C&L CORNER MARKET : A DECADE OF LOCAL PRODUCE AND COMMUNITY "$56"-*5 4r/&84
ANDREW COPPOLINO andrewcoppolino@gmail.com
serve and hard ice cream as well as make floats and banana splits. i8IFOTDIPPMJTPVU UIFJDFDSFBNCVTJ - ness is extremely busy,” he says. There are 14 hard ice cream flavours made by the popular Kawartha Dairy: salted caramel is the most popular, according to Gerard. Frozen meals and ready-made food such as pies, lasagna, pasta sauce and salmon pie are available in the freezer case, pre- pared by La Cuisine Gimy, a business that IBTCFFOJOPQFSBUJPOJO1SFTDPUU3VTTFMM for more than three decades. The market also apparently sells a lot of pickled eggs from Alfred, according to Gerard, and frozen meats by L'Orignal Pac- king, another long-standing area business which delivers a range of products to C&L FWFSZ8FEOFTEBZ “If you want a special order from them, just let me know and they will bring it in,” he says. Like any market, there’s a grind and churn to the produce as the seasons come and go. The busy corner sometimes gets a bit crowded as customers jostle for parking in tight space. For Gerard, though, it’s the engagement with those customers, regulars or otherwise, that is satisfying. “I like to make people happy. Customers come here because they can often find items UIBUBSFIBSEFSUPàOEJOHSPDFSZTUPSFT8F have different fresh products. I think that’s why we are still here after 10 years.” C&L Corner Market is open seven days a week. Food writer Andrew Coppolino lives in Rockland. He is the author of “Farm to Table” and co-author of “Cooking with Shakespeare.” Follow him on Instagram at @andrewcoppolino.
It's a roadside produce stall, a “kiosque de fruits et légumes frais, produits locaux et crèmerie,” in the very best sense of the word, with framed fence- board walls, a couple of doors and win- dows, a scattering of signage here and there, with some tarpaulins covering the roof over a concrete pad and a gravel parking lot. Luc Gerard has operated C&L Corner Market with his wife Catherine Laplaine for a decade: for any food business to last more than five years in turbulent economic times is a strong showing; 10 years makes it remarkable. Throughout Ontario, and indeed the country, farmers’ markets, farm-gate sales and drive-up produce stands have expe- rienced a renaissance over the last decade. &BDISFHJPOGFBUVSFTDPODFTTJPOBOE county roads – and gravelly lanes leading to livestock barns on local farms – that offer honey, maple syrup, corn, fresh-cut flowers and a host of seasonal produce as you drive, or bike, up. 'PSFYBNQMF JO8BUFSMPP3FHJPO GSPN whence I have just arrived, you’ll see cloth- wrapped summer sausage and sauerkraut where you leave your cash in an unattended “honour box” before you drive or bike away. 5IBUJT JGUIFSFJTOUBTJHOUIBUTBZTi/0 46/4"-&4 uUIFTJHOBMUIBUBOPCTFSWBOU Mennonite family isn’t engaging in commer- cial activity on the Lord’s day. Defined perhaps by both culture and history, each of these regions has its idio- syncratic and quirky food stalls, some more urban than others: specifically, Gerard and Laplaine’s market stand located at the very CVTZDPSOFSPG)JHIXBZBOE&EXBSET 4USFFUBOEBDSPTTGSPNUIF&440TUBUJPO and the seemingly continuous queue at the Tim Hortons drive-thru. It's a clash of the busy urban traffic that continues throughout the day against the quieter rural space in the shape of the market-stand-as-proxy for where our local food grows often far away from car-and-truck traffic. Also at the location is a popular hot dog stand, Le Chip Stand, a separate neigh- bouring business next to C&L which is often busy serving fries, poutine, burgers, Polish sausage, pogos and other food-stall standards. For his part, Gerard previously worked a GPPETUBOEXJUIIJTCSPUIFSJOUIF#Z8BSE Market before taking over the business. He