Making the food connection

King Street business focuses on sustainable food from local sources

Making the food connection. Ciboulette et Cie owner and chef André Sanche’s new business is proving popular as customers learn that fresh, flavourful food can be convenient. Jennifer Harker photo

MIDLAND – The elegant black awning provides a patch of inviting shade on the sidewalk in front of Ciboulette et Cie.

Inside, the King Street shop is more than just a food-based business. It’s a revelation and an education.

Owner and chef André Sanche is casually clad in T-shirt, jeans, socks and Birkenstocks.

“I’m very laid back,” he said with a laugh, pointing out his white socks.

Although he promotes a relaxed and unpretentious air, Sanche is serious about his business and his efforts to connect consumers with what they eat.

“I want to connect food with people. I want people to understand the route that food takes to their table. I want to use the shop as a means to inform the public, a means for farmers to have their foods exposed.”

Sanche opened his doors April 23, which he said was the perfect time for a new business venture.

“Spring is a great time. It’s been busy since Day 1 with local support. I didn’t see tourists for the first six weeks, but locals came in.”

And they came with questions: How is it made? Where is it from? Sanche was banking on such informed consumers for his business’s success in what some view as a tough time for entrepreneurs.

“It’s a great time to open a business. Things are starting to roll, people are starting to spend, and they’re giving thought to what they’re spending their money on.”

Like Sanche, their habits have evolved.

“My wife and I have changed how we eat in the last few years, too. We shop what’s on the tag. We look for Canadian, Ontario, Quebec,” he said. “We buy with a little bit of our head, a little bit of heart and a bit of stomach.”

In the fall, he plans to invite local chefs and farmers to the store to talk about their food, answer questions and prepare a three-course meal for a small group.

Believing that good people make good food, Sanche buys from local producers after first meeting the farmers and learning about their production process. He focuses on sustainability and seasonality – eating locally and in season when food is at its peak of flavour.

“In December, strawberries in the store are not nice and not good. Why would I buy that? It doesn’t taste anything like an Ontario strawberry in June and July.”

Although focused on opening consumers’ eyes to the backyard bevy of tasty treats, Sanche doesn’t exclude great food from elsewhere. A tour of the store is an epicurean expedition as Sanche points out the selection of take-home meals, soups, breads and sides – all made in-house – before cruising past the cheeses from Ontario, B.C. and Quebec. He pauses in front of a freezer full of lasagna, shepherd’s pie, meatloaf and vegetarian chili, every one a meal in minutes.

He talks about the carefully stocked and selected specialty items, like Kozlik’s mustard and Evelyn’s Crackers, a 100 per cent Ontario product Sanche describes as “amazing stuff.”

The shelves are lined with a growing preserve collection, capturing the exquisite essence of the season with pickled scapes and wild fiddleheads all prepared and bottled on-site.

While there is much to tantalize the tastebuds, the space is anything but cramped and crowded. In fact, Sanche deliberately leaves plenty of room to move around since he sees the shop as a community gathering place.

He’s kept the original wooden floor and painted the tin-textured ceiling revealed during renovations, perfectly reminiscent of the building’s origins as a general store in the 1940s.

“It’s empty because I want to fill it with people, conversations, exchanges and laughter,” Sanche explained. “If you want to talk for 15 minutes, great. I want people to feel like they’re coming into someone’s kitchen.”

Future plans call for a small window counter where people can sit, sip, savour and engage in small talk.

“Local and sustainable aside, I want to get good food to people. That’s our philosophy, but I want to make things easy and keep it cost effective for people.”

Sanche, from a tight-knit Northern Ontario francophone family, said he knows today’s busy lifestyle means food preparation often falls to the wayside.

“It’s the lifestyle we’ve built, and I know we won’t return to those sunny days of the past, but I can make it easy for people,” he said, noting a time crunch doesn’t mean people can’t eat fresh and local without the fuss. “I’m giving them a resource to come to for good food. A resource so they can spend time with their family. Come in, pick out dinner, go home, and sit down and have dinner together and talk.”

When he was a little boy, Sanche told his grandmother he wanted to be a chef, but he took a roundabout route to get there. Originally in theatre school, Sanche switched courses and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal communications. He worked as a civil servant and private consultant, but, frustrated and hating every minute of it, enrolled at Algonquin College for chef training and culinary management.

He then worked 18-hour days at multiple culinary jobs in Ottawa, gaining knowledge and building his business in his head before making the dream a reality. The move to Midland was easy, as his wife is originally from Lafontaine.

Ciboulette et Cie is open seven days a week at 248 King St. Call 245-0410 for information on daily selections, or log on to www.cibouletteetcie.ca to learn more.

Up to the challenge

Picturesque Georgian Bay community is gearing up to host international seamanship competition

 Up to the challenge. Preparing for the Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship can be a gruelling task for the young crewmembers. This year’s event takes place July 24-31 in Midland. Submitted photo

MIDLAND – Midland has strong maritime ties, developed over more than a century as a thriving Great Lakes port and reflecting its position along a beautiful stretch of Georgian Bay shoreline.

From July 24-31, these ties will be on display for youths from across the world as Midland plays host to the Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship. ?The competition is a biannual event that sees teams participating in a multi-event seamanship competition using replicas of 18th-century longboats that can be either rowed or sailed.

With more than 200 participants from at least a dozen nations participating, it will be one of the largest events in Midland this summer.

Atlantic Challenge is an international education organization fostering the development of teamwork, leadership, stewardship and cross-cultural ties through seamanship. Members continually learn to adapt and overcome challenges, exploring their mental and physical boundaries in a controlled and safe manner aboard sailing boats.

