The farmers at the markets

MICHELLE DODEK

Autumn is the best time for local bounty. One of the best places to find the delicious goodness British Columbia has to offer is at the farmers markets that are held all over the Lower Mainland, mostly on the weekends. Vendors make, bake or grow the products they sell. From vastly different backgrounds and selling totally different products, here are snapshots about some interesting Jewish vendors with whom the Independent spoke recently.

Eight years into selling their South African-inspired nougat at various farmers markets, Melanie and Ivan Kalley have a huge following. Their customers are addicted to the soft, sweet treat for a variety of reasons. According to Melanie, some people are thrilled to have found a gluten-free candy that satisfies a sweets craving without upsetting their celiac disease or wheat sensitivity. Others find eating this nougat a moving nostalgic experience. Those looking for a treat with no dairy, gelatin, fat, preservatives or artificial color like it too. However, for the most part, people who taste it just want more.

This is why the Kalleys spend hundreds of hours each year making bite-sized samples of their Kalley Kandy confection to hand out at local farmers markets. Each sample is hand-wrapped, as are the larger pieces of nougat for sale in packages of eight or 25. This time-consuming process is a labor of love for the Kalleys, who rise every morning before beginning their day jobs to make a batch of steaming hot candy to pour into molds specially made for them by a neighbor. The recipe is the result of an intensive year Melanie spent testing, tasting and sharing to achieve the taste and texture she remembered from growing up in South Africa.

The Kalleys have a broad market base, including many Asian customers. “The Chinese and Filipinos love it!” said Melanie. “We have customers who take it with them to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.”

They also make them for weddings, having tried out Kalley Kandy as a guest gift at their son’s wedding eight years ago. The Kalleys can be found at farmers markets around the Lower Mainland, including the Ladner market, Trout Lake’s and every second week at the winter market at Nat Bailey Stadium. Or, visit kalleykandy.com.

Richard Lewin shares more than being Jewish and working the farmers market scene with the Kalleys. Every time he overlaps with them at a market, he starts his day by putting his lox on Melanie Kalley’s bagels and eating breakfast with them. He may even squeeze one of his many flavors of pesto onto his breakfast. Lewin is the main man behind Golda’s Finest Foods, a business he has been growing since 1992 from his home in Mill Bay, where he still produces his unique pesto, tapenade and skoogk, using herbs and greens that he grows organically on his property.

The blueberry, hemp and sundried tomato pesto are part of what makes Lewin’s stall at the market exceptional and unusual. The true sensation when experiencing Golda’s products is Lewin himself. There is no telling how many times he has said, “You use the same spoon for the whole experience,” as he passes prospective customers a small plastic tasting spoon with one hand and squirts a taste of pesto from a bottle in his other. He’s happy to give a taste of all of his dips and spreads while offering a constant stream of information about how and when to use each.

“This dill pesto is great with potatoes or in soups!” he cries, moving on to the super-spicy skoogk, telling people to put it on everything. His website uses skoogk as a verb and says, “Skoogk everything but watermelon: use on stir fry, burritos, omelettes, sushi, even in Caesar dressing.” Lewin’s sense of humor infuses his sales pitch and perhaps even his products. There is no question that he loves interacting with customers, hooking them with his shtick and reeling them in with a taste.

An active farmers market participant, Lewin also has marketed to many specialty stores across Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Ask him when you go for the tasting experience where to find Golda’s all year round, or go to his website, gopesto.com.

What could be better than perfectly seasoned food? For 21 years, Jean-Pierre Côté has been helping Vancouverites achieve this feat with his special Maison Côté (maisoncote.com) blends. Infused salt – salt and herbs mixtures – mingle with more intricate dry rubs, pastes and powders, and infused mustards. He also makes artisan vanilla extract, and aged balsamic vinegars infused with Yuzu, Mission figs and white peaches.

A former professional dancer, Côté began life in a village in Quebec, where his family had a bakery. The Côté family relocated to Montreal and opened a restaurant with his hardworking mother at the helm. Although he moved to Vancouver to be with the love of his life 22 years ago, his schedule reflects his work ethic. Côté works seven farmers markets a week during the summer, including Whistler on Sundays. During the winter, when markets are held less often, he does three days a week at the Granville Island Market and travels to California, Europe and China to source the exotic spices, fruits and herbs he uses in his products.

“North America has totally changed since I began this business,” he said. “Slowly, food has become more diverse.”

He has sent letters to Martha Stewart, thanking her for bringing the sensibility for fine food to a larger public. Côté’s joint interests in sharing good food and making connections with people are at the heart of why he makes his products. The markets are his chance to kibbitz with people, give them suggestions for recipes and share his positive outlook on life.

“I don’t want to sell my products in stores because I wouldn’t see the people!” he enthused. “I love my life, it’s such a wonderful ride.”

Côté’s philosophy about quality of life spills over to how he sources his products. He uses family farms and pays in advance to ensure that the families can make ends meet while securing his raw materials. Smiling, he said, “We are all part of the same puzzle.”

As is Miri Garaway who, for 10 years, has been the warm and gregarious woman to see for a cookie at the Trout Lake farmers market. Her interest in people and the tantalizing cookies she bakes are what make customers approach her and keep them coming back time and again. She says it was friends who encouraged her to start selling at markets and, once she started doing it, she was hooked by the great atmosphere and lovely customers. It is purely a hobby for Garaway. She wants to keep her treats affordable so people can enjoy.

“I don’t really make much money because I use the finest ingredients – Callebaut chocolate, organic molasses and lemon essences – and people, foodies, can tell the difference,” said Garaway.

She has 11 varieties of cookies currently, including a gluten-free choice, parve ginger cookies and vegan ginger cocoa cookies. She’s always thinking of new treats and, when in Argentina a few years ago, she packed her suitcase with jars of dulce de leche so that she could add a cookie sandwich filled with the super-sweet sauce to her repertoire.

She also provides a bit of Jewish culinary education at her booth. “Everyone should know a good komish,” she said when discussing the komishbroit she makes using her late mother’s recipe. “People think it’s biscotti but, when they taste it, they can’t believe how light and delicious it is.”

Garaway describes herself as “the persona of the market lady.” She has always shopped at markets whenever she has traveled – she loves the atmosphere and the people she meets. She is as likely to engage you in a fascinating and frenetic conversation as she is to sell you a cookie. “A woman came up, bought a cookie and told me that I bring such great energy to the market.... It’s friendly and warm people like that who keep me coming back.”

Michelle Dodek is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.

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