Ask a local. That’s always the best way to get the inside story about a place you’re visiting. And when that local also happens to be a travel writer, all the better…

As I’m road-tripping down the California coast, a fellow travel writer—Indie Traveler Sara Benson—tips me off to the San Luis Obispo Farmers’ Market that runs every Thursday evening year-round. I love wandering through markets, but I’m surprised when Sara and I wander onto Higuera Street and find a full-blown, music-fueled street party in progress.

Alongside the stalls brimming with giant artichokes, fresh strawberries, ruby beets, and oranges large and small, are honey makers and nut vendors, student farmers and grizzled field hands, one group preaching evangelical salvation and another promoting the virtues of atheism.

It seems like nearly everyone who lives is this central California city of 45,000 has come out for farmers’ market night.

And it’s not just for the berries and beets. An entire section of the market is devoted to street food!

We weave through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds toward the aroma of grilling meat. Sara tells me that the market’s “signature dish” is a barbecued tri-trip (steak) sandwich. Alas, one vendor is already sold out and the other two have multi-block-long line-ups.

As I’m weighing up whether to brave the lines—how badly do I need to try the barbecue?—I spy a tamale vendor.

Chile verde tamales? Sold!

I’m glad I asked a local and found this farmers’ market party!

Many thanks to Sara Benson for her California travel tips! And if you’re heading for Las Vegas, she’s the gal to know: she’s the author of the best-selling Viva Las Vegas, Baby! travel app.

Got your own travel tips to share? Every Wednesday, you can share a photo or post about own food adventures as part of the WanderFood Wednesday blog carnival. Here’s how:

1. Post a food photo on your site.


2. Add a brief description about the photo—or a longer food-focused post—and include a link to WanderFood Wednesday.


3. Add your blog name and post title to the “Mr. Linky” form below, with a link directly to your post (not to your main blog). That’s it!

About the “Hit the Road Hungry” Road Trip
I’m doing a solo road trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles, working with a company called Hit The Road that pairs people who want to take road trips with people who need their cars moved. I’m delivering a forest green 1998 Honda Civic for its owners who are moving from British Columbia to southern California, and I’m eating my way down the west coast.

The previous posts in this series are:
When Plans for Pie Go Awry
Taco Craving
Pok Pok in Portland
Living The Serious Coffee Lifestyle in Portland
Bites By Bike, with Portland’s Pedal Bike Tours
Taste of Korea: A Taste of the Food Cart Scene in Portland
I Should Have Had the Deep-Fried Pickles
Winding Through the Redwood Forest
Ten Thousand Buddhas, One Highway Patrolman, But No Lunch
Time for Biscuits and Gravy!
California Cuisine at La Bicyclette in Carmel

I hope you’ll continue to follow along as I “Hit the Road Hungry!”

Tasty Travels!

Carolyn

If you live in Toronto, you’ve probably heard of Evergreen Brick Works. And judging by the crowds who packed the place last Saturday morning, this Toronto spot, which was established 20 years ago, is far from a secret.

But it was my first visit to this urban renewal project turned environmental education center, whose mission is to bring nature into the city. And at least part of that mission is to promote local food.

For more than 100 years, the former Don Valley Brick Works made the bricks that built Toronto. Many of the city’s notable buildings, from Old City Hall to Massey Hall, were built with Don Valley bricks.

In 1986, the Brick Works shut down, and this complex of 16 buildings fell into disrepair. Graffiti artists began using its huge brick walls as their canvases, and performance artists held underground raves in the abandoned factory.

The site took on a new identity in 1991 with the launch of Evergreen Brick Works. Since then, the center has started a variety of “green” programs, on local food, green design, cycling and alternative transportation, and a host of environmental issues.

A highlight, particularly during this harvest season, is the large Saturday morning Farmer’s Market.

Vendors like Vicki’s Veggies from Prince Edward County and Monforte Cheeses from Stratford sell local produce, cheeses, honey, jams, maple syrup, baked goods, and a variety of prepared foods.

Family-friendly hiking trails wend through the adjacent hills…

...a garden center and a “living wall” illustrate green design…

...and there’s even a Bike Works that will tune up your bicycle—and teach you how to maintain it yourself.

Sure, the whole place can feel rather earnest and over-eager, but that’s OK. It’s like a little kid with a big heart who just wants to make the world a tiny bit better.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you go…
Evergreen Brick Works is located at 550 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, 416-596-1495. If you’re coming by public transit, which the center strongly encourages, take the subway to Broadview Station (Bloor-Danforth line), where you can catch Evergreen’s free shuttle bus.

Photo credits:
All photos © Carolyn B. Heller

I haven’t been traveling much lately – mostly because I’ve been scrambling to finish a guidebook manuscript – but I’m still filled with wanderlust. I especially miss the discoveries of weird and wonderful new foods that are always part of my travel adventures.

Fortunately, even though I was at home the other day, an exotic ingredient appeared in my kitchen.

We get a weekly CSA box from our local farm, the UBC Farm in Vancouver.

And in this week’s box was a bushy bunch of unfamiliar greens.

Purslane.

In many areas, purslane is apparently considered a weed, a rapidly growing, leafy green plague that will take over your garden if you don’t aggressively root it out.

It’s also food.

When I began reading about purslane, I learned that you can toss it into salads – it has a slightly peppery taste, like arugula, but with a lemony note – or you can gently sauté or stir-fry it.

Hunting around my kitchen for potentially compatible ingredients, I found onions, garlic, zucchini, and fresh cherry tomatoes, as well as some potatoes.

Not sure exactly what I was going to prepare, I started by chopping the onions and sautéing them in olive oil. I mashed the garlic with some kosher salt, then added it and the chopped zucchini to the onions.

Separately, I steamed the potatoes, then tossed them with a pat of butter, a spoonful of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

When the onion-zucchini mixture began to soften, I added the tomatoes, let them cook down briefly, and then sprinkled in the purslane leaves.

Although it was less tomato-y and more green, the vegetable mixture reminded me of shakshuka, the Israeli dish of eggs in a spicy tomato sauce, so I fried a couple of eggs and slid them onto the vegetables.

The purslane added a slightly sharp, lemon flavor that complemented the savory eggs, onions, and zucchini.

It wasn’t a picnic in Peru, an eating expedition to Egypt, or a culinary quest in Korea.

But thanks to the purslane, it was a fine, farm box food adventure.

**********

Do you know other good ways to use purslane? Or have you had other food adventures at home?

(And while you’re at it, I could use some ideas for beets and zucchini, which have been arriving in over-abundance in my farm box.)

Please share your experiences below. Thanks!

Photo credits:
All photos ©Carolyn B. Heller