Ottawa Foodies

I like good food Plain and Simple.

I grew up in Caledon Ontario (a farming community north of Brampton) eating healthy, fresh and diverse foods. Being picky isn't an option. If you are picky, than you cannot call yourself a food lover.

My Dad is a serial immigrant, farmer and polish refugee who escaped the hardships of communism and my mother is a conservative South African. Between my father’s knowledge of quality farm produce and ability to cook amazing polish/german food and my mothers love to create amazing French and Italian dishes, I grew up eating the best homemade food one could ever imagine.

Mcdonalds as a kid? Hah, maybe once a year. If I wanted a hamburger, my mom would make one from scratch and fry it up on the stove. This kind of reminds me of the Eddy Murphy stand-up sketch from "raw", but I assure you, my moms burgers were nothing like how Eddy Murphy describes: "made with wonderbread, grease dripping off the sides, and topped with green peppers only".

My parents make their own sausage (South African Boervors[beef sausage] and Soprassata), tomato sauce, and pickles of all varieties. They also purchased half an organic cow every year and thus, we had plenty of amazing quality beef lying around. I have learnt a great deal about cooking from them!

My Dad has two famous sayings that have stuck with me over the years: "You will eat it and like it too" and "Good (insert thing[food])has never been bad". My favorite being: "Good Beer has never been bad".

My foodie upbringing has prepared me for the amazing culinary adventures Ottawa has to offer.

I have never been picky persay; however as a kid there were a few things I wasn't fond of, like fishy seafood, avocado and olives. In first year university, I forced myself to eat olives at every possible opportunity. About a month later, olives were my favorite food.

I am living proof that one can acquire tastes. Since than, there is nothing that I won't eat keeping in mind that there must be some-quality to any respective food that makes it appetizing to the human pallet. Since the olive epiphany, I have come to love scotch, strong seafood, lamb and a few other foods.

I’m a drummer in a local groove band, Digmobile
www.digmobile.ca

Favorite Foods: Thai, French German/Polish, Middle Eastern, fusion and I have a soft spot for that disgusting delicacy we call poutine.