“Atlantic Challenge Canada offers experiential education programs for youth across Canada from our home base at the Bayport Yachting Centre,” said Scott Wagg, event chairman for the International Contest of Seamanship. “To join the program, you don’t have to have any nautical experience – just an interest in being out in boats and upon the water.”

Wagg said Atlantic Challenge differs greatly from typical textbook learning.

“The program is about teaching teamwork and leadership in an experiential way … and there’s no better way than on a boat,” he explained. “The boats are 38 feet long and require a crew of 13 working in unison to run properly. When you want to change direction, the crew have to work together to bring down the sails and raise them again. When rowing, they have to pull in together.”

In addition to teamwork, traditional skills such as seamanship, sailing, boat-building and rowing are taught. Members of Atlantic Challenge Canada hone their skills aboard two longboats that utilize both sail and oars, as well as the Lester F. Hall, a replica double-ended Block Island cowhorn schooner, a type of working sailboat utilized both winter and summer during the 1800s.

The Atlantic Challenge International Contest of Seamanship, which brings together crews from all over the world to test their skills against one another, is held every even-numbered year. Host communities alternate between Europe and North America. Two years ago, the event was held in Finland. The next one will be held in Ireland in 2012.

Canada placed first at the contest in Roskilde, Denmark, in 1998.

“In 2005, we made the decision we wanted to host the event, and began the process of crafting a proposal. The last time the event was held in our area was 16 years ago in 1994, so the timing felt right,” Wagg said. “Midland is an ideal host community. Not only does it have great port facilities, but the size of the community is ideal – it’s large enough to have great amenities, but it’s also small enough that the event and its participants won’t get lost as they might within a large city.”

This year, 13 teams from Canada, the United States, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Indonesia, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Italy will be participating, numbering 280 youths in all. It’s expected that once entourages and families are accounted for, the number will swell to more than 1,000 for the entire 10-day period.

“This is a great opportunity to showcase Midland to the world,” said Dina Juzytsch, manager of the Downtown Midland Business Improvement Area (BIA). “It’s a big, international event that will really highlight the best parts of our community: the diverse downtown area with its great shops and restaurants, and, of course, our beautiful waterfront.

“It’s held at an ideal time of year since so many people schedule their vacations for the end of July and the beginning of August. We anticipate there will be many, many tourists interested in experiencing the challenge, as well as enjoying our beaches and opportunities for boating,” Juzytsch continued. “The event is a real boon for the community and its businesses.”

Beyond the boating competitions, a variety of events are planned to coincide with Atlantic Challenge. Throughout the week, a bandstand on Elizabeth Street will play host to live East Coast music performed by a variety of Canadian bands. Each night, the bands will represent one of Canada’s 10 provinces.

“It really is a community event,” Wagg said of Atlantic Challenge. “The support of volunteers and people in the community has been great, and the Town of Midland has been very helpful. We couldn’t host it without the town’s support.”

The event represents Midland with an opportunity to reconnect with its past as a thriving port, to showcase the vibrant community of today, and to shape the future in the form of young people from across the world.

“It’s such an amazing event,” said Wagg. “This really is a unique way to teach life’s lessons, and I can’t describe how great it is to see the world’s youth come together and the friendships that are made

Grant worth $5,000 to be handed out
Jul 08, 2010

Grant worth $5,000 to be handed out. Garry Morehouse, executive director of the Huronia Communities Foundation, has announced a special $5,000 grant will be doled out to a local charity this fall. Submitted photo

MIDLAND – The Huronia Communities Foundation is putting a special $5,000 grant up for grabs this fall in recognition of its 10th anniversary.

This is the first time the organization will bestow a grant of this size. This new grant will focus on proposals that will have an impact on the community.

All registered charities in the community are eligible to apply. Applications may be obtained online at www.huroniacommunities.com. Grant proposals must be received by Sept. 3.

The recipient will be announced at the annual general meeting of the Huronia Communities Foundation on Sept. 23.

For more information, contact executive director Garry Morehouse at 527-5554 or info@huroniacommunities.com

NEWS RELEASE - for immediate release
from: The Mirror

June 1, 2010

Doors Open Huronia this weekend a chance to reconnect to the past

MIDLAND – The history of North Simcoe will be front and centre this weekend as local businesses, homes and landmarks open to the public for Doors Open Huronia.

The annual event, scheduled for June 4-6 in Midland, Penetanguishene and Tay Township, will feature historic buildings such as the Bayport Masonic Lodge in Victoria Harbour, Waverley United Church, the Playfair House in Midland, and St. James-on-the-Line Anglican Church and Cemetery in Penetanguishene.

Event spokesperson René Hackstetter said the success of last year’s Historic Homes tour prompted organizers to focus on the communities’ downtowns.

“One of big components this year in Midland and Penetanguishene is a walking tour of the downtown,” he said. “In Midland, we will start at the dock and make our way up King Street, identifying either sites or the existing buildings as they’ve been changed.”

The theme of the heritage weekend is “The Changing Landscape,” and Hackstetter noted participants will be taken up King Street by guides from a Midland Secondary School history class.

“We will be commencing at the waterfront because that’s an important component of the town historically,” he said, adding people should come out to reconnect with their past.

“It’s a way of locating yourself in time and in space,” he said. “You’re basically saying, ‘This is what connects me to the institutions of the town,’ whether it’s the church or commercial spaces.”

Last year’s event saw about 300 people a day at each site, noted Hackstetter.

“It’s part of a revival of the downtown core – an initiative to make a weekend where you’re getting people out of their cars and walking on the street and reconnecting with their downtowns,” he said.

The free event will also include a launch party on June 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Huronia Museum.