by Mennonite farmers who travel to market by horse and buggy. At any time of year you may chance upon a lively performances by visiting buskers or a special event.

I have been coming to the market since 1984 (Paul was so kind to point out that that has been 23 years! ARGH I am getting old. I went to University in Waterloo and a trip to the market on Saturday was a regular thing. A lot has changed since then but I am still pulled back to the area and the wonderful markets. Many others are pulled as well - during the spring, summer, and fall you will often find 20 - 30 buses in the parking lots having just dropped off hoards of tourists.

Having left the market we travelled southwest to the tiny town of St Agatha. This is a tiny little place with one of the largest Roman Catholic churches in the area. You wonder why they would ever need a church so large but then you remember that 70 years ago the surrounding farms all had huge families living and working on them.

This hamlet is home to two of my favourite things: Angie's Kitchen and the St Agatha Meat Market. Angies is one of my favourite places to go for a home cooked meal. It isn't fancy or gourmet but you can get an omelet with a side of smoked sausage and three (3!) slices of homemade toast for $ 10. YUM Today we passed on Angie's but we did pop into the meat market.

These butchers originally were at the market when I was first going there. They gave up their stall and I was sadly disappointed because their meats were amazing. After some detective work i found them in this tiny shop in this tiny town. They are famous for their pork products but recently they have been branching out into other areas (I think the daughter is taking a more active hand in the business). Today we picked up two packages of their freshly ground turkey burgers with no fillers or additives as well as some of our favourite schnitzel. Mom asked us to pick up a hunk of head cheese for her so we complied (after all - tomorrow is Mother's Day).

After our visit to St Agatha we continued on our way to Stratford.

Both the city and the river were named when it was first settled in 1832 after Stratford-upon-Avon, England, of Shakespearean fame. The swan has become a symbol of the city, with 24 white swans and two black swans released every year into the Avon River.

The city changed forever in 1953 when the Shakespearean Stratford Festival was formed. The annual festival now brings hundreds of thousands of theatre goers and tourists to the area. Celebrities such as Alec Guinness, Christopher Plummer, and William Shatner have performed at the festival. The festival is world renowned and takes place in four theatres throughout the city; the Festival Theatre, Avon Theatre, Tom Patterson Theatre and the Studio Theatre.

The festival has given this city in the middle of rural southwestern Ontario a cultural uplift. The downtown part of full of galleries, fine restaurants, food shops, shops, and B and Bs. How many places do you know of 30 000 that have three independent chocolate shops? needless to say we come here often to play.

Today we were to get bread from our favourite bread bakery (Breadworks), some pasta from our favourite pasta shop (Pass de Pasta), granola and baked treats from our favourite bakery (The Honey Tree), chocolate from our favourite chocolate shops (Chocolate Barrs and Reo Thomson), and coffee from our favourite coffee roastery (Balzacs). Wow. We were busy.

After wandering around the town, eating lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, and shopping we headed back home. It had been a full day but we were happy. The car was full of our purchases . . . we won't be starving any time soon!

At some point in time this will be written up in a trip note for publication.