Gourmet & Healthy in Oshawa

The staff at O'Neils Gourmet Foods delights in introducing foodies to their next culinary obsession, from buttery extra-virgin olive oils to spiral-sliced ham. While much of the shop's bounty is imported, aromas from prepared foods such as comforting soups and lasagnas that break free of the traditional cheese and spaghetti-o fillings also waft through the aisles. On any given day, shoppers might find a sample display of picnic snacks or one of the owners sharing warm hors d'oeuvres amid the sleek black cubbies where jars and boxes nestle. Online, customers are encouraged to share successful recipes born from the store’s unique items, be they in written, photographic, or hickory-smoke-signal form.

Fresh City Farms aims to reconnect consumers with their surrounding soil. The team, formed of activists with such qualifications as a degree in environmental science and certificate in food security, focuses efforts on reforming the food system by supporting local farmers and microfarmers, holding education workshops, and managing a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Driven by their dissatisfaction with industrial food systems and their harmful effects on the planet, they use only organic and sustainable agriculture techniques at their farms and gardens.

Though Fresh City Farms' home base is in Downsview Park, the organization also matches ambitious entrepreneurs, or Member Farmers, with pieces of land where they can cultivate whatever they wish. The team trains Member Farmers in organic farming technologies and lends them access to resources ranging from soil-testing services to rototillers.

Nonfarmers can also take part in the sustainable food movement by opting for Fresh City Farms' no-commitment and customizable CSA membership, which nets a weekly delivery of seasonal produce that's largely sourced from Fresh City's own plots or Southern Ontario farms. The box contains 80 per cent local produce on average and eschews food from far away out of respect for tomatoes' fear of airports.

Plucked from the koroneiki trees that grow in southern Peloponnesus and Crete, Grecian Harvest's organic olives are pressed while not yet ripe. The process yields less, but more flavourful, oil. Like mineral water or a child's first teardrop, the extra-virgin extraction is bottled at the source to retain freshness. Grecian Harvest produces just one variety of the golden-green fluid, ensuring quality throughout every step of the process.