What’s going on?

By / Magazine / October 1st, 2013 / 3

I remember this distinctively. I was actually quite surprised when I heard it. Don’t shoot the messenger but it seems you can’t easily find prosciutto in Saskatoon. Let me explain myself.

I was touring around Canada some years ago, meeting with readers all over western Canada. I had hit the great cities of Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver. But it was in Saskatoon that I was assaulting by this statement. A reader approached me and mentioned how much he loved our editorial.

He enjoyed rambling through the wine articles and tasting notes. He was inspired by the spirits mentioned and looked forward to seeking them out. And then he got to the recipes. He paused, looked at me straight in the eyes and said, “You need to give us more alternatives for the recipes. You can’t easily find prosciutto around here.”

I was floored. I know that super markets stock shelves universally and have small ethnic sections for those who seek a bit more adventure in the kitchen but prosciutto should be as ubiquitous as peanut butter.

Now granted this was almost 8 years ago and super markets have come a long way but that sentence has stuck with me all those years. And then I walked into a newly renovated Provigo Le Marché. My jaw dropped.

It’s not the fancy signs and large aisles that got me. Nor was it the expanded beer section or the smell of freshly baked olive fougasse wafting through the air. It was something much simpler than that. It was the enormous cheese fridge.

I travel a lot and every once in awhile a particular food from one of those stops sticks in my mind — in this instance a cheese from the Magdalen Islands called Pied-De-Vent. Most of the time this item is really hard to find. I’d have to drive to the Jean Talon market about one hour from my house to get my fix. Not any more.

As I was perusing the selection of specialty cheeses in this massive fridge — at a super market just minutes from my house — I spotted it and tears came to my eyes. Although probably not that dramatic, I was quite surprised to see this artisanal cheese I’ve coveted for so long find it’s way to a local grocery store. And I asked myself this, “Is it still hard to find prosciutto in Saskatoon?” Can somebody let me know?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aldo Parise is the publisher of Quench Magazine. After running 4 magazines, including Riot and men's magazine Under Pressure, he's settled nicely into his role as top drinker and food yummer guy. You can see him in the pages of Quench, Food and Drink Magazine.

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