purchased the land where C&L now stands about five years ago. “It’s been busy ever since,” Gerard says. Open year-round, the market of only a couple of hundred square feet has baskets and buckets and boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables, local when they are in season and delivered daily. Drawing from area farmers, Gerard is quick to point out that his strawberries come from Oka, Quebec, and are “some of the best around.” In the time it has been operating, C&L has become an established destination for the neighbourhood, according to Gerard. “This business is 80 per cent regulars
Luc Gerard présente une partie des produits qu’il vend au C&L Corner Market, à l’intersection de la route 17 et de la rue Edward, en face de la station-service Esso. M. Gerard gère ce stand de fruits et légumes depuis une dizaine d’années. (Andrew Coppolino)
and 20 per cent visitors,” he says. During one of my visits, Gerard and a customer chatted briefly about some toma- toes and then caught up on local news and sharing information – something you rarely, if ever, see in the produce aisles at a chain grocery store. That’s the sense of community that often defines such market stands. “And people like to know where the fruits BOEWFHFUBCMFTDPNFGSPN8IPUIFGBSNFST are,” he adds. 7FHFUBCMFTGSPN3JDFWJMMF 0OU SVOUIF gamut from early-season garlic scapes and rhubarb to cucumbers, tomatoes red onions GSPN8FOEPWFS ZPVMMàOESBEJTIFT DPSO peppers and scallions from Laviolette Garden
in Chute-à-Blondeau east of Hawkesbury. Gerard also draws on produce that comes GSPNBSPVOE/BWBO BCPVUNJOVUFTBXBZ as well as other farmers in his group of producers. “I have three or four friends who grow QSPEVDFXIJDIXFTFMM8FMMHFUQFBDIFT BOEQFBSTGSPNUIF/JBHBSBSFHJPO uIFTBZT There’s fresh chicken eggs and quail eggs available from local producers, as well as Saint-Albert cheese. The other part of Gerard’s and Laplaine’s business is the ice cream: when an employee recently called in sick, Gerard was forced to hop between ringing in and bagging produce and scooping cones. They dish out both soft
RAPPORT DE BANQUES ALIMENTAIRES CANADA: LE TAUX DE PAUVRETÉ SERAIT SOUS-ESTIMÉ
LIA LÉVESQUE La Presse Canadienne
Le taux de pauvreté serait sous-estimé au pays, selon un rapport de Banques alimentaires Canada publié mardi. Banques alimentaires Canada estime que «le taux de pauvreté officiel du Canada ne donne pas une image complète de la faim et de l'insécurité alimentaire» au pays. L'organisation avance que 25 % des Canadiens auraient un niveau de vie inférieur au seuil de la pauvreté, selon son indice, plutôt que 10 % comme il est généralement avancé. L'indice que l'organisation a utilisé pour parvenir à cette conclusion est appelé «mesure de privation matérielle». Il permet de calculer la proportion de Canadiens qui vivent dans la pauvreté faute d'avoir les moyens de s'acheter deux produits essen- tiels ou plus. L'organisation a aussi interrogé les ménages pour voir s'ils étaient habilités à combler différents besoins, comme pouvoir
Miscellaneous food items are prepared for shipment to a food bank in Toronto, February 2, 2024. (Cole Burston, The Canadian Press)
se déplacer dans sa communauté au besoin, avoir au moins une paire de chaussures bien ajustées et une paire de bottes d'hiver, pouvoir maintenir son logement à une tempé- rature convenable durant toute l'année, etc. La Mesure du panier de consommation — l'indice habituellement utilisé — additionne plutôt les coûts d'un panier de biens et
services représentant un niveau de vie de base modeste. Banques alimentaires Canada souligne que 1 935 111 visites ont été enregistrées dans des banques alimentaires au pays en mars 2023. Il s'agit d'une hausse de 32 % par rapport à mars 2022.
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