ottawa foodies

Hi all,

So I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian and therefore dairy makes up a pretty big part of my diet. I was never a big yogurt fan until I visited a bit of North Africa and Europe this summer. The texture was way better (creamier) and I didn't have a big problem avoiding gelatin. So what brands of yogurt (available in Ottawa) should I try? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Liberte, Stoneyfield Farms, Danone Oikos

I'll add www.skotidakis.com/en/?/home, a pretty local producer of good Greek yogurt. Grace, also check this thread ottawafoodies.com

Also check this thread

Forum - making yogurt?

Astro, Liberte.
Read the ingredient lists on the package at the store you go to.

Hewitt's was always my favorite local yogurt if it is still around ( which it was a few years ago last I checked )

Thanks for the comments. Greek yogurt is actually thicker than what I'm going for. Making my own yogurt is a great suggestion, and I'll keep an eye out for the other brands next time I head to the grocery store and see what I think. Also, it's occured to me that the texture might of changed just because of the temperature (approaching 40 degrees outside.)

And I checked Hewitt's website and currently there's no Ottawa location.

Hewitt's is still sold in Ottawa. I just got some about a week ago but can't remember exactly where I got it from. I think it might have been Shopper's Drug Mart.

Isn't Hewitt's still sold at the Herb & Spice and Produce Depot? That's where I have generally picked it up. :)

Astro makes a really good Balkan-style yogurt (4%, I think). No artificial sweeteners or texturizers, just milk, cream, fruit and honey. Just make sure it says "Balkan style" on the container because their other styles of yogurt are full of that other artificial crap. You can get it in most supermarkets.

+1 for Skotidakis Greek yogurt and Astro Balkan-style yogurt.

You can still in fact get Hewitt yogurt in Ottawa - I just bought some at Produce Depot on Carling a few weeks ago.

I love the demafro 2% available at produce depot on carling. Very cheap also, maybe half the price of Liberty.

I like Stoneyfarm and Astro balkan style yogurt. Stoneyfarm you can get in Loblaws organic section and a few other places.

Compared with the yogurt available in Netherland and other parts of Europe, the commercial stuff available here is pretty lousy.

Had some chobani in the US and that is far better than the yogurt here in canada. No wonder the protectionist dairy farmers tried to block them coming in.

It was funny when I went to the College Square Loblaw's this weekend. There was an entire 30' of cooler display area that was completely void of the yogourt that was promised on the price stickers. It seemed like school was back in session and all the young girls in town had descended like locusts to devour this one product. All I could get was one tiny container of 2% Greek.

Loblaw has had issues getting stock on the shelf from the warehouse / stockroom in the back. In my local loblaw, a couple of time something I want is out of stock and they tell me it is back in the stockroom but the night stock people did not have time to get them out.

Sad compared with supermarkets I used to go to in NYC while living there where the market is tiny in comparison to the Loblaw but they kept stocking the shelves throughout the day. Vast difference in the turnover per sq ft.

Herb and Spice on Wellington has Hewitt's, both cow and goat milk varieties. The shelf was full yesterday.

I worked through a good number of yogurts before I settled on Organic Meadow. It has a bit of a dumb name but I found it to be quite a bit better than the other plain yogurts...if that's what you're into. And it's fairly widely available, but you might have to check the 'health food' or 'organic' section.

organicmeadow.com

We prefer the Liberte Mediterranean style yogurt, especially for our was-micro-preemie daughter - it has the most milkfat in it. For myself, I like the Oikos 2% fat yogurt. I like it a lot better than the 0% Chobani available stateside.

I should admit, though, we are moving towards a more whole-food/primal type diet. The less screwed with, the better, and therefore, we'd prefer whole fat dairy products to low fat or fat